Can you teach me to be creative? Part Two

On Thursday my students and I continued our studies in art and design with a trip to the Victoria and Albert to look at decorative arts. After a brief meeting at an Internet Café to look at www.babylonshager.no, we jumped in a London Black Cab with sketch books in hand.

The girls were blown away by the building alone. The  museum had an exhibition on about Grace Kelly and her style, but with over 5 floors and thousands of exhibits to look at, we didn’t need to immerse ourselves in that. We begun with a look at fashion through the ages.

I adore fashion and costume – I always have. If I didn’t do gardens, I would probably do something involved with fashion or costume design. My first job was as a costume stylist at the iconic Laurence Corner near Camden. I hoped to impart some of my passion for costume to my students. I began by outlining the social climate of the time, and they compared the fashions here with those of Norway. They were engaged with the exhibitions, and after an in depth chat about underwear, I felt now was a good time to see how they got on with direct inspiration from one of the exhibits. We had walked round the whole exhibition, and they had seen all sorts of costumes from 1715 to present day, so I let them choose the exhibit they were most inspired by. Kari Mette chose a corset, Wenche a 1960s dress, whilst I plumped for a satin frock from the 1930s.

I explained to the girls that they could either take inspiration literally in the form of the lines or structure of the fashion, or they may prefer to be slightly more abstract with the interpretation, instead deciding to draw inspiration from the atmosphere the piece evokes or how it epitomises a period in time. They got the idea – the slide into their creativity had been steep but they loved it!

After lunch, I decided to try and narrow down the options and concentrate on the 20th century galleries, hoping the Babylon girls would be able to draw some parallels with the the modern art they had seen at the Tate Modern a couple of days earlier. We were limited for time, so we walked round briefly charting the changes from Art Nouveau to Art Deco before moving across to view the modern and post modern exhibits from 1945.

They were delighted they had begun to recognise art movements and make connections with some of the artists and movements that we had touched on previously. They started to analyse the shapes and materials as well as the historical context and begin to draw down ideas to transfer into garden design. Their time was limited, as they needed to catch their flights back to Norway, so we moved to their final task – to pick an

item from each 20 year period in the 20th century (1900-1920, 1920-1940, ect) and draw a garden based on that object. They flew back to Norway before the task was complete, so I have yet to see the results. However, mine is available below – I felt it only right that shows that she the teacher practise could practise what she was preaching.

Jam dish Place of origin: England (made) Date:1900-1901 (made) Artist/Maker: Ashbee, Charles Robert (designer) Guild of Handicraft Ltd (maker) Materials and Techniques: Silver and enamel, set with a cabochon

Garden Design Place of origin: London or England Date: May 28th 2010 Artist/Maker: Kieffer-Wells, Katrina (designer) Earth Designs (maker) Materials and Techniques: Concrete, Garden Deck planks, Dry stone wall made with decorative gabions, black slate path, wildflower meadow, specimen tree, fixed bench seat and table.

Tea service Place of origin: London (made) Date: 1933-1934 (made) Artist/Maker: Murphy, Harry George (maker) Materials and Techniques:  Silver with kingwood handle [teapot]

Garden Design Place of origin: London or England Date: May 28th 2010 Artist/Maker: Kieffer-Wells, Katrina (designer) Earth Designs(maker) Materials and Techniques:  Black Slate tiles, steel mesh, steel tiles, curved wood, hardwood decking, mosaic tiles, lavender, stipa gigantica

Espace Object: Furnishing fabric Place of origin: Germany (made) Date: 1954 (made) Artist/Maker: Kupferoth, Elizabeth (designer) Pausa A.G. (manufacturer) Materials and Techniques: Screen printed rayon

Garden Design Place of origin: London or England Date: May 28th 2010 Artist/Maker: Kieffer-Wells, Katrina (designer) Earth Designs(maker) Materials and Techniques:

Olive Tree (standard), Photinia (standard), Corian, Lawn, granite Setts, Yellow Balau decking, heuchara, buxus, thyme, Festuca Elijah Blue, Vinca.

Garden Egg Chair Object: Chair Place of origin: Germany (designed) Date: 1968 (designed)
1971 (manufactured) Artist/Maker: Ghyczy, Peter (designer) Elastogran GmbH (manufacturer) Materials and Techniques: Lacquered, moulded polyurethane with synthetic textile upholstery over polyurethane foam padding

Garden Design Object: Garden Design Place of origin: London or England Date: May 28th 2010 Artist/Maker: Kieffer-Wells, Katrina (designer) Earth Designs(maker) Materials and Techniques:  Outdoor cushions, metal arbour, fibreglass spheres, hardwood decking, Stainless Steel Balls, Pebble Mosaic, Garden Office, Ball Chair, Globo Lights,

Cut, Slash & Pull Object: Pair of shoes Place of origin: Britain (made) Date: 1990 (made) Artist/Maker: Westwood, Vivienne (designer) Materials and Techniques:  shoes covered in satin with regular cuts in the fabric.

Garden Design Place of origin: London or England Date: May 28th 2010 Artist/Maker: Kieffer-Wells, Katrina (designer) Earth Designs(maker) Materials and Techniques:

Pebble Mosaic, Buxus Hedging, Slate Paving with large cobbles, sedum roof, love seat swing, water fountain (rose shaped), Pearl hanging curtain, heuchara, hebe, peony, black iris,

To read about our visit to the Tate Modern 2 days earlier please click here