For one week in May the Skippings Art Gallery in Great Yarmouth was alive with the sound of children, children who were learning more about Brazil, the infamous Brazilian Cancaçeiros or Bandits who terrorised the North East of Brazil in the 1920s and 30s until their capture and death in 1938, and meeting the Brazilian born artist, Ron King. A total of 140 students aged 7 – 13 visited the gallery from four primary and one secondary school(s); many had never been to an art gallery before and none of them had been to Skippings. They viewed the exhibition and sketched out ideas. They then listened as Ron explained about the life of the Bandits and his own life as an artist; the children then asked questions.
Following their visit, artist, Sue Brinkhurst visited the five schools to carry out a cordel-making* workshop inspired by the sketches the children had made at the gallery. The children transferred their designs onto either polystyrene or card in order to print them onto the front of their cordel and wrote a poem inside their booklets. The cordels were displayed in the Great Yarmouth Minster during the Great Yarmouth Arts Festival and over 1500 people visited.
Ron King's exhibition was on display at Skippings from 16 May - 11 June and during this project FlipSide developed links with GYROS and the Portuguese community. FlipSide Director, Genevieve Christie and FlipSide Trustee and artist John Christie, gave a talk in the gallery for members of NCAS and EAAF.
*cordel means ‘literature on a string’ and a cordel is a small paper book, with a striking black and white image on the front and either a poem or short story inside.
The Stats
5 schools
140 students
8 partners
Feedback
‘I very much enjoyed the interesting information we were told. It’s a piece of information we most likely wouldn’t learn in school so I thought it was really something cool to know’ – Daisy age 13
‘the art was great and impressive’ – Nicole age 13
‘I found today highly interesting and inspirational. All the art work made by the amazing Ron King was very impressive. I really enjoyed it’ – Ria-Mae age 13
‘Best place ever’ – Connor age 10
‘I loved the white alphabet and the whole gallery is just amazing. I will visit again’ – Megan age 10
‘I loved meeting Ron King and his art is very inspiring’ – Abbie Leigh age 10