IOE PGCE students’ artwork featured in virtual exhibition

The IOE and the Freelands Foundation have been project partners since 2015 and the work of PGCE students has been featured in galleries annually.

Now in its fifth year, the partnership explores the notion of the artist teacher through a series of lectures, discussions and practical workshops, as well as a public exhibition by the group.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s exhibition is taking place virtually. Entitled Must Should Could, students’ work has been featured in this digital space exploring the boundaries and ideas behind creative teaching and the notion of the artist teacher.

Each year the project begins with a lecture by Henry Ward, Creative Director of the Freelands Foundation, and is followed by a practical workshop. The workshop took the form of a game this year, with the cohort divided into different teams with different roles. Each team then created installations in one media attempting to explain how to use another media. 

Speaking to the Net Gallery about the project’s process, Henry Ward said: 

“It [the workshop] opened up lots of interesting questions about the role of instructions and that was then the direction that the project ended up taking, resulting, eventually, in the exhibition and publication. Once the students are in their placement school they begin working on their own ideas and projects with a view to both the publication and exhibition, and in the spring term a small sub-group meet regularly with me, some of the tutors, and a designer from Studio Hato, to develop the publication and put together ideas for the exhibition.”

This year's exhibition 'Must Should Could' focuses on instruction and how PGCE artist teachers negotiate between their creative practices, university perspectives and school identities to forge their identities as teachers.

Must Should Could refers to an often-used technique from the school classroom, which provides a framework in which pupils are instructed to complete an essential task, encouraged to do better or advised to achieve more.

A wide range of media has been used by students for the exhibition, including film, photography, print, collage and embroidery.

Visit the virtual exhibition

Links

• PGCE Art and Design
• Department of Culture, Communication and Media
• Freelands Foundation

Image

Must Should Could - Freelands Foundation. Design and Digital Production by HATO.