Ceramicist Frances Priest is currently working as artist in residence in a school in Thailand.  This is the second part of her Diary from Thailand in which she shares her experiences and adventures.

March 2006

As part of Regents International Schools mission to outreach into the local community I have been spending one day a week working at The Fountain of Life children’s centre with a group of fifteen children from the ages of seven through to fourteen. Situated in the heart of Pattaya the centre provides day care facilities for vulnerable and poverty stricken children.

Initial contact with the group was made through a series of short workshops looking at themes of identity, friendship and collaboration.  We made giant self-portraits, designed clothes for a fashion show and created an underwater seascape. An invitation from Nicky Cases, head of art at Regents School, for the Fountain of Life children to visit and use the art department facilities allowed me to develop an idea for a longer term project.

Having already identified an interesting site for a suspended installation in the grounds of the school I decided to use this as my starting point, gathering together images of work by artists who used similar methods of presentation.  These included sculpture and wire drawings by Alexander Calder, suspended works by Cornelia Parker, and mobiles by designer and artist Mel Ristau.  I presented this research to the children and through a series of workshops we began to draw, collage and build mini mobiles.

During these sessions I also played music from the album Pause by Fourtet.  I asked the children to think about the shapes, forms and colours the music inspired.  This approach was useful in helping the children go beyond making familiar drawings of favourite cartoon characters.  The results were unique and diverse.

From the children’s initial research I produced four maquettes for a large-scale suspended artwork. The children visited the proposed site and voted on their favourite design.  The group then spent three sessions in the art department constructing the artwork, using wire, plastics, and yarn.   Two sixth form students from Regents School attended these sessions to offer help and gain experience.

The final work entitled “We Listened to Fourtet….” was presented along with a small exhibition of the initial research drawings and resulting maquettes. I organised an exhibition private view and picnic attended by children from The Fountain of Life and students and teachers from Regents International School. 

I intend to continue working with Fountain of Life for the remainder of my time in Thailand and hope to develop and expand the involvement of Regents School sixth form students in future projects.

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