Mark's work in schools has the following ethos:
· Providing the time, space and opportunity to be creative
· To enable the children to discover the potential of materials, tools and processes, and acquire new skills to explore them
· Allow the children to develop at their own pace
· Provide a flexible framework for children to think and explore within
· To work alongside the children in a co-creative approach, and intervene with sensitivity
· To provide a range of experiences and opportunity
· Providing a supportive environment that nurtures building confidence, curiosity and creative risk taking that enables them to realise their intentions.
Early Years
Mark has worked in many Early Years settings, drawing on the work of Reggio, Chris Athey, Cathy Nutbrown, and Tina Bruce, amongst others. These have fixed projects, such as trialling extending Reggio inspired practice in mixed Nursery and Reception spaces for the Dudley Early Years Advisors, or residencies like the 3 years as artist in residence for Shenley Fields Nursery School in Birmingham. Examples include;
2024-26 Classroom as Studio, Arts Connect. The Classroom as Studio programme aimed to develop the art pedagogy of Primary School teachers in Birmingham and the Black Country, reimagining the classroom as an artist's studio, and growing the influence of participating teachers as leaders of learning. The programme expanded the art teaching repertoire and the research skills of primary teachers and engaged them in the world of contemporary art. It did this through:
-Collaborative working. The practice of collective making, helping us to understand how collaboration and partnership between schools, teachers, artists, art galleries and between children, generates new possibilities for creativity and achievement.
-Oracy. Developing the social oracy skills of children and build oracy rich classrooms that are authentic to the way that artists create and talk about their work.
-Embedding change, through teacher and artist workshops, in-school development work and taking inspiration from the exhibitions and collections of art galleries.
I worked with three schools on this programme, ranging from Nursery through to Year 5 and SEN Hub.
2023-25 Creative Freedom, PiCL. Forty sessions over 2 years working with an alternative provision school, exploring creative engagement in their outdoor space, links to the curriculum, establishing an outdoor studio and supporting students to develop confidence, collaboration and a stronger sense of ownership in their learning environment.
2022 Moonbeams Triad project. This Arts Connect action research project created 3 partnerships between an artist, a library and an Early Years setting for 10 sessions to explore how a Reggio approach might impact on language and communication. The research data was then collated in a report by CREC.
2006-9, 2014-16 Two residencies at Shenley Fields Nursery School, Birmingham, to introduce and facilitate the Reggio approach, including participating in the Skylight series of seminars by the Sightlines Initiative.
Dudley Early Years Advisors (2009-10), working in settings to explore extending the approach from Nurseries into Reception
Standalone projects, such as Selly Oak Nursery School, various projects, for example ‘Wire’ (2012), which explored the potential of wire as a material.