Art Stars offers bespoke school workshops, ranging from one-off hour long sessions to art days and longer residencies. Our lead artist, Ellie, is an experienced primary art teacher, having worked as an artist in residence covering two primary schools in Peterborough for five years. She has also visited many schools in her capacity as children’s book author and illustrator to run workshops based on her picture books. Ellie is also a qualified arts Award adviser and is able to deliver Arts Award in schools up to Silver level (more information can be found under our ‘classes’ tab and on http://www.artsaward.org.uk). 

We also work with a variety of other artists who deliver quality art sessions to schools, enabling us to offer workshops using a range of media, including drawing, painting, textiles, sculpture, collage and printmaking. We can also work with groups of children to create large scale collaborative artwork for permanent display. We are happy to tailor workshops to cover a particular topic, outcome or timescale. 

Please click on the ‘Workshops’ and ‘Collaborative Projects’ tabs under the Schools heading for examples.

 

Testimonials for Art Stars School Workshops:

Nene Valley Primary School

It was a real pleasure to have Ellie in school. I contacted her with details of our Arts Week and she tailored and delivered workshops across the school to fit with our theme. Ellie taught the children many art techniques in the short 45 minutes she had with each class, and I was really impressed with the well-thought out ideas. All resources were provided and Ellie had a very caring, gentle demeanor with the children. Ellie was very clear with her instructions and the completed art work was beautiful! All teachers commented on how enjoyable the workshops were for the children and we received many compliments from parents. Thank you very much, we would love to have you back!

Lindsey Wilson, Nene Valley Primary School

 

Testimonials for Ellie’s Author Visits:

Pop Up Projects

Ellie has done several wonderful events and workshops with Pop Up, conducting lively, fun sessions with individual classes and larger groups across Key Stage 1 and Early Years. She creates immersive sessions linked to her books where pupils are transformed into colourful birds and cheeky lemurs. This really brings the books to life, and are truly memorable occasions for children and teachers alike. She has also developed and run workshops with us for SEN schools, where she worked closely with the schools to develop bespoke sessions that were suitable for students with a range of profound individual needs.

Saul Argent, Education Manager, Pop Up Projects CIC

St. John’s Church School, Peterborough

Ellie has worked with St. John’s on numerous occasions, and has delivered workshops across the school from reception to year 6. Her sessions are highly interactive and are tailored well to the age group she’s working with. Our younger children loved creating masks and acting out stories, complete with costumes and puppets, whilst the older children were really excited about seeing Ellie’s original artwork and hearing about the process of writing and illustrating her books.

Ellie really engaged with our year 2 classes, who listened intently and were inspired to create wonderful pieces of writing based on her visit. She helped the children look through the eyes of an author, taking them through some of the many stages involved in producing a book from initial idea / inspiration to the finished version. She explained how she had to keep improving her work, which helped them understand the need to return to their writing to improve it and check for errors. It also helped instil in them a passion for both reading and writing that is the aim of all teachers.

Ellie was able to quickly establish a rapport with the classes, owing to her experiences gained working with children over a number of years. We would love to have her back, and would certainly recommend her!

Jenny Parkinson and Simon Nay, Year 2 teachers

Cromwell Park Primary School, Huntingdon

Ellie came to visit our school to run workshops with our reception and KS1 classes. She came well prepared for the workshops, bringing her own set of pastels for the children to use so we only had to supply the paper!

Ellie read her book Birdsong and showed the children the initial drafts of the drawings, and talked about the process of writing the book. The children were fascinated! Ellie then taught all the children how to draw some of the birds from her book. All the children were so excited to be able to draw a real book character! Ellie took them through it step by step so they could all achieve. Some amazing results and very happy children!

The workshops were very successful and inspiring for the children (and the adults!). Ellie was very engaging, and the children from each age group were in awe! One of the Y2 children said when Ellie had left – “That was amazing – a real author! The best day of my life!”

Miss Hannah Dawson, Deputy Headteacher