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MAPPING THE LABYRINTH
BY Colin McGookin
2 METHODOLOGY 3 SELECTED GROUPS 4 OPERATION 5 TIMETABLES 6 WORKSHEETS 7 CONCLUSIONS 8 ANALYSIS 9 RECOMMENDATIONS
During the summer of 1992 a large group exhibition was held in various venues all over Belfast. Entitled `No Access' it was initiated and organised by the many artists involved to demonstrate the huge amount of new work being made in Belfast by artists who had no access to the dwindling official outlets for contemporary art in the city. At the Fashion Design Centre, then opposite what is now the Ormeau Baths Gallery, I put on show a new large-scale painting which had developed out of my banner inspired works of the 1980's. Entitled `Inside the Kerbstones' it was a 100 feet long ring of double sided banners sewn together to create an enclosure echoing the Neolithic stone circles of Newgrange and Knowth in the Boyne valley. Accompanied by associated but framed satellite paintings the work was successfully received and featured in the BBC programme 29 Bedford Street. In 1994 at Wilmont House in Belfast the artist led Catalyst Arts organisation held a group exhibition called `Hit and Run'. I was selected to participate in the exhibition and decided to launch a new painting, which had developed from `Inside the Kerbstones'. Entitled `The Maze Whirlpool' it was conceived from the beginning as being an interactive painting. My concerns were to recreate the seemingly chaotic placing and reworking of the Stone Age art and subsequent graffiti into my own amalgam of visual symbolism and to mirror the evolutionary process found in much of the folk imagery that I use as my source material. I wanted to invite people to contribute their responses to the work they viewed by painting and drawing onto the material on display. From this first manifestation of the `The Maze Whirlpool' the limitations of my initial approach were evident. The gallery setting was intimidating and the free hanging work was difficult to work on. Workshop sessions would have to be designed to enable participants to understand, prepare and ultimately engage with the painting. Over the next few years I developed a methodology and process for the workshop sessions and in 1997 I was invited to Los Angeles to work with children in the Santa Monica area. 2 METHODOLOGY In developing `The Maze Whirlpool' I proposed specifically "To develop a visual arts activity to enable participants to creatively explore the theme of symbolism in relation to their immediate experience. To offer them the opportunity to extend their exploration and understanding of symbols from the wider community beyond their immediate experience and cultural setting by working on a global visual arts project" I proposed achieving these aims by beginning the project with an introductory session looking at my previous work and the way it had evolved. I would then discuss the group and their particular geographical area and would focus the participants ideas into a series of paintings, drawings and statements. These would be developed into symbolical maps of the participants view of their environment and subsequently into the creation of flags and banners celebrating the identity of each group. To complete the project I would invite the children to work on my collaborative 3-Dimensional painting on silk and linen `The Maze Whirlpool'. With particular reference to its form and central theme based around ideas on evolution and growth and the traditional folk art of the guild banner and how our activity can be interpreted as contemporary visual art. The first use of this methodology was in Santa Monica California. `The Maze Whirlpool' school project was introduced to each participating group and I presented a slide talk to the children about Ireland, my previous work and this particular project finishing with a question and answer session. I spoke about the central theme of the maze and labyrinth and how it was based around ideas on integration, evolution and growth. Also how I was synthesising a traditional medium of folk-art, the guild banner, with contemporary fine art painting. The children were very enthusiastic. They were interested in Ireland and the project and were very keen to get involved. The idea of communicating with Irish children through the project was very exciting for them especially as a number of them claimed ancestries in Ireland. Each workshop day my LA based colleague Clayton Campbell and I went to the school and together with a teacher we would lead a group of around 20 children to a designated playground area where the unrolled banner and painting materials would be ready for a working session. Images the children found important and text they wished to communicate had been developed in their classrooms and during the painting sessions these would then be added to those already on the fabric. At the end of the sessions we would view their work and discuss the progress. The 90° November sun would dry the paint and the banner would then be rolled up to return to my studio where I would do further work on it during the evening. This process continued for 4 weeks. At the end of this period a presentation was prepared and invitations sent out. The banner was draped from some young trees in the playground and looked absolutely splendid in the Californian sunshine. The whole school, interested parents and the media turned up and filed in and out of the labyrinth. I gave short lectures to each class on what we had achieved and answered their very sophisticated questions. They presented me with a tape of a peace song they had written in music class and I finished by thanking them for their contribution. I videotaped the whole process and sent them a copy with additional footage of further progress back in Ireland and with messages from Irish children to them. We have since exchanged messages and I hope to bring the painting back to them in the near future so they can see its development for themselves. On returning to Belfast
I set about organising further sessions. In collaboration with Gavin
O'Connor of Voluntary Services Belfast Wheelworks and Maurna Crozier
of the Community Relations Council we developed a series of sessions
using my existing methodology and introducing the CRC publication
`An Ulster Weans A-Z'. This was to be the most intensive approach
to the project yet. We selected participating groups to represent
a fair cross section of the rural and urban communities of Northern
Ireland and designed the evaluation process to keep a thorough record
of the projects development. The 4 contact leaders and the groups selected to be involved in this part of the project were: RURAL URBAN Mr Paul Murphy 4 THE CRC SESSIONS: OPERATION Upon provision of my proposed timetable a preliminary meeting was set up with each group. Finding locations and meeting group leaders did prove a test however the project and timetable were discussed and any perceived difficulties ironed out. The Pomeroy group wanted evidence of Police clearance on myself, which Gavin promptly provided. I had to take into account the venues and class sizes in order to begin purchasing materials and prepare for operational difficulties. It is well known how difficult large-scale arts activities can be in busy and spatially challenged centres. All these meetings took place before Christmas vacation 1997 and everything was in order for the project to start early in January 1998.
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8 Preliminary group meetings
GROUP GROUP GROUP Further Comments Had difficulty making contact with Pomeroy and Cookstown group leaders. In the former case the address I went to was Geraldine McCormacks home and not the centre. In the latter case it was for the centre and Paul Murphy was at home with his sick daughter. I had no problems with John Nelson of Dee Street who was very positive and supportive. I had a number of problems with LORAG. Group leader Michael Goodman was not available for a couple of dates I proposed. However I eventually met with Jannine, Fionnula Walsh and Gerry Rice. All the Venues have specific problems with storage of painted works. These are not insurmountable and I propose to erect a clothesline to hang work on until dry.
Week 1
7 GROUP 5 GROUP 11 GROUP 6 Further Comments It is a bit strange with each set of sessions taking two weeks to complete. The first group have moved on and started something new which might raise a continuity issue later into the programme. I will review this as things develop. The age diversity is also a concern. They range from 6 to 16 and have a wide range of technical awareness, which so far is complimentary. I will need to check that this does not impede younger participants.
Week 2
7 GROUP 6 GROUP 12 GROUP 8 Further Comments Everything is going excellently so far. I am assessing further the capabilities of each centre to get a measure of what is possible with regard to scale of work attempted and possibilities for leaving work in situ for drying out. No major problems and certain flexibility seems to be possible.
Week 3
7 GROUP 7 GROUP 8 GROUP 6 Further Comment The political situation is grim and causes me some concern. I feel exposed. I must look strange to anyone watching me as I go from one area into another. I have spoken to Gavin and we agree that if things get too nerve wracking then I will cancel a session. I will keep situation under constant review. Listening to the news a lot.
Week 4
7 GROUP 9 GROUP 1 GROUP 8 Further Comment As the multi media arts training course is now happening on a Thursday I will have to change the day for mid Ulster visit. The Cookstown group would loose some children so they are reluctant to agree. Compromise has been reached by my offering to come to them earlier and giving two shorter sessions thus seeing all children. All the groups have expressed a great sense of interest and loyalty to the project. Although the Belfast groups have a lot of distractions for me to compete with (each has another artist complete with their project plus computer games) there is a core group in each centre who return again and again.
Week 5
6 GROUP 14 GROUP 6 GROUP 6 Further Comment I think the idea about working on the big Maze will not work as in U.S. The time for drying will not let me take it from one group to another especially in mid Ulster were I am essentially taking 3 sessions one after another. It is possible that I can add the pieces the children are working on to the larger piece. Also that I have a session in a centre and leave the maze there until the next week. As I am reluctant to risk letting the main piece get damaged or lost whilst it is out of my control I think the former idea is best. It is a pity as part of the process of my project is interaction with the commentary inscribed in America. Maybe a session just looking and drawing with markers would be a possibility.
Week 6
7 GROUP 17 GROUP 6 GROUP 6 Further Comment Half way through project and time is really flying. I feel a lot more relaxed now about travelling about the city and country. Coping with all the different age groups is proving no problem.
Week 7
7 GROUP 17 GROUP 6 GROUP 10 Further Comment It is great to see lighter evenings as it makes driving easier and adds a bit of colour to things. Some of the LORAG kids are pretty wild but not a big problem.
Week 8
7 GROUP GROUP 8 GROUP Further Comment I am still happy with progress and think we are on target to have a good standard of work completed by end of project. The original idea of exploring symbols has taken us on to a stage were we have created a symbolical picture of each area and its particular character. This process could go on and really develop into something.
Week 9
7 GROUP GROUP GROUP Further Comment I am having a few too many problems in the urban situation and it is bewildering. I cannot reschedule a session when it is cancelled at this stage as my preparation and travel is completed and also it would throw the timetable way out of synchronisation. I will make up the time by staying longer in the later sessions and putting time into making the documentary video for them all.
Week 10
6 GROUP GROUP 9 GROUP 4 Further Comment
Week 11
7 GROUP GROUP 9 GROUP 8 Further Comment Am very happy with the work to date and think they will have fun seeing the fruits of their input next week. Just goes to show. The LORAG session was excellent and so too Dee Street. These City kids are so unpredictable. Week 12
7 GROUP GROUP GROUP 8
My role in this visual arts project was to attend the 4 centres listed above and facilitate the delivery of the arts project. My general task was "To develop a visual arts activity to support and explore the Community Relations Council publication `An Ulster Weans A-Z'". More specifically my task was "To develop a visual arts activity to enable children to creatively explore the theme of symbolism in relation to their immediate experience and to offer them the opportunity to extend their exploration and understanding of symbols from the wider community beyond their immediate experience and cultural setting". My methodology laid out the process I proposed to follow and the worksheets and commentary listed the progress of this task. The successful execution of this role can be demonstrated from the worksheets and is corroborated by the video and photographic documentation. The management of this project was by Gavin O'Connor. His task was to brief me on the detail of the course and provide backup and support with regard to any operational difficulties. The length of the course was 12 weeks in each centre. Due to staggered start times and unforeseen timetable changes the complete course spanned the period of 15 January 1988 to 18 May 1998. If we take into account the initial meetings with the groups the start date was actually 15 December 1997. The format for each session was a 2-hour working period. Operationally this worked out differently for each centre. On the rural day I travelled from 12 noon and carried out my sessions, arriving home at 8pm. On the urban days I could leave 15 minutes before a session and be home 15 minutes after it finished if all went according to plan. Finally I was allocated 5 hours to collate evaluation material and 7.5 hours to write this report. I now estimate it has taken just over 16 hours actually writing and amending this document. Some things were more difficult than anticipated. For instance it took me 2 hours to scan in the images found on these pages alone. Also collating and copying the videotape took two 6-hour sessions. I believe these difficulties were partly due to the fact it is the first time I have used some of the new scanning and editing technology required. The content of the course was laid out in the initial timetable. This was adhered to with just a few minor adjustments due to technical reasons. For instance when `The Maze Whirlpool' labyrinth was finally introduced it was impossible to paint on a section and then move the complete item to another venue. Drying times would have meant storing it overnight in the centre, which would have necessitated a return journey to pick it up. I got around this difficulty by deciding to take separate sections to each centre. After painting they would let the silk dry, usually after hanging it on a clothesline, and then store it for the following week. After a few weeks like this I sewed the sections onto the main labyrinth and during the last few sessions the complete labyrinth was unrolled. Each centre was then able to see the other centres work and could respond in some way. It can be demonstrated that course aims and objectives were successfully achieved. The parents and leaders and the children themselves referred to learning gained by the children. They spoke of this being a unique experience for them. They were proud of the growing cohesion of their groups and their interaction with the other children involved. They were also convinced it enhanced their status and made other parents want to have their children involved with the group. Paul Murphy in Cookstown felt that the feedback from parents was so good it resulted in his enrolment rise from 5 in week one to 17 by week six. They all stated they did not engage in enough visual arts activities at school or in the after school setting. They all loved looking at what the other groups had done each week and this added to the transfer of skills. For instance an impromptu slide projection session in Lower Ormeau quickly became the topic of conversation in the other centres until it was demonstrated there too. THE CRC SESSIONS: CONCLUSIONS I believe this project was a great success. Although I abandoned the initial evaluation process due to the operational difficulties of time constraints, age differences and some illiteracy the video documentation process adopted in its place has provided excellent evidence. It has demonstrated that the participants, their group leaders and even many parents enjoyed the working sessions and the outcomes. The video sequences of work in progress and of a sessions ending show real pride, understanding and joy in achievement. There were few negative aspects and I must say I found the course to be a very positive experience. However of all my observations the most striking thing was the dichotomy between the rural and urban environments. I immediately noticed several things. One of the firsts was more manic and hyper behaviour in the urban kids and a general cynicism for authority either from the group leaders or myself. There was a sense they were pushing to determine your limits a lot of the time, which was fine as long as you let them know where to stop. If you were tired and let them continue with this the situation could quickly become irretrievable. I also found the older children becoming separated along gender lines with a bit of friction developing between the males and females which could cause some sexist bawdiness, which I had to not infrequently check. I remarked in my notes about the sheer amount of choice that the urban children had. I found this allowed the children to dip in and out of participating in our project and must say it caused me a bit of dismay with the urban groups. They would put in a lot of concentration for short bursts, show a lot of promise, then go away to play with computer games. One other difference I found between rural and urban was evidence of the politicisation of the latter. Whilst exploring the symbolism of an area might be expected to bring this out it is still noteworthy that the rural children chose to define their areas by symbols of rural life such as town buildings, places, animals and vehicles. Saying that a few helicopters did appear and also some religious buildings both interior and exterior. One girl also represented herself in Irish dancing costume. However on the whole they were very gentle depictions of a rural idyll with hardly any of the aggressive notes found in the city. One boy in Pomeroy painted an explosion in the middle of a depiction of their main street, which was quite disturbing. He spoke of this as an image from an action video he had seen. Another boy painted a field on fire. He explained that his father burned the grass every spring prior to planting a crop. He also told us that burning frogs would come leaping out of the field, a story we did not believe until his mother confirmed it later. The children in Cookstown also painted very sublime images of shops and houses surrounded by trees and lots of suns and colour. This group was the largest of all and they worked hard and joyfully through the painting sessions often singing songs. I believe this atmosphere was assisted by the presence of very talented playworkers one in particular, Arlene, staying throughout each session assisting and encouraging the children. In Pomeroy too a different parent sat through each session every week helping and encouraging the children. At the end of both rural sessions the parents would arrive, surge into our room and take great interest in what we had created. This was not the case in the urban setting. Helpers did come in and look at what we were doing and often offered advice and assistance for short periods. However I did not meet any parents at all in the city with the exception of two who also worked in the Dee Street centre. The urban groups were quite different in other ways. Visually the cityscape predominated with its industry and airports, also its territories, flags and graffiti. These children and especially Lower Ormeau were very aware of the particular issues facing their communities. The Dee Street children fixed on flags during an early session and some, without any prompting from me, decided to put them into a cross community context and crossed tricolour and union flag. This caused some concern to some more vocal children and a lively debate followed during which I explained to them the content of the various flags they were painting. When they realised they were inaccurate with the finer detail of layout they got bored with traditional flags and began designing symbolical representation of their ideal flags. These included Teletubbies with football club shirts and images of their centre. Children from LORAG represented their ideas emphatically in word and image. I must say that I was quite aware of the particular difficulties this area faced but I was still shocked and very moved by testimony from the children. The people from this area have suffered very real loss and pain from past and continuing sectarian violence and I must say I felt a chilling and particular vulnerability on my visits to their centre. The children were very aware of things happening on the main road just outside their front door and it used to make me jumpy the way they spotted potential threats and immediately leapt to the windows to check things out. When I brought an American colleague who was on a residency in Belfast they spoke of their hopes of peace and fears of further conflict. They took us up to the Ormeau Bridge where another artist colleague had performed an installation and tied up lists of the names of all victims of the conflict. They pointed out so many relatives and friends amongst the dead the scale of it appalled us. One of the images that remain strongest with me from this group is that of the children on the bridge pointing out these names. Another is, ironically, the manic session when they wanted to write `mentions', their word for their signatures or nicknames, all over the banner. They did very text based sessions generally but this particular session was wild. Other images they focused on where of their district and the bridge and the activities in their centre of which they were very proud. The leaders here have their hands filled dealing with these children. They are very strong-willed but can really work when motivated. The girls especially are excellent speakers and could articulate well their hopes and fears, likes and dislikes.
It has become apparent to me that the out of school setting is a particularly difficult place for long term activity of a `serious' nature. The competition between their other activities and your Project really demands it be injected with a level of fun and have exciting, measurable and enjoyable outcomes. Visual arts activities demonstrably have the potential for fulfilling these requirements. Group activities producing collaborative artworks as well as individual responses to set themes can all provide fulfilling results. I felt that an edge to this particular project was that the children were getting the chance to contribute to a work that was also a `serious' painting and which would eventually be shown in a `real' gallery. When concentration or discipline began to deteriorate a reminder of the impetus behind the work at hand inevitably brought renewed effort. In the urban groups I felt that a number of distractions intervened. These groups had so many other projects for the children to dip into, and over the period involved so many incidents of civil unrest occurred locally, that this long term course of study proved too much of a commitment for many of them to adhere to. My feeling was that the urban children did not have the same sense of novelty and innocence that was evidently displayed in the rural setting. For sure certain documentary evidence backs this up. Saying that the short bursts of intense, almost manic, levels of activity that happened in the urban groups provided their own dividends. Certainly their input into their artwork and `The Maze Whirlpool' provides an exciting and ultimately rewarding experience. I think it should be seen as an ideal to recommend that future work in this area be complimented by projects within the school setting to provide some high watermark for the level of achievement possible. However I know that the out of school setting is an important area to provide education for children who have moved outside the current education system either temporarily or permanently. I also personally feel that by inputting enough of your own work and yourself into a project its importance will rub off onto the children and provide them with evidence of the standard of achievement you have set yourself. If these standards are sufficiently high you will be rewarded by the outcomes. I would like to recommend that any future Project in the out of school setting has a component that enables the children to achieve an outcome that rewards their input. Let them work with the knowledge that they have participated in a real arts event. Something important and with a shelf life beyond their activity in this particular time and place. We must let them be creative and know that they have contributed to something that will help this world see and know itself and truly become a better place. To contribute to a real exhibit in a real venue with real documentation in the form of professional publication, videotape or CD-ROM is a reward the children can be offered and we can ultimately deliver. The technology is within reach and the funding should be achievable. 9 THE FUTURE OF `THE MAZE WHIRLPOOL' I would like to widen
the range of participants to this project both geographically and
by age and ability. Particular regions that would be of interest
to me are the Republic of Ireland, Europe, the Middle East, Australia
and the Far East. I would also like to see participants with disabilities
and from different age groups contribute to the imagery. I want
to continue to work towards developing and documenting this project.
I will continue to contribute and fundraise to this end until `The
Maze Whirlpool' has exhausted all possibilities that I can visualise
for it. At that time I want to see the project donated to an appropriate
public collection. I also want the real artwork to be exhibited
and experienced by as wide a public as can be reached.
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