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Meet Matt, Beth, Tim and Ashby - four GCSE art students from Essex. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
They all share the same dream - | 0:00:05 | 0:00:07 | |
to make a living from their artistic endeavours. | 0:00:07 | 0:00:11 | |
Top artist Stuart Semple has made millions from his art. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
He exhibits all over the world, counting Sienna Miller | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
amongst his celebrity collectors. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
He is going to meet our bright young artists, | 0:00:20 | 0:00:23 | |
to see how they develop their ideas into great works of art. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:27 | |
We've given the students hand-held cameras, to film themselves, | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
as they cultivate ideas for their final GCSE art exam - | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
a ten-hour creative marathon, spread over two school days. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:38 | |
We'll follow their highs and lows, as they try to turn their raw ideas | 0:00:38 | 0:00:43 | |
into artistic success. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:44 | |
Then, after that daunting, ten-hour exam, they will face a public exhibition | 0:00:44 | 0:00:49 | |
and discover what Stuart really thinks of their work. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
Along the way, we'll see strange experiments from Beth... | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
-That one's horrible. -It's creepy, isn't it? | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
There'll be some very arty talk from Tim... | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
It's like metaphorical and physical. I'm actually learning something. I'm learning more about myself. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:07 | |
Matt finds inspiration in some unusual places... | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
I found some quite interesting colours in the sky. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:17 | |
..And Ashby finds the pressure just a little too much... | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
Oh, I don't know what I'm saying! Don't know! | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
But it will all be worth it | 0:01:23 | 0:01:24 | |
if these four young artists can makes great works of art. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
I think really it's just a beautiful painting that she's made. It sort of glows. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:32 | |
Hi, I'm Matt, I'm 16 and my main interests are football and art. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:42 | |
Matt's not your textbook | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
arty type. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:45 | |
I play a lot of football. I play for my local team, Woodham Radars, and for Essex. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
Away from the easel, he's more Lionel Messi than Leonardo da Vinci. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:53 | |
-But he loves his street art and takes a very hands-on approach. -Rough areas like this, | 0:01:53 | 0:01:57 | |
I had to put Polyfilla on, because it's more flexible , a lot stronger. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
A fan of Banksy, Matt will build you a wall and then vandalise it. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
He's a very practical and active artist. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:08 | |
I've never been any good at drawing in itself. I've always preferred painting, making things. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:13 | |
-Hello. -This is Beth. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:17 | |
Beth makes big, emotional works of art | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
and sometimes gets lost in the creative process. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
It just sort of happens naturally, I don't really even notice. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
I'll apply paint with a brush and blend it in with my fingers. It's quite messy. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:31 | |
But Beth doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, as long as her art is focused...on herself. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:36 | |
-SHE CHUCKLES -Excuse me! | 0:02:36 | 0:02:37 | |
Art, for me, is about, you know, it's personal and you can do whatever you want with it | 0:02:37 | 0:02:42 | |
and that's why I enjoy it so much. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:44 | |
Barney, this is about ME! | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
Just go away! | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
Is he actually in there? | 0:02:52 | 0:02:53 | |
Yeah. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:54 | |
-BLEEP -Redo it. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
This is Tim. He's rarely seen without a sketchbook. | 0:02:56 | 0:02:58 | |
Tim kills time by sketching his thoughts | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
and when he's got no thoughts, he sketches anyway. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
Sometimes I draw people, sometimes I just draw weird shapes. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
I'll sit there drawing triangles, or something. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
He's very thoughtful and serious about his art | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
and is constantly looking to improve. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:15 | |
To get better, you have to keep pushing yourself. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
He's found a big, expressive painting style, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
but keeps going back to his pencils. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
His precise illustrations are holding him back from a new, riskier style. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:27 | |
Can he step away from the pencil pot? | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
Maybe later on, I'll be able to go straight in with the paint. Is it all right if I carry on? | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
Hi, I'm Ashby. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:35 | |
When Ashby's not painting, she's usually found juggling a baton | 0:03:35 | 0:03:40 | |
with her majorette troupe. Ashby finds a personal edge | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
helps her to develop her ideas into great works of art. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
This is actually me. I did get my friend to take that one. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
Um, and that's me at the back. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
But I'm going to cut me out, because it looks like that person has two heads! | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
Ashby's on a voyage of discovery into the world of oil paints | 0:03:55 | 0:03:59 | |
and loves using them to create Cubist and Expressionist styles. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:03 | |
I've learned you can do with a lot more with oil painting than just paint with it. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:08 | |
You can smudge it, you can just to do all sorts with it. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:11 | |
Ashby's recently started to experiment with a palette knife, an idea she borrowed from a friend. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:18 | |
She had a good final piece, It came out effectively. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
I thought, "I'm going to steal that." I'll nab that! | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
Hello. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:28 | |
We've invited top artist Stuart Semple to meet the students, | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
to discover how they develop their artistic ideas. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
From what I've seen, the students look great and I really can't wait | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
to see more about their thought processes. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
Stuart's art is full of playful references to pop culture | 0:04:42 | 0:04:46 | |
and comments on consumerist Britain. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
He's often likened to Andy Warhol, for his accessible style | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
and is sought after by A-list celebrities. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
He has collaborated with Lady GaGa and the Prodigy, and has been so successful, | 0:04:55 | 0:04:59 | |
he once tried to buy his own island off the Dorset coast. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:03 | |
In 2005, Stuart snuck one of his own images into the Saatchi Gallery, | 0:05:03 | 0:05:07 | |
to protest against the lack of British artists on display in the exhibition. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:11 | |
Naughty! | 0:05:11 | 0:05:12 | |
But Stuart's main aim is to make art that's accessible and fun. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:17 | |
So how does a flourishing artist like Stuart continue to develop his ideas day after day? | 0:05:17 | 0:05:23 | |
When I make my work, I tend to work, I suppose, a lot more like a musician, | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
where I make a series of paintings that become a bit like songs or tracks on an album. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:32 | |
And I suppose the initial inspiration can come from anywhere. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:37 | |
I can spend months sat there when nothing happens at all | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
and I'm terrified nothing's going to come and, all of a sudden, | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
I'll hear a piece of music, or I'll see someone, or overhear something, | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
or pick up a fashion magazine or something, and then the idea starts. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
I try not to plan every aspect of the work before I start it. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:57 | |
What is developed is a concept that I want to explore before I start painting. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:02 | |
But in terms of the visual element of it, | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
I might only know a fraction, or at least the starting point, | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
and I really believe in letting the work, kind of, dictate its own course - | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
letting the time and experiments and mistakes, kind of, show me where I want to go. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:17 | |
We've invited Stuart to William de Ferrers School in Essex, | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
to find out how Matt, Beth, Tim and Ashby develop their artistic ideas. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:26 | |
First up is football fan, Matt, | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
who's borrowed some ideas from Banksy and Nigel Cooke. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
Stuart wants to know how Matt has referenced these artists in his own work. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:36 | |
What do you like about Banksy's stuff? The humour of it, | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
or the politicalness, or...? | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
I do like the political side of it, but with Banksy, I think art isn't about sitting down | 0:06:42 | 0:06:47 | |
doing a nice painting. It's about getting out in the real world | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
and doing something you enjoy and something that's you. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
-I looked at Nigel Cooke. -What do you like about him? | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
He does pictures that are a lot like what I was working towards. | 0:06:56 | 0:07:00 | |
Big walls, foreground in front of them, paintings on the walls. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:04 | |
So where do you go from this? Looking at this one over here. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
I looked at different areas round where I live, photographed them | 0:07:07 | 0:07:12 | |
and I thought from there I could push Banksy into Nigel Cooke and start spraying over the top. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:17 | |
I can see that Nigel Cooke influence in this one. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
Particularly from my original inspiration of Banksy, | 0:07:19 | 0:07:24 | |
I'm able to push it forward and do my own development. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
At the moment, he's, kind of, playing it a bit safe | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
and he's got that, sort of, Banksy reference very firmly in his head | 0:07:31 | 0:07:36 | |
and he hasn't really run into Matt's world yet. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
I think when that starts to come through, this is going to get really exciting. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
Personally, I see Banksy as a bit commercial, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
a bit derivative of a lot of other stuff. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
But I love the fact it is enthusing people to start looking at art and get involved in making images. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:54 | |
A blank canvas can be a pretty intimidating sight, | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
so seeking inspiration is a great way to get started. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
You can take the bits you like about lots of different artists | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
and push them together in your own work. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
But you can't just steal ideas. Your art should be personal. | 0:08:07 | 0:08:11 | |
Now, obviously, inspiration doesn't just come from other art, | 0:08:11 | 0:08:15 | |
it comes from all around you. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
And ideas can come at the most random moments, | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
so it doesn't hurt to make a note when you get one. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
Ashby's work is inspired by her recent holiday. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
She tried to show the Cubist side of New York, but got stuck. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:35 | |
Stuart wants to find out how she got through her artistic block. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
I tried to see whether I preferred this kind of loose mark making | 0:08:38 | 0:08:44 | |
to the really structured oil paintings, | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
but this was where I did hit a massive wall. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
I just... I just sat and looked at it for ages | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
and just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong and where I could go with it. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
-So it felt like a complete dead-end with it? -Yeah. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:03 | |
-But...I did get over it eventually. -How did you do that? | 0:09:03 | 0:09:08 | |
I did a similar thing. I went right back to the basics. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
I found images I'd taken of the Statue of Liberty. They're these ones. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:16 | |
How do you find working from the photographs? | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
I thought it was easier. Because I'd seen the statue in real life, | 0:09:18 | 0:09:23 | |
I knew I could put some of my own personality into it. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:27 | |
I could visualise it whilst I was painting. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
Then you moved on to a much more ambitious one, didn't you? | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
It's a really nice final piece, because it's quite concise. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:37 | |
-It shows traces of your whole journey, I think. -Yeah. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
I still see the piece that I didn't like. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
I still see the colours that I didn't really want to push, | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
but I still incorporated them, just to... | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
-So you got something out of it, in the end? -Yeah. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
-I did, yeah. -So it was definitely worth going through it. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
I hit walls in my work all the time. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
You get to a place where you just don't know where to go next. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:02 | |
I do all sorts of elaborate things. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:04 | |
I move studios, or not paint the three months, or do something entirely different. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
I don't want to just chuck it all in because I can't get an idea. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
But, in the end, something happens | 0:10:11 | 0:10:13 | |
and you have to keep making through it. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:15 | |
I don't know where she'll go next. Her oil painting skills and sense of composition is getting stronger, | 0:10:15 | 0:10:21 | |
the way she's collaging these images together. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:23 | |
So I think maybe that's something that will be explored more deeply next time around. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:28 | |
HE WHISTLES | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
Every artist hits a wall at some point in their work. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
This is when you don't like what you've made and don't know what to do next. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:37 | |
When this happens, you should decide what you do and don't like about your artwork. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:42 | |
Then you can just take the good bits and avoid the bits you don't like next time. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
You might find you need to research or experiment more before you start again. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
So hitting a wall is good. It makes you a better artist. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:57 | |
Tim's determined to push himself into uncharted territory, | 0:10:59 | 0:11:03 | |
using paint instead of pencils. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
Stuart's fascinated to find out how Tim | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
is coping outside of his usual comfort zone. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
The reason why I wanted to move out of my comfort zone, with charcoal, | 0:11:11 | 0:11:16 | |
and later on, paint, is because I wanted to try something new. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:20 | |
Because you can't always stay the way you are, you've got to develop, evolve. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:24 | |
So how did you feel? Were you a bit intimidated at first by this charcoal? | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
It was something I haven't tried before, | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
so I was out of my comfort zone, I didn't know what I was doing. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
You're sort of trying to make it do what the pencil did, to an extent? | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
-I can't, because it is not pencil. -It's really loosened you up. -Yes. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
It's metaphorical and physical. I'm actually learning something, learning more about myself. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:46 | |
This is my next piece. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:49 | |
At this point, I was still using little brushes | 0:11:50 | 0:11:54 | |
and you can see it here. I was using little brushes. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
-Yes. I mean there is a kind of fussiness. -Yeah. -What happened after this? | 0:11:57 | 0:12:01 | |
-So I moved on to this... -Yes. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
..which was my painting of Nat King Cole. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
It's like a total break out. You really start express. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
You're using your whole body when you paint. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
I can't use those little brushes anymore. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
No, to get that mark there, to go like that, you need so much confidence. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:19 | |
-Force and... -Because now you're totally out of your comfort zone | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
and you don't mind to take a risk. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
You've got to trust yourself and go into it and just be like...whoosh! | 0:12:24 | 0:12:29 | |
Whenever you're making work, you can get complacent, | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
or you default back to a system of making things that works for you. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
I find that all the time with my work, where I get stuck in a rut | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
and I need some way to break through it and I need to try something else. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
It is really depressing sometimes when it doesn't happen and you try and force a change. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:49 | |
But, with Tim, it felt like a totally natural thing for him to do. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:54 | |
I think it's just going to carry on. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:56 | |
The thing I'm excited is, when he starts to discover colour properly, | 0:12:56 | 0:13:00 | |
because I think there is going to be a total explosion | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
of expressive, big, gestural painting that's going to be really good. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:08 | |
It's easy to get stuck in a comfort zone, | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
making art you're used to or good at. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:13 | |
But you're bound to get bored doing the same thing all the time | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
and maybe yearn for a bit of a challenge. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:20 | |
But getting bored is good, if it makes you try something new. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:24 | |
If you're used to drawing detailed miniatures, try big, expressive painting. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:28 | |
Or if you usually have to spend our hours finessing your work, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
give yourself a time limit, so you have to work fast and furiously - | 0:13:31 | 0:13:35 | |
whatever it takes to keep your creative juices flowing. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:38 | |
There's nothing Beth won't use to make her experimental art. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
She's toyed with watercolours, powder paints | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
and even salt, before settling on inks. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
Stuart's intrigued by what Beth has learnt from her experiments. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:54 | |
I've had to be aware of the inks being really unpredictable, | 0:13:54 | 0:13:59 | |
so I did two studies at the same time. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
So was that quite nerve-wracking, | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
because you didn't really know what the inks were going to do? | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
Um, it was, but it was quite exciting, as well. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
I just wanted to make sure that I'd experimented with every material | 0:14:11 | 0:14:18 | |
that I could have - on its own and then with other things - | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
just to see what different effects I could create and which ones I liked the best. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:26 | |
-And then you were ready to do your final piece after that? -Yeah. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
-This one over here. -Right. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:31 | |
Now, all of a sudden, | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
-you've got a portrait. It's a self-portrait. -Yeah. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
I suppose I was quite lucky with how that turned out, really, | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
because I hadn't done a lot of experimentation. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
That's what I was going to say. It's a big risk to decide that you are going to do | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
quite an accomplished, figurative oil painting of yourself, at the last minute. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:52 | |
With all the materials I was using, | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
I knew if I didn't like it, there would be a way of changing it. | 0:14:55 | 0:15:02 | |
-So it wasn't as risky as you might have initially thought? -Yeah. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
I must have used just about everything in my time, when I've been making my art. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:09 | |
Strange stuff. At its nuttiest, maybe, lentils and spray paint | 0:15:09 | 0:15:14 | |
and tarmac and feathers. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:15:17 | 0:15:18 | |
And, at its most normal, kind of, expensive oil paints | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
and linseed oil, maybe, and everything in between. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:25 | |
But I have to go through the process of playing with everything. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
I think it's important to remain playful and explore what is possible. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:33 | |
Because, you know, she's discovered a whole way of doing things | 0:15:33 | 0:15:37 | |
with these materials, that she's managed to bring together | 0:15:37 | 0:15:41 | |
into quite a complete and concise final piece. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
I don't think she'd have been able to do this if she hadn't endeavoured to do that other stuff. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:48 | |
Experimenting is great for finding the best material to work with. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:53 | |
There's the obvious materials, as well as the weirder stuff. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:58 | |
Blindly experimenting might be fun, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
but it's better to know what you want from your material. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
Make a note of what's good and what's bad, in case you forget. From all these experiments, | 0:16:05 | 0:16:11 | |
you'll eventually find the best material for your art. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
It might even be the material you started with. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
We've given Matt, Beth, Tim and Ashby hand-held cameras to film themselves over the next two months, | 0:16:20 | 0:16:26 | |
as they develop ideas for that scary ten-hour exam. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
If they get through it in one piece, they'll get the chance to hear what Stuart thinks of their artworks | 0:16:30 | 0:16:36 | |
and get to share their final pieces with friends and family at a special exhibition. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
Matt's chosen to develop his ideas around the topic of urban areas. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:46 | |
He has set himself the challenge of making his work a little less Banksy and a bit more Matt, | 0:16:46 | 0:16:52 | |
taking in influences a little closer to home. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:55 | |
I found some quite interesting colours in the sky. | 0:16:55 | 0:17:01 | |
I'm not sure if they'll come out on here, | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
but they really do work with my current unit. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
I'm exploring the idea that every area | 0:17:09 | 0:17:14 | |
is a rural area waiting to be revealed. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
Matt's widened his interests to include Scottish painter Jock McFadyen. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:20 | |
His work has been a major influence for me. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
His ideas - sense of abandonment, urban areas and big skies - | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
have helped my own work. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
My next idea was to develop the wall piece I've got here. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:34 | |
This developed into my David Hepher-style piece. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
I liked the textured background of his work | 0:17:37 | 0:17:39 | |
and I tried to put that into my own work. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
But he's not forgotten his favourite street artist. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
Another influence was Banksy. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
His work helped to develop these two pieces, as I like the hole in the wall idea. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:51 | |
Against the clock, Matt's challenge is to put his own stamp on his work before sitting the exam. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:57 | |
It's 7th of March, three weeks away from our exam, | 0:17:57 | 0:18:00 | |
and I thought I'd show you the current piece that I'm doing. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
These are two pieces I've been working on at the moment, | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
knocking through the wall reveals the rural area behind it. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
Taking inspiration from the red skies outside his bedroom window, | 0:18:09 | 0:18:14 | |
Matt's work is finally starting to feel a little more personal. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:18 | |
Ashby has chosen to develop her ideas around the theme of dance, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
something close to her heart, as a hardened majorette. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
This was the big routine that we're doing. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
I really liked it, because it was a lot of shapes I could photograph and see the movement in. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:34 | |
Like Matt, Ashby also looks to an artist for inspiration - | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
Edgar Degas. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
I've decided to focus on Degas, | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
because I really like the way he painted. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
Ashby's very organised this time, | 0:18:43 | 0:18:46 | |
doing a lot of prep work, to avoid hitting any walls. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:49 | |
I realised I needed to work on my features and my hands, because they weren't very clear. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:56 | |
As you can see, I did get a lot of out of these. | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
These are my before and after. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
I'm going to incorporate this kind of technique into my painting. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:07 | |
But it's not without the odd tantrum. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:10 | |
I developed this throughout all of my studies. It just kind of... | 0:19:10 | 0:19:15 | |
Oh, I don't know what I'm saying! Don't know! | 0:19:15 | 0:19:18 | |
With the final exam looming, Ashby reflects on her progress so far. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
So it's four days to the real ten-hour exam and I am really scared. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:28 | |
But I think I am well prepared for it. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:32 | |
I did a lot of prep work. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
I didn't hit any walls, which was lucky, but, touch wood, | 0:19:35 | 0:19:40 | |
I don't in the next four days. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
Tim's chosen to develop his ideas around his family tree | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
and starts by trying to find the true meaning of heritage. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:51 | |
What is the meaning of your family tree? Is it where you are from | 0:19:51 | 0:19:55 | |
or the life that you've been living and where you were brought up? | 0:19:55 | 0:20:01 | |
Or is it where your family is from? | 0:20:01 | 0:20:02 | |
This is a painting I'm doing right now. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:04 | |
Tim has pushed himself even further out of his comfort zone | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
by introducing colour to his artwork. But is it a step too far? | 0:20:07 | 0:20:12 | |
I found it quite difficult when I started this painting, | 0:20:13 | 0:20:16 | |
because I'm so used to using black and white. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
And I wasn't really sure what colours to use. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
Tim's inspired by Chinese artist Zhang Yuan's snapshot style, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:26 | |
but wants to take it to the next level by adding a splash of colour. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
I got pictures of my family and started to think of how | 0:20:29 | 0:20:33 | |
I could put them together for an overall painting at the end. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:37 | |
This is a very ambitious piece. There are lots of family portraits to paint against the clock | 0:20:37 | 0:20:42 | |
in the exam and Tim is already making the leap from black and white to colour. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:47 | |
He's going to have to be pretty prompt to paint so many pictures in just ten hours. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:52 | |
-Hi, Beth. -Hello. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
Beth has also chosen to develop her ideas around the theme of her family tree | 0:20:55 | 0:21:00 | |
and is being typically experimental. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:02 | |
I volunteered my friend Ellen and my friend Katie, who I'm going to paint in a minute. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:08 | |
In a way, I'm sort of creating twins out of them. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
I'm looking at the fact that people can look so alike, but be so different. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
Don't worry, it comes off. I tried it last night! | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
I'm just experimenting with different ways of showing their emotions. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:23 | |
She looks like she has a red beard. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:24 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
OK, so this is Ellen fully painted. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
I'm going to take a picture like did earlier. Think of something sad. Just feel depressed. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:35 | |
Beth takes photos of her painted friends to use as source material back in the art room. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:41 | |
-BETH GIGGLES -That one's horrible. -It's creepy, isn't it? | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
-It doesn't even look like you. -That's extremely scary. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:48 | |
I am, sort of, halfway through this next piece that I'm doing. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:54 | |
And I'm looking at the idea of the double image or twins. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:58 | |
Yeah, I'll have to see how that turns out. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
Unhappy with her progress, Beth changes her mind. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:04 | |
She's losing confidence in her experimental approach and abandons her work, half-finished, | 0:22:04 | 0:22:08 | |
to make a last-minute u-turn, deciding instead on a much subtler style. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:13 | |
But will Beth's late change of heart leave her underprepared for the exam? | 0:22:13 | 0:22:17 | |
With preparations complete, Matt, Beth, Tim and Ashby | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
head into the daunting ten-hour art exam to create their final piece. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:31 | |
The students have two sessions, split over two days. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
Starting with a blank canvas on day one, they paint against the clock | 0:22:34 | 0:22:38 | |
and have to submit their final pieces at the end of day two. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:42 | |
The exam marks the end of their GCSE art course. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:45 | |
They can do nothing more after this point to improve their grades. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:49 | |
Now I've finished everything. I've done my prep work and my exam. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:54 | |
And everything went very well. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:56 | |
I think the main reason for that was all my prep work I did, | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
all the experiments. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:02 | |
Looking back, there were a few things I would have done differently. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:05 | |
Mainly, I would have done more preparation for it | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
and experimented more with ideas and stuff. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
Looking back on the actual exam, I was quite pleased with how the exam piece went. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:15 | |
Erm, I'm glad it's all over. | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
With the exam complete, | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
it's the day of the students' first public exhibition. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:25 | |
We've invited Brit artist Stuart Semple back, to see how far the students have progressed. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
We let him in early for a sneak preview of their final pieces. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
First up, Stuart reacquaints himself with Ashby's work. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:39 | |
Did her thorough preparations stop her from hitting a wall? | 0:23:39 | 0:23:43 | |
It's really come on miles from the stuff I saw her do last time. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:48 | |
The way she's using her materials, there's a whole new confidence to it, | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
in the way she is applying the paint itself. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
I think really it's just a beautiful, beautiful painting she's made. It sort of glows. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:59 | |
Next up is Matt. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:01 | |
Did he manage to finally put his own stamp on his work? | 0:24:01 | 0:24:05 | |
Matt's final piece seems so much more ambitious, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
but I don't really see what Matt sees on his doorstep coming into this, | 0:24:09 | 0:24:14 | |
which I think it, kind of, should, really. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
Stuart was impressed by Tim's earlier work, | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
but felt that he had a lot to do against the clock in the exam. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
Oh, Tim, I think he's let me down a little bit here. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:26 | |
I was expecting a really big, expressive, explosive painting, | 0:24:26 | 0:24:30 | |
like the Nat King Cole one we saw before. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:33 | |
It seems what he has done is introduce the colour to the work, | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
which is his way of challenging himself. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:40 | |
Maybe it has distracted him a bit too much from the core issue, which was how he put down the paint. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:45 | |
And, finally, Beth. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
Stuart loved her playful approach to experimentation, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
but what will he think of her u-turn back to safer ground? | 0:24:51 | 0:24:55 | |
Beth was at a real crossroads with her work. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:57 | |
The prep work is actually a lot more experimental | 0:24:57 | 0:25:01 | |
and, in a lot of ways, for me, a lot more interesting than her final piece. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
It seems a lot braver. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
In the final piece, she's really reined herself in. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
She's taken herself to the extreme and then walked back a few steps. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:14 | |
I think, maybe she's walked back a little bit too far. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:18 | |
Matt, Beth, Tim and Ashby are joined by their friends and family for the exhibition. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:25 | |
This is the first time their artworks have been on public display. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
And the students get another chance | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
to meet their chief critic Stuart, to hear what he thinks of their creations. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:35 | |
-Ashby, you've got to be really happy with that. It's come out really well. -Yes, in the end, I was. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:41 | |
During the exam, I wasn't. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:42 | |
-I had a few temper tantrums. -Did you? | 0:25:42 | 0:25:46 | |
-You didn't hit one of your walls, did you? -No, I didn't. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
-I didn't hit any walls, luckily, this time. -What went wrong? | 0:25:49 | 0:25:52 | |
I hadn't drawn my scale out right and the legs | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
were too long for the body and the head was too small. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
So then I'm going, "It's rubbish, I might as well go home now." | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
-You can't tell. I can't see it. -I managed to fix it in the end. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
-How did the exam go? -I think it was my best exam yet. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
And you can see the inspiration, you can see the Jock McFadyen thing, | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
the Banksy wall. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
Yes, I tried to put as much that I'd learned from other artists into it | 0:26:16 | 0:26:20 | |
and then develop it into my own techniques and own ideas. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:25 | |
It's a lot of freer than some of the stuff I saw. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
In the exam, I was still experimenting on other pieces of paper | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
and I liked dripping, running down lines. Really rough. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
-Some of this is lovely. -Rough, like the spray paint up the edge. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
-Laid it on thick and stood it up, so it ran down. -That's the economy if it. It's a very quick gesture. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:42 | |
-It's quite brave to do in the exam. -Yes! | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
I think one of the things I really love about this drawing | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
is it's still got that expressive kind of mark-making | 0:26:49 | 0:26:53 | |
gesture that I loved when I saw the other stuff. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:55 | |
When you've got to your bigger piece, it doesn't seem quite as expressive. You've reined it in a little bit. | 0:26:55 | 0:27:01 | |
When I saw the artist Zhang Yuan, I thought I'd definitely want to do that, | 0:27:01 | 0:27:06 | |
but didn't think about how long it takes to do those paintings. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:10 | |
Those paintings - it takes him a month to finish one. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
What I found in some of the exploratory work I saw of yours | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
was these really striking, kind of, | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
quite aggressive colours, these red faces. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:23 | |
It wasn't something that I felt was really personal | 0:27:23 | 0:27:26 | |
to me, so I think that's mainly what led me away from it. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
I think I was a bit worried about putting the ink on, then not being happy in how it turned out. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:33 | |
-Did you feel that you held back, for the sake of the exam? -Yeah. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:38 | |
Matt, Beth, Tim and Ashby have come to the end of their journey through GCSE art. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:43 | |
They all survived that daunting ten-hour exam, | 0:27:43 | 0:27:48 | |
but how did they feel about Stuart's final feedback? | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
It's been great having Stuart look at my work, because he's been giving me the advice I wanted | 0:27:51 | 0:27:56 | |
and needed to help me develop my art style. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:57 | |
I've definitely taken it on board. I know that I need to loosen up | 0:27:57 | 0:28:01 | |
a bit more and maybe work bigger. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
It's been interesting, but scary, having Stuart look at my work, | 0:28:03 | 0:28:08 | |
because, obviously, he is a professional, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:10 | |
so he knows what he's talking about | 0:28:10 | 0:28:12 | |
and he's shown me what my strengths and weaknesses are. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
The experience has been excellent. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
It's made me really confident in my own work. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:19 | |
Really encouraged me to push forward with my art and get somewhere in life. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
It's been so nice having someone's opinion who is so successful. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:27 | |
Yeah, it's been really, really great. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:29 | |
It's been amazing meeting the students and getting to know them | 0:28:29 | 0:28:32 | |
and see how they make their work. I've enjoyed every minute. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
I really hope they are going to carry on making their work | 0:28:35 | 0:28:38 | |
and we see one or two really strong artists come out of here. | 0:28:38 | 0:28:42 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
If you're interested in developing your artistic skills, | 0:28:50 | 0:28:53 | |
go to... | 0:28:53 | 0:28:57 |