From Sculpture to Scul?ture...

Great sculptures these. The effect of the silver and gold, and the range of activities in the collection is really effective.

They were made by second year pupils at Merkland School, East Dunbartonshire where they've been finding out about Giovanni Giacometti and creating their own 'Man and...' sculptures.

On a visit to the school today, the teachers told me of their plans for the S2 pupils to move on to the work of George Wyllie now.

Their Art & Design teacher will be helping them to explore George's scul?tures and the pupils will be creating their own. The theme will be birds, so we looked at the multitude of bird scul?tures created by the artist for inspiration. Both the Art & Design and the English teacher appreciated the humour as well as the work and its messages.

It was an exciting meeting, hearing their plans.

We also looked at some of George's poetry... A Bird is Not A Stone, Ode to a Safety-Pin...

The pupils will be writing their own poems and getting involved in dramatising it.

Their sculptures will be transferred to the Mitchell once they're ready, along with their poems and images of their drama.

They're also planning a trip to the exhibition in Glasgow so they can place their own class boat in the 'Boat Shed', bringing a paper boat each for the 'Last Launch'.

It was great to welcome Merkland on board! The plans sound excellent.
We're just waiting to see what they create...

If the Giacometti inspired work is anything to go by, this should be good.