Help for Heroes Ceramics and Landscape Masterclass

Help for Heroes

Ceramics and Landscape Masterclass

On Sunday 14th March Repton School undertook a totally new type of fundraising, in the form of a charity Art Class. The aim was to raise as much money as possible for the school Lent Charity, which this year was Help for Heroes. Our money was going directly to Headley Court, a brand new state of the art rehabilitation centre for servicemen and women returning from active service. Having spent the best part of the Lent Term organising the fundraiser, when the day finally arrived I was shocked by how smoothly it all went. We had 14 people in total who came to do the class, which ran from 10 am until 5.30 pm, covering landscape painting and the ancient art of Raku firing.

In the morning, half the group did Raku while the other half did Landscape painting. The painters had a red canvas to work on, and under Mr Bournon’s tutelage they accomplished some fantastic pieces. The red canvas was chosen to work on as the red is complementary to the greens which were to be used for the painting, and this technique gave a depth and vividness to the finished pieces. Mr Bournon interspersed the session with three mini lectures on colour, composition and technique.

While the landscape class was running, the other half sat down to undertake ceramics with Mr Wheeldon. Each participant was given a tile to work on, and applied layers of slip and glaze before engraving a design to the central panel. These tiles were then taken outside to be fired and smoked, and the participants looked on as their designs appeared on the tiles, seemingly engraved in smoke.

During the lunch break I got a chance to have a chat with some of the participants, who all seemed to reflect on how great it was to finally get in the Art School and experience what it has to offer. One parent said that she was glad to get a chance to receive some of the teaching that she had been paying for since her daughter had started Repton.

The afternoon saw the groups swapping over, and after harassing the participants into drinking gallons of coffee, they were able to take home a painting and a Raku tile which they had made. To see all of the planning come together to produce what was a very successful day was really satisfying, but I’m not sure my sanity could take organising another! The day was a huge success, raising a net total of £840 for Help for Heroes, which is a truly deserving cause.

Editor's Note: Many thanks to Katy Strong for having the vision and commitment to organise such a succesful fundraising event and to Mr Bournon for giving his time so freely and letting others benefit from his many talents!