African Roots - Meditations Beneath Duppycherry Tree

This Art and Design - Unit of Work, with a short video focuses on the Jamaican sculpture, George’ Fowokan’ Kelly. Subjects: History, English, Art & Design & Technology, with links to Geography Computing and PSHE, for Key Stage 3, Year 9 students.
In April 2014 Fowokan shared his journey from musician to acclaimed self- taught sculptor and artist with Year 9 students at Burlington Danes Academy in West London. The focus of the session was the all-important spiritual connection with his African roots, culture and heritage as revealed in his sculpture, Meditations Beneath Duppycherry Tree. Under the guidance of Yvonne Bell (Art Teacher & Director of Pastoral Intervention) the students took part in a series of Art and Design lessons inspired by Fowokan’s sculpture for the Heritage Lottery funded project Jamaica Hidden Histories. The Aims of the project are:

To know about great artists, craft makers and designers and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

To produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences

To become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.

This unit of work is based on six double lessons of 90 minutes. The overarching learning aim is for students to learn the value of working through a structured series of activities and media, using photographs to create an image to develop into 3 dimensional clay sculptures.

The pack includes students worksheets, individual pieces of work, and testimonials .