1980s – part 3
NO SAFE WAYS
After my film ‘IS THAT IT ?’ I was penniless again but very lucky to get an artist in residence grant from Jenny Lomax in the educational department of the Whitechapel Art Gallery.
I worked in Lauriston Primary school. We liked the very much loved and progressive headteacher there, Richard Lewes.
He provided excellent conditions for an exciting project and here and in this way I really enjoyed working with children.
I took little groups of them out of their lessons and introduced them to games using a video camera, often passing the camera on between them.
Central point for them to understand was the camera, with the lens in front and the viewing screen in the back, that they could look at. I explained the relationship between our eyes and our brain / our memory. They slowly got used to filming effects and to record what they had built.
Then they wrote their own stories, made masks and marionettes and performed. The results at the end of the year were performances during lunch breaks and a Super 8 and video film shown to the parents.
The Supermarket SAFEWAYS was very near. We went there to get a trolly for our project. The children’s stories were of:
crying babies,
unfair bicycle races,
parents unable to cope with a disruptive child,
fights in the classroom and bullying and other difficult situations.
I must have encouraged them to talk about difficulties but was surprised about what they came up with.
My response was the title
NO SAFE WAYS
To deal with life-size marionettes needed at least one child operating it. The puppets became an extension of themselves.
Everything was openly displayed and changed if necessary by the pupils themselves. These adjustments and related talks kept them engaged and for me were the part of keeping control.
After this project I was kindly offered a teaching post. I considered the option but didn’t feel qualified.
Instead, and for the time being, I took a job as a supply teacher in Mandeville Primary School in Hackney. It was an eye-opener in terms of the difficulties I came across. I admired the head, though. My life would have taken a very different course if I had gone on to become a teacher in Hackney.
It had changed anyway as our daughter Louise was born in 1986. Jo needed a complete break from Four Corners and a clear change and she had the urge to live out of London, where she had been brought up.
We explored Shropshire, found by chance an unused barn, sold our lovely ‘new’ house off Vicky Park and lived for 2 years in a caravan while converting a stone barn building.
Jo’s sister and brother-in-law, both architects in Liverpool, helped us with the planning and in many other ways. I negotiated a full-time job in The German School in London from 1988 onwards, lived in bedsits and became a weekend daddy.
Teaching in German, the earnings and timetables set to my favour and last but not least the periods of holidays made this commuting worth doing. I was grateful to The German School London for having me.