Last week, I spent a day in Westminster City School with artist Shepherd Manyika co-facilitating a workshop for Art on the Underground inspired by Larry Achiampong’s commission at Westminster tube station. We worked with 22 x Year 10 students from across London and from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
Shep began with a quick fire drawing activity rotating around a large table to get students warmed up, to get to know them, and to free them up from owning their work. Then we introduced Art on the Underground, Larry Achiampong’s commission and Shep as a practicing artist. Using sketchbooks, Shep took them through a mapping exercise using words thinking about their journey to school that morning from waking, and then overlaying with a drawing.
We all walked to Westminster tube station - thinking about our journey along the way - to see Larry Achiampong’s commission which is a reinterpretation of the iconic London Underground Roundel in pan-African colours with 7 designs throughout the station. We spent time looking for the different designs, choosing a favourite to draw, and thinking about how each one makes us feel. The students used words like camouflage, jungle, tiger and unity. We also discussed how public art in a tube station differs to seeing art in a gallery.
Afterwards, we did some sketching in Parliament Square focusing on shapes and colours in iconic London or British designs such as buildings, street signs, buses, uniforms and telephone boxes.
After lunch, we shared our sketchbooks from the morning and each student started to map out a poster design in response to a brief with two parts:
the redesign of an iconic London or British design in a way that changes its meaning and makes you feel more represented both culturally and personally;
the idea of ‘sankofa’ - using the past to prepare for the future.
We shared some of the students initial designs and talked through the next steps before ending the day. The students will continue working on their designs for the next few weeks both at home and at school, before submitting them with one being selected as a winner to be designed up as a poster to be displayed in Westminster tube station for a month.
For more information about Larry Achiampong’s commission does Art on the Underground see here
Talking about Larry Achiampong’s commission. Photo: Benedict Johnson