Response & Invention

This Spring Seacourt is launching an exciting and innovative new project, connecting the four secondary schools in Bangor through the medium of printmaking. 

The project had been kindly funded by Bangor Marine and Arts & Business NI, and will bring together 32 students from Bangor Academy, Bangor Grammar, Glenlola Collegiate and St.Columbanus College.

The programme is shaped and inspired by the work and philosophy of the German artist Gerd Winner, whose practice has long examined how art can create conversations around place, architecture and regeneration. 

Each school has been assigned a professional artist who will visit the students in the classroom, lead an explorative field study day, and support the students thereafter in the process of art making and the production of a set of original screen prints and etchings.  Each student will be encouraged to explore Bangor’s built environment, heritage and future potential and engage with the city around them. 

We have used the model behind KELPRA print studio and their various collaborations with artists (including Gerd Winner) as a valuable resource, specifically in how printmaking can bring a layer of richness to the process of art making. The artist brings a vision, and the printmaker helps bring this vision to life through specialised skills in the print workshop. Through a process of testing, sampling and decision making the work comes together as a truly collaborative piece. Whilst the work is ‘authored by the artist’ it only exists as a result of a sophisticated process of collaboration. 

This project also marks the beginning of a process for Seacourt to devise a new model of practice for delivering education projects. We base this on the belief that a highly creative framework, an artist who can share their practice and an empowered student creates an environment for impactful outcomes and great art making. (Particularly in an environment where agenda free creativity is becoming ever rarer.)

The programme will culminate in an exhibition at Seacourt this December, where final artworks will be framed and hung alongside a selection of Gerd Winner prints. The students will all benefit from the experience of being an exhibiting artist, and share this with family and friends. With input from Bangor Marine Ltd, the students will gain valuable knowledge on the complexity of regeneration processes and the many different professional functions that are part of changing a city like ours. 

Through this project we are also given a fresh new perspective through the eyes of these young people – the generation that will use, engage with, and enjoy this new Bangor for years to come. We are glad to see the latest plans, with additions that will attract young people, and we welcome the investment in an improved Bangor.

Seacourt will continue to play our part in the city’s regeneration and encourage people to come back to our Main Street. 

For the GCSE pupils taking part, it’s an exciting, new way of learning. Cooper Bingham from Bangor Academy said:

“I love photography, so this is a great chance to develop my skills further through printmaking. I’m excited to capture some of Bangor’s forgotten buildings as they are now, before they begin to change. It feels like we’re recording a piece of history that we’ll be able to look back on in the future.”

We’re incredibly grateful to Arts & Business NI and Bangor Marine Ltd for their support, as well as the schools, artists and printmakers involved, in helping to make this project possible.

Take a look at the official press release and up to date plans from Bangor Marine here.

Images courtesy of Bangor Marine and Gerd Winner Estate.