Which Way is Up? is a set of ‘playing’ cards designed to explore new ways of teaching and making art within the school environment. Acting as imaginative prompts, the cards aim to support experimentation and creative risk-taking in the classroom whilst also developing individual artistic practice – whether used by an artist, teacher, or student.
How do they work?
Each of the 36 cards has a front and a back. The front of the card contains an action, an invitation to step outside of the current task. It aims to take the user away from the work, both physically and imaginatively, and widen the scope for experimentation. The back of the card, highlighted by the coloured border, looks to return focus to the task at hand – prompting the user to reflect on new perspectives or ways of making.
There is no ‘right’ way to use these cards. Their form is playful and adaptive by design. They might offer support when facing a block and in need of inspiration – for example, when stuck on a piece of work in the classroom, when searching for ideas for a lesson plan, or when at a loose end in the studio. They can also be used with others, as part of a group exercise or a game. Explore the results of mixing and matching the prompts, or use the slots in each card to stack them together to create different shapes and reveal new connections.
Who are they for?
These cards are for teachers, students, artists, or anyone who wants to go off track, down the rabbit hole, get lost and widen their creative field of vision, before being sent back to their work with renewed energy and new ideas.
Which Way is Up? was created by artist and teacher Hannah Rennie, artist Shepherd Manyika, and Cement Fields as part of From Other Gardens, a project supported by Freelands Foundation. Through a series of collaborative exchanges and in-depth, discursive workshops with students at Highsted Grammar School, the project explored the idea of radical art practice within the school environment, and considered how you can make space for risk and experimentation and question the established norms of art teaching, the curriculum and learning.
Card design by Rose Nordin.
If you or your school art department would like to receive the set of cards, please contact dan@cementfields.org
For more information on Cement Fields’ learning programmes and to express your interest in being involved in future opportunities, please contact: learning@cementfields.org.