Artist: Ann Henderson
Teachers: Julie Orr and Judith White

For the past thirteen years, teachers Judith White and Julie Orr, their P2 and P5 pupils, from Ballydown Primary School and artist, Ann Henderson, have been working together online.

Their collaborative process is experimental and exploratory, with the various participants informing its shape – from P2 Hand Drawing recipes to the P5 Inside Outside process.

Julie, Judith and Ann all use the collaborative element as a way of extending their own practice, as teachers and artist. They not only embrace this inter-colleague exchange, but they also rigorously protect, and nurture the opportunities for the pupils to influence the process – and the children, in turn, constantly advance the work in unpredictable ways!

Conversation plays a vital role within the project. Open spaces are safeguarded, where everyone’s thoughts and opinions are valued, with all the participants involved in a process of ongoing questioning.

One important benefit of the virtual process is that it enables the group to engage with intimate and ‘slow’ processes happening within Ann’s studio, e.g. year-old potato Peeling Drawings. This enriches the exchange yet further.

This self-determined organic process affords all the participants an invigorating freedom within an ever challenging educational context.