20 July 2009
Don McAllister, Driver/Operator/Presenter
National Science-Technology Roadshow Trust
Hi everyone, My name is Don and I’m one of the lucky people to have the chance to take the trailers into the schools and experience first hand just how much these collections both inspire our future artists.
Though we predominantly cater to year nine and up; we have had the pleasure to host all the way down to year ones (little darlings with their arms folded and wandering round in a long line; they cant help but bring a smile to my face).
I have seen sketches in the sketchbooks that prove the talent exists on a very high caliber within even the younger classes of year nine through to year thirteen. Head of departments are taking substantial time to research works prior to our arrival and huge pains to place us in the best possible positions for systems to work to the advantage of all involved.
From the opening at Auckland Viaduct through to the end of term 2 it has been a pleasure and I personally gain an appreciation of the value of what I am involved with. What a great collection of people; from the Real Art Charitable Trust, The Science and Technology Roadshow Trust, the artists, the display designers and the schools which make a huge team! But most of all, the lady that had a dream who is the backbone of the whole organisation: Fiona had a dream and we all now enjoy the results of that dream in reality!
25 March 2009
Hi, I’m Fiona Campbell, director of the Real Art Roadshow. Welcome to my Real Art Roadshow blog.
What’s it about
Real Art Roadshow (RAR) is all about bringing art to the kids in a democratic, unscary, user friendly way. My team and I have been working on this project for 3 years now and the launch we had in Auckland in February 09 was the party to mark the end of the planning phase and the start of the full delivery phase.
The history of RAR is outlined in my speech that I gave in Auckland. But I would like to again express gratitude to my team. They make the project so personally rewarding to work on. I was never much of a team player at school and pretty much thought everyone else was an idiot. It has been nice to lose that prejudice!
The art collection
One of the most fun aspects of the project was putting together the collection. This involved many visits to dealer galleries, auction houses and, most interestingly, artist’s studios. I have made some good friends in the industry over the 3 years, which is a great side effect of RAR. I look forward to seeing established artists try new things and emerging artists go from strength to strength during the life span of the project. Being an artist is not an easy road, but for some of these dedicated people it is the only road to personal fulfilment. Often it is a choice to live well holistically but perhaps not financially. If the Real Art Roadshow helps to promote their work then that is another great spin off from the project.
The trucks
Now some might say that I am a bit of a petrol head. Some would be right! So owning one of New Zealand’s coolest and biggest trailer units is… cool! We hire the black trailer from Dave, Ian and the team at National Science-Technology Roadshow Trust. It’s a great trailer and was pivotal in us being able to get our partial show on the road in 2007. We decided early on though that the full project would be two collections and two rigs. We went in to months of design work with the team at Astrolite Motor Bodies and came up with a trailer that was easier to use and sexier to look at. Looking good is important, no really! You have to create excitement with the students so they can fully prepare for the project and rocking up to school in a huge silver rig does make an impression.
The resources
Another fun part of the project (actually it’s all pretty much fun!) has been putting the resources together. We wanted resources that the kids would love using and resources that the teachers would promote the use of. The feedback so far has been very positive, especially towards the Big Book of Essays (the BBE). Putting a book together is always a major undertaking. There are always writers, photographers, designers, editors and printers to deal with. In each BBE (there is one for each collection) we had 64 artists to co-ordinate with to. Sometimes it was a little like herding cats but Tanya from Mission Hall did an amazing job patiently teasing all the relevant paperwork out of all the artists. The result is a resource with fab pictures of the art works and essays that are written in a style that promotes learning and research rather than an off-putting load of art drivel.
Where do we go?
The short answer is everywhere. We did our trial period in Wellington and stuck to the major areas so we could easily get to the project and monitor how it was received. For the city schools with no parking we went to Parliament and stayed there for a week. That was great, lots of the politicians came and had a bit of a look during their breaks and we were able to service 5 inner city schools as well as be open to the public. We then started 2008 in the south of the South while the weather was good (I didn’t fancy the art skidding off the road on some icy South Island pass) and then made our way north. This year we have had both trailers in Auckland so we can go to as many of the Auckland schools as possible. We set the route well in advance then check the schools for access and keenness closer to the time of the visit. It is hard because we only have two rigs and there are over 600 secondary schools nationwide. We can only visit approximately 120 schools per year so we do like to first go to schools where access to good public collections is limited or non-existent.
The future
We are hoping to run this project for 10 years. In that time we will need help with funding. If you would like to sponsor us in anyway please either make a donation through the donations page or get in touch with us directly. We will look to refresh the collection in 3 or 4 years time as the art will be working hard in the schools and some of it will need a holiday. Plus, there are often better examples of an artists work for sale at different times, or works that are more relevant that we can replace others with. And it allows us to make more fun visits to artists etc!