Solar Punk for the Future?

Visiting artists impart graphic communications learning

Although this is the last week of school, learning continues and in Secondary Art, we’ve had some wonderful visitors. Three graphic communications specialists visited Bangkok Patana School to work with some Year 9 English, some Year 10 Art students and all of Year 8 on a story-telling workshop using graphic communication skills. Between them, the specialists, Boris, Irvandy and Shen work across graphic communications, advertising, illustration, storyboarding and comic book art, as well as public art. The theme for the project was ‘Solar Punk’: creating visions of a possible future, powered by sustainable energies and students were able to relate by imagining what their school and their school day might look like in the future.

Boris and Irvandy represent bkkunzine and Childish Studio Berlin respectively. Bkkunzine is an online magazine, open to all age groups, where young artists can submit their work and collaborate to create themes that can be exhibited and published. Childish Studio works on public art projects, giving young people a voice to make social improvements; for example, addressing needs for more green space or safety in their neighbourhoods. You can see the work of Shen across social media platforms using the handle @shemination.

During the sessions, students had a lot of fun learning how to use their imagination and playfulness to pitch ideas using graphic communication skills, with a focus on 2D poster collage mock-ups, 3D small scale models and maquettes and stop-start animations. There were also some holistic skills to be learned, such as: teamwork, delegation, respectful communication of creative ideas and presenting their ideas in a way that celebrated all participants; the latter quite a challenge in groups of between 3 and 6 students.

On Wednesday there was a popup exhibition opening at the Reflection Pool to celebrate the work completed during the sessions.