They wanted me to work with kids at Tower Hill Primary school to create a 'Fairtrade Warrior', which would go in their Pop-up shop on Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, for 2 weeks, to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight.
They had pretty specific ideas about what they wanted the model to look like. It was to be on a plinth, 7ft tall, have a shield, and be a kind of 'Mayan' inspired humanoid figure, decorated by the kids in fairtrade packaging. They gave me a full brief, explained it had to be transportable aswell, and we had a few meetings about it.
My main concern was that I'm not a 'traditional' sculptor, and this sort of thing is out of my comfort zone. I haven't sculpted a human figure since A level, and certainly not one on this scale! I voiced my concerns to them, but they assured me it was just a bit of fun, and was mainly to get the kids involved in a creative Fairtrade project. I thought it sounded like a good challenge and was keen to give it a go, so it was agreed I'd have a week (!) to make it.
I really didn't have much of a clue of where to start, so I did some research, went to an amazing modelling shop (http://www.tiranti.co.uk/- would really recommend it, the staff were so helpful despite clearly thinking I was nuts!) and came up with a plan for a wooden 'stick man' inner structure, padded out with polystyrene, expanding foam and chicken wire, and plaster over the top!
Our stick man...!
I worked night and day in the basement of their offices for a solid week, and certainly came across a few obstacles along the way, but it was so much fun. Tom from Trading Visions and Sara from Dubble chocolate (a branch of Divine) who I dealt with mainly were such a pleasure to work with and we all kept a good sense of humour about it. It was honestly one of the most enjoyable jobs I've had, as it was so unlike anything I've ever done, and it was great to be involved in a project that wasn't taken too seriously.
It was also really interesting for me to learn more about Fairtrade. I got to meet some of the Farmers from Ghana which was amazing, and it made me realise how worthwhile the work of Fairtrade companies is.
We also made it into a local newspaper- unfortunately our warrior wasn't quite finished here but there's some pics of the kids with him: http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/6656?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SE1newstwitter+%28SE1+news+for+Twitter%29
So here he is, our crazy warrior, made in a week:
In all his glory with his shield, at the Pop-up shop
They decided to make him carrying a shopping basket of Fairtrade products
A proud sculptor!
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