However old we are, we have a deep, instinctive need to make a mark, interact and be playful and responsive to materials. Our capacity for creativity is behind every invention, innovation and idea throughout time – as well as behind every artist and work of art in Tate.
Come and (re) discover your creativity through this simple workshop and installation by Room 13 Hareclive, an artists’ studio in Hartcliffe, south Bristol, co-run by children. Using one of the most raw, elemental materials there is – clay – we invite you to use your hands, sculpt, make marks, interact. Nothing is right or wrong. All mess, wrong moves, false starts, dead ends are an essential part of the creative process. See what thoughts, memories, ideas and artworks emerge and chat to others who are doing the same.
While you work and play, find out about the experience of creativity in Room 13 Hareclive, and other Room 13s around the world in images, sound and text. Listen to the sound of children working things out and see what hands and ideas can do. Be inspired by the words of children and adults about the importance of the creative process to learning, life and art.
And finally, have your say. With arts and creativity being squeezed out and undervalued in education, what is being lost? How will this impact on children themselves, and later in art and society? What needs to be fought for?
This event is programmed by Room 13 Hareclive, a Tate Exchange Associate.
About Room 13 Hareclive
Room 13 Hareclive is an independent artists’ studio based in the grounds of Hareclive E-ACT Academy (primary) in Hartcliffe, south Bristol, run by children and adults working together. It is a creative hub where transformations – materials, ideas, personal and community – have been taking place since 2003.
Children age 5 –11 can use the studio at breaks and in school time, where agreed with teachers, to draw, paint, experiment with materials, make, read and work on the computer. They’re free to follow their own creative ideas and projects, in their own way, at their own pace.
Each year, children in Years 5/6 are appointed – by their peers – to the new Management Team to run the studio. Together they order materials, run a shop, manage enterprise projects, write emails and letters, raise funds, and make sure the space is inclusive and working for everyone.
Hareclive is one of the oldest, most established Room 13 spaces in the world (100+ internationally) and we’re regularly visited by researchers and practitioners from many countries.
