ROCK PAPER SCISSORS Sadie St Hilaire 1 Sep 2021 – 31 Jul 2023 Back Sadie St Hilaire worked with Year 3 at Charlotte Sharman Primary School on a ROCK PAPER SCISSORS in-school project, over the Summer Term, 2022. The project imagined a utopian island. Children first made abstract images from which they would access their dreams, as a way to generate ideas and visualise somewhere other-worldly. They also foraged for plants and objects around the school site, transforming their findings through playful processes to envision flora and fauna on the island. Marble drawings, cyanotypes and a riso-mono print technique allowed children to reassess their ideas of a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ drawing, working towards an enormous collaborative island. On the final session, the school hall became an exhibition of work and the large-scale island was paraded down from the classroom on the 3rd floor to present to parents and other school children in the playground. Sadie also unpacked a suitcase of zines for the class, as well as bundles of new materials for them to continue drawing over during their summer holidays! Sadie St. Hilaire is an artist working across animation, illustration and print in participatory contexts. She runs the Big Family Press, a child-led risograph press now based in Old Manor Park Library, bringing children and communities into a dialogue with artists to publish, archive and amplify young people’s experiences and perspectives on the world. Other projects include: Bad Drawing Club, South London Gallery; Down Up Down Up, a social distancing school with Galdem and Goldsmiths Animations; Windrush Suitcases with ACAVA. Thank you to all involved: Children of Year 3, Charlotte Sharman Primary School Andrew May, Headteacher, Charlotte Sharman Primary School Betsy Dadd, Learning Curator, Drawing Room Genevieve Miller, Learning Coordinator, Drawing Room Laura Nicholls, Teacher, Charlotte Sharman Primary School Lynn Newlyn, Teachers Assistant, Charlotte Sharman Primary School Sadie St Hilaire, Artist Shanaz Ali, Workshop Assistant, Drawing Room Solomon Williams, Workshop Assistant, Drawing Room Srikanth Jeyaparam, Workshop Assistant, Drawing Room Scrapbook The children felt really valued in the project and enjoyed the freedom to be creative with no right or wrong answers. There were lots of ‘wow’ moments, like when they first did the cyanotype printing. They also became more free and resilient in their making over time, not worrying about ‘doing it wrong. Laura Nichols, Teacher ‘It’s like magic and science.’ Naheem, child I want my island to look like Bangladesh. child It doesn’t look like a leaf, it’s art! Michelle,, child You have to be kind to your drawings as you have just brought them into the world! Sadie St. Hilaire, Artist