Pupils at Wallbrook Primary Academy got creative with spray paint and stencils when professional graffiti artist Steve ‘Graffoflage’ Edwards joined them for a hands-on art workshop.
Edwards worked with pupils in Years 5 and 6 as part of their Explore, Excite, Excel (E3L) theme, Framed, which explores different artistic styles through the work of three key artists: Banksy, Gaudí and Gormley. As part of the theme, learners explored whether graffiti should be considered art or vandalism, before creating their own artwork to represent topics that matter to them.
During the session, the children designed and made their own stencils before using paint cans to create a new sign for the Academy’s outdoor forest area. They experimented with colour, shapes and nature-inspired imagery, bringing their individual ideas together to create a large-scale piece for the school.
The children were excited to work alongside a professional artist and enjoyed sharing their designs and seeing their ideas become part of the finished piece.
Edwards is a freelance artist who works across a range of artistic disciplines and styles, from street art to fine art, often drawing inspiration from the natural world. His distinctive Graffolarge style fuses camouflage with graffiti, bringing together his background in surface pattern design with abstract street art.
His work developed to focus on creatures and animals following a commission for the Dulux ‘Let’s Paint’ project. Edwards has also created large-format artwork and murals and works with councils, local authorities and an expanding network of primary, secondary and special schools, delivering hands-on workshops.
Lorna McGregor, Principal at Wallbrook Primary Academy, said: “We love giving our children opportunities to experience things that sit outside the usual classroom setting. Art is a brilliant way of doing that because it gives children the freedom to experiment, have an idea and see where it takes them. Graffiti art is particularly interesting because it makes us stop and question what we see and why we see it in a particular way. There isn’t always a right or wrong answer in art, and that can be incredibly powerful for children.
“It also challenges our idea of what art can look like. It gets children talking, asking questions and looking at things from different perspectives, while giving them the confidence to express their own ideas. At Wallbrook, we believe those are really important experiences for children to have.”
The completed artwork will become a permanent feature of the Academy’s outdoor forest area, giving pupils a lasting reminder of their creative work and their experience working alongside Edwards.
