Room 13 is our student-run art studio. It is part of a worldwide network of student-run studios in schools and the community. Room 13 is open at least once a week, for children to be creative.
Children explore a wide range of projects In Room 13. For example, they wrote and published a poetry book about West Rise Marsh and produced a CD of songs. Some are ongoing like a project involving the magical land of ‘Sharm Cazam’. More recently the children have been taking part in a project run by a creative company called ‘Leap then Look.’ A lot of the sessions for this project have taken place on the marsh.
You can view some of our original animations made by Room 13 on the links below.
There are many more projects in the pipeline, so watch this space!
How it works
A committee of children from Years 4, 5 and 6 are responsible for Room 13.
It is their job to:
- fundraise and keep Room 13 fully stocked with resources
- make decisions about what happens in the space
- liaise with Mr Fairclough about anything that might need to involve the school
- recruit new committee members (inviting applications, short listing and interviewing)
- interview and employ our Artists in Residence
Our Artists in Residence
Working alongside the children, our artists in residence exchange ideas, skills and experience across the ages. Currently Karen Stephens is our in-house artist in residence. She is a keen artist and photographer and is also a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HTLA) at the school. The children work in Room 13 with Karen, who has been involved with Room 13 since it opened.
Karen replaces Rachel Trewin (who works with ceramics). Before Rachel, Ed Boxall was with us for an amazing five years.
How it began
The original Room 13 began in 1994. A group of students set up their own art studio in Room 13 at Coal Primary School near Fort William, Scotland. They ran the studio as a business, raising funds to buy art materials and employ a professional Artist in Residence.
Slowly Room 13 grew into a network of creative studios and a community of young artists and entrepreneurs.
Our Room 13 opened in March 2007, after a visit to Room 13 at Lochyside Primary School in Fort William. Our original committee of children and their parents were a part of this visit. They went with Mr Fairclough, Mrs Stephens, Mrs Worsfold and Abbie, who was our first Artist in Residence.