6 July 2004
Students win award for art from the ashes
Sandwell Edition Express & Star
By Iain Robinson
Students at Sandwell School which was devastated by fire are celebrating after picking up a prestigious national art prize. Dartmouth High School, in Great Barr, has won the coveted Artworks Foundation Award for the second year in a row.
The school's art students triumphed in the national competition by entering an unusual collection of colourful works inspired by the huge fire which engulfed the school's science block in November last year. The blaze caused damage estimated at £1 million to the Wilderness Lane site.
But the pupils used the harrowing experience to their advantage to create works of art reflecting their own emotional responses to the incident.
School spokeswoman Sarah Lister said that the project was based on a series of photographs taken on the day of the fire by the school's head of art, Steve Arrandale. Mr Arrandale had managed to grab a camera as the school was being evacuated and took several photographs of the devastating drama that was unfolding around him.
Horrendous
"When he looked at them that evening he realised that, although they were horrendous pictures in one sense, they could also be used as inspiration for a future project," said Mrs Lister.
"To win the Artworks Foundation award last year was really good, but to enter and win it again this year is just amazing", she said.
"We are currently pushing for specialist business and art status, and this award is going to be a big boost for the school.
"We have already emerged from the ashes and I think that we have become even more of a community here since the fire, and we are making the best use of our new village of mobile classrooms," she added.
