Schools art - the weekend's unseen visitor attraction

Of the many good things the Bexhill Consortium of Schools is achieving, the the project to fund a mixed group of promising Year 5 and Year 8 pupils with dedicated tuition under local artist and teacher Raymond McChrystal has been among the most immediately productive.

How well spent the primary and secondary school pupils' two days at the Ninfield Environment Centre last November had been was revealed - all too briefly - on Saturday morning when with their parents they were able to return to the centre to see their work on display.

Vibrant colour-washes overlaid with random patterns made by blowing on pools of Indian ink through a straw had produced patterns which were as effective as they were varied

Compelling compositions, some of them possessing a strong three-dimensional quality, had been achieved through the imaginative use of collage technique.

Much of the material for the collages had been gathered outside the environmental centre. Leaves, twigs, grasses inspired designs evoking Nature.

For Bexhill Schools Consortium, Alison Day said the grouping had funded specialist tuition for pupils who had exhibited a flair for art.

The young people had benefited not only from Raymond McChrsystal's specialist teaching skills but by being taken out of their school environment and working alongside other pupils with similar aptitude.

Taking part had been pupils from Little Common, St Mary Magdalene', St Peter and St Paul, King Offa, Chantry, Pebsam and Sidley primary schools together with students from Bexhill High and St Richard's.

Raymond McChrystal said the two days had concentrated on key skills such as experimentation with colour-mixing, acrylic painting on canvas, collage, use of Indian and coloured inks and a collaborative large-scale work using graphite on paper.

He told the Observer: "I think it went very well. A mother has just commented on the high standard of work.

"Certainly I enjoyed taking it and the children got a lot from it.

"There was a misx of gifted and talented children from Years 5 and 8. The fact that they were here for two days helped them to develop their work. They gained a momentum."

Adam Harrigan's eye-catching college featuring pebbles, wood and leaves formed part of the foyer display. The St Richard's student's work hung alongside Chantry pupil Emily Scott's evocative mole.

Hope Radford, 13, from St Richard's, had used cotton wool and paper for her collage.

Joanna Watt, nine, from King Offa explained the Indian-ink-through-a-straw technique.

Meggie Scotcher, from Bexhill High, was among those who had achieved a 3-D effect in collage.

Honour Spence, from Little Common School, had produced flying butterflies.

Saskia Burke, 12, of St Richard's suffered the artist's ultimate dilemma. While her collage was selected for the front cover of the programme, it was "hung" at 90 degrees to her intended presentation'¦