National Gallery Exhibition for Creative Pupils
Work by children at Ramsgate Arts Primary is to be displayed at the world famous National Gallery in London.
Two selections of work pupils created for the gallery’s Take One Picture nationwide schools project won special praise and will form part of the public exhibition that will run from May 13 to August 16.
Their contributions come from the 2019 project that invited interpretations and creative work prompted by the evocative painting the Men of the Docks by George Bellows in 1912.
In a letter to the school, Catherine Spankie, coordinator for Take One Picture, National Gallery, said: “I am very pleased to inform you that a representative selection of the Dockland poses and Soundscape Cityscapes have been chosen for display in this year’s Take One Picture exhibition at the National Gallery.
“My colleagues and I were particularly impressed by the high standard of work submitted this year, so many congratulations.”
Specialist arts teacher Karen Vost said: “In Dockland Poses the Year 3 children were fascinated by the idea that the men in the painting would arrive each day not knowing whether or not there would be work for them. This prompted discussions about the types of work that the men would do at the docks, with the children adopting the poses related to these tasks.
“We visited our Ramsgate marina and took photographs of our own docks. Back at school we created our own darkroom and took turns to ‘draw’ around each other in the relevant poses, creating these light pictures.
“For City Soundscapes, our Year 5 pupils decided to focus on what the docks would have sounded like. We imagined what the men would be able to hear, including seagulls screeching, foghorns blaring and horses neighing.
“We recorded our own dockland sounds and worked on laptops using an audio program called Audacity to create soundscapes. We noticed that the shape of the sound waves looked like a cityscapes, so we used acrylic paint in black, blue, and white to create backgrounds for them. We copied the sound waves onto laminating pouches and placed the background inside.”
Head of School Nick Budge said: “It is fantastic for our children to have their work exhibited at such an important historic art centre as the National Gallery.
“We strive to encourage pupils to think outside the box with concepts and thought-provoking challenges and the results are inspiring.
“Our creative young talents plus Karen Vost, Mike Brown and our staff that support the art team deserve huge congratulations for this very public recognition of their work.”
RAPS young artists are already working on the 2020 Take One Picture project set out by the National Gallery. This time they are working with The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccell whose painting captures the conflict between the troops of Florence and Siena in 1432.
Ramsgate Arts Primary School is part of the Viking Academy Trust with Upton Junior School at Broadstairs and Chilton Primary School, Ramsgate.
To book a tour of RAPS and see the arts learning in action, contact Head of School Nick Budge on 01843 582847.