Pupils join masters in National Gallery (From Echo)

Pupils join masters in National Gallery

10:00pm Tuesday 26th May 2009

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VAN Gogh, Monet, Michelangelo and Rembrandt – just some of the famous artists whose work adorns the walls of the National Gallery.

Now artwork by a handful of talented south Essex pupils will be hanging alongside these artistic heavyweights, as their paintings have been chosen for a special exhibition.

What’s more impressive, these artists hadn’t even reached their eighth birthday when they created their masterpieces.

Thorpe Greenways Infant School, in Greenways, Southend, is one of just 20 schools to be selected for the Take One Picture exhibition, in London.

More than 130 schools entered the project, which invites pupils aged between four and 11 to use a painting from the gallery’s prestigious collection as a focus for learning across the curriculum.

This year, youngsters were asked to examine and respond creatively to the Fighting Temeraire by JMW Turner.

Created in 1839, the oil painting depicts the final journey of the 98 gun HMS Temeraire, a war ship which played an influential role in the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805.

Turner captured the boat as it was towed from Sheerness, in Kent, 55 miles along the Thames, to be broken up at a Rotherhithe shipyard, in East London.

“The painting has a particular resonance because the school is right here on the Thames,” says Jenny Keeley, headteacher at Thorpe Greenways.

“The project gave the children a chance to look at their local environment and history, and it meant we could take them down to the beach and to the Thames.”

About 240 pupils aged five to seven got involved in the project, with half of them using Old Leigh as a focus.

The youngsters explored the village’s fishing industry and used two boats, the Renown and Boy Lukie, for inspiration.

The resulting artwork was diverse and included paintings of the boats on both paper and canvass, charcoal drawings of Old Leigh seafront and other observational sketches.

London became the backdrop for the remaining children, who examined the city’s landmarks and skyline, such as the O2 and Big Ben.

Reflections of London’s riverside buildings were portrayed with pen drawings on painted Brusho backgrounds, and pastels and glitter were used to highlight the skies.

Poems, songs and even an animation about the life of the Temeraire were also created by the artistic youngsters.

“The project did not ask the children to reproduce Turner’s painting but to see what way they would approach and interpret it from a 21st century viewpoint,” says Mrs Keeley.

The work of about 15 children from the school will be displayed at the gallery, which has a collection of 2,300 paintings and attracts between four and five million visitors a year.

Next month, the school pupils will visit the gallery in Trafalgar Square to view their paintings, and the work of children from other schools, before the free exhibition closes on July 12. “It’s a real honour for the children’s work to be on display in the National Gallery,” says Mrs Keeley.

“The children are so proud and thrilled. “ “It’s given everyone a real buzz.”

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