Art and Design
June'24 - All the children visited Home - The Old Courthouse to see some graphic local artists' work. The exhibitions included work by Andrew Sagar, Amy Jane Hardy - Art & Graphic Design | Artist, Lucy Hughes's Japanese bead work. The art gave the children lots to talk and think about and inspired some work for their sketch books.
"I recognise the dam at Wet Sleddale, I've been there!"
"I like the straight lines and how it's just in black and white!"
"I want to make a picture using beads, I like all the different colours!"
"The more you look, the more you see so many different things!"
April' 24 - Catbells worked with artist Sara Griffiths Sara Griffiths Art (saragriffithsartist.com) to produce some stunning 'Pirate Galleon' inspired landscapes and a 'Pirate Ship' role-play area. For the background they used paints and mark making tools. When the paint was dry they used their cutting and sticking skills to create shapes to form the galleon, they also drew on details. We look forward to displaying all Reception children's work at the Village Show in the August.
"These are the sea monster's tentacles!" This is the 'Jolly Rodger' flag, it has a scull and cross bones!"
"My galleon has 4 portholes, they are circle shapes. They are windows for the pirates to see out!"
"The sunset is in the background, on a horizon!" It's going dark soon!"
Feb' 24 - Blencathra worked with historians and artists associated with 'The Epona Project'. The Epona Trust – People for horses, horses for people A local project to raise awareness of local Fell ponies and the important jobs they did for our local community in days gone by.
"The ponies are very strong, they used to carry a lot of stuff!"
"It was good to see a real pony before we drew one so we could see and feel its mane and tail and it's soft coat! They are very hairy!"
Jan' 24 - Blencathra children worked with artist Sara Griffiths Sara Griffiths Art (saragriffithsartist.com) on a 'water' inspired mixed media project. Sara brought her art work to show the children they then used a view finder to recreate their favourite section. The sections were pieced together to make a whole class art piece.
"Every piece makes up the whole picture. You can't tell exactly what it looks like until we've joined it together!"
"We can make different shades by adding more white or more black!"
Jan' 24 - Children worked in family groups over the first week of term developing the theme of 'Diversity and Inclusion' in visual art with Mrs Kelsall. They looked at local artists and past masters from different cultures to explore different mediums including water colour, block print techniques, pencil / charcoal sketching and pastels. Selecting jigsaw pieces from 'The Jungle Book' gave them inspiration for their individual art work which was they displayed as a whole school piece.
Oct' 23 The children have all enjoyed visiting the 'Wildlife Exhibition' at The Old Courthouse. It was fantastic to see Blencathra's wire sculptures being exhibited too, as part of their 'Sculpture and 3D Mega Materials' art topic.
Sept' 23 All the children in the school worked with Andi the artist to create a whole school piece of art to support the school's 'The Vision and Values'
April'23 Helvellyn and Catbells were fascinated by the 'Cavalcade' art exhibition displayed at 'The Old Courthouse'. Mike Harley's theatre inspired pictures and sculptures gave the children lots to talk about. They could all see something different in each painting.
March'23 Each class visited the 'Pollinators' exhibition at The Old Courthouse. Year 6 buddies helped Catbells sketch pictures inspired by the amazing photographs.
Pollinator Pathmaker | Eden Project
Get Cumbria Recording the Buzz - Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre (cbdc.org.uk)
February'23 Catbells worked with Gary in their Outdoor Education session to create some amazing 'Natural Rainbow' sculptures. They were also inspired by looking at work by Andy Goldsworthy.
Inspired by pictures by, Andy Goldsworthy | Official Website (andygoldsworthystudio.com)
Art in the wild | Another Place, The Lake
Nov'22 A whole school collaboration for Remembrance Day. Using fabric donated by a local company.
July - Sept 22 - All the children and staff worked with Amy Blandford, a local glass artist, to create a beautiful tree, which can be seen outside the school entrance. Linked to our school values 'a safe branch from which to soar'!
July 22 - Tommy and Isabella's grandma, Janet Wood, brought her fell pony 'Petal' for a special visit to the school. Local sketch artist Julia Mitchell helped the children with their observational drawing techniques, looking closely at line, form and texture using pencils and charcoal. It was so good to have Lucy back to Shap school, she is now an art student and was able to share her drawing talents with the children too.
Follow 'Rough Sketches' on (1) Facebook or Instagram to find out more about Julia's art work and commissions of pets.