On Thursday 12th September our Year 2 and 3 children clambered onto the minibuses and headed for the Southampton Art Gallery. In school we are using “Every Picture Tells a Story” as the inspiration that allows us to trace a path for our learning; art work is such a rich source of information, children are now starting to learn how to extract the details about the past.

Our visit started with a guided tour of two exhibits, firstly a wooden screen, some 700 years old, showing the coronation of Mary as she ascended to heaven. The children learned about the paints used, tempera was made from pigments extracted from natural materials and mixed with egg! They also learnt that the most expensive colour was blue (called Ultra Marine) as it came from Afghanistan and had to be transported “over the sea” to be used in Italy. The second exhibition we saw included ten paintings that told the children the story of Perseus; the children were so engaged, fascinated by the depth of detail that they got simply from paintings.

After lunch the children worked beautifully in a workshop, creating a copy of Perseus’ shoe from wire, do come and see their work on display.

Finally, the children wandered around the gallery admiring the wide variety of paintings hung on the walls. The highlight of the day was the discovery of the original Lowry painting “The Canal” as the children are recreating the same picture in school! A fabulous day with some fabulous learning!

Written by: Mrs Hookes-Gosney