By Kirsty Webb
In this post, Kirsty Webb shares the submission by Linton Heights Junior School, Cambridgeshire for Inspire: A Celebration of Children’s Art in Response to Jacopo del Sellaio’s Cupid and Psyche by Year Five pupils.
Kirsty shares the pupils’ Inspire journey and their response to the Renaissance painting of Cupid and Psyche by Jacopo Del Sellaio at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and the benefits of having a full immersion into materials and working together as a class on a shared project.
Re-Creating Cupid and Psyche in Mixed Media by Year Fives at Linton Heights
Linton Heights Junior School had a privileged opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of visual arts, particularly focussing on Jacopo del Sellaio’s Cupid and Psyche painting.
For a whole week, the school had the pleasure of exploring the painting through all subjects including Maths, English, RE, Science and of course Art. Year 5 decided to create an art project that would last the entire week resulting in a final piece across the year group.
In order to challenge the children and give them as much exploration as possible, they were to work collaboratively on this project. The teachers arranged the children into small groups of children that wouldn’t normally work together. Each group was then given a section of the painting and they were set the task of upscaling their section.
In order to maximise the potential of this collaborative work, the children took ownership of their own learning.
This project gave the children the freedom to explore a range of different materials and ways of working within art. Previous art lessons were generally quite prescriptive, however, here the children were free to go into their surroundings, use unknown items and mediums which they hadn’t had the opportunity to use before.
They could be as creative as they liked, even using coffee granules, grass and salt to create texture!
Over the course of the week, the children built their art project ensuring it had a range of colours, textures and that it was 3D in some way.
The children had a fantastic week exploring the painting. They thrived at having the opportunity to work collaboratively, explore using a range of resources, having freedom and taking their time to create a final piece.
The work they achieved went above and beyond the expectations of the project and it has inspired both the children and teachers to work in new ways.
The final pieces created were exceptional and both the children and adults involved are extremely proud of their work!
Go back to Inspire: A Celebration of Children’s Art in Response to Jacopo del Sellaio’s Cupid and Psyche
Inspire – December 2019 to March 2020, was an exhibition of art made by primary school children and celebrated creativity in Cambridgeshire schools. It championed the on-going importance of cultural learning and the visual arts for all children and young people.
Based on the National Gallery’s Take One Picture, The Fitzwilliam Museum and AccessArt teamed together to offer free Inspire 2020 CPD (Continued Professional Development for Teachers), focusing on one painting, Cupid and Psyche by Jacopo del Sellaio, as a source of ideas and inspiration.
Del Sellaio’s Cupid and Psyche was on display next to the children’s work in the Octagon Gallery.
With very special thanks to Kate Noble, Miranda Stearn, Sarah Villis, and Holly Morrison for making this project happen and Alison Ayres.
This post was contributed by Kirsty Webb with special permission from Linton Heights Junior School edited for AccessArt by Sheila Ceccarelli.
