End of Project Sharing Event

On Wednesday 8th October a Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead Museum Learning Project Sharing Event took place at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-upon-Thames.

Participating schools and museums were invited to share the work they had undertaken and to celebrate the achievements of the project!

The students from the different schools gave presentation about what their projects involved and what they enjoyed about them. 

Wraysbury Primary School Students talking about their art project

The students were also presented with their Arts Award Discover certificates. 

Well done to all 204 students from 8 schools who received an Arts Award through the project!

Riverside Primary School receive their Arts Award Certificates

There was also time for teachers and students from all the schools to hear about the six museum's learning offer for schools and families... 

 and for getting up close with museum handling objects!

As part of the project, a booklet for use by schools and museums has been created to encourage the use of creative arts activities inspired by museum's collections!

You can view and download the booklet by clicking here.

A very special thank you to the following people...

Artswork

Staff at Eton College Collections, Maidenhead Heritage Centre, River & Rowing Museum, Slough Museum, Stanley Spencer Gallery, Windsor and Royal Borough Museum.

Staff and Students at All Saints Primary, Cookham Dean CofE School, Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation, Riverside Primary School, Larchfield Primary School, Khalsa Secondary Academy, Parlaunt Park Primary and Wraysbury Primary School.

4motion Dance Theatre Company

Free Summer Holiday Activities!

As part of the Artswork funded Museum Learning Project we are offering free arts activities at some of the museums in the consortium!

On Wednesday 30th July we will be making tube racers at Maidenhead Heritage Centre from 10.30am - 12pm

On Thursday 31st July 2pm - 3.30pm come and have a go at making henna patterns on candles and cards at Slough Museum

Both admission to the museums and the activities are free!!!

Thursday 14th August we'll be at Windsor Museum making Hawker Hurricane places from 2pm - 3.30pm (admission is free for children, but accompanying adults will be required to pay the £2 admission charge for the museum)

And finally...

We'll be at the River and Rowing Museum from 10.30am - 12pm on Friday 15th August making Olympic torches! (the activity will be held in the education centre and will be free admission, if you would like to visit the main museum you will have to pay the admission fee - see website for more details http://rrm.co.uk/visit/admission)

Parlaunt Park return to Slough Museum!

Parlaunt Park returned to Slough Museum to finish their arts project about different cultural art forms. 

After exploring Polish Pisanki Easter eggs and the festival of Diwali last week, this week we looked at Eid.

We tried out some mendhi patterns on paper with glitter henna cones before trying it out on our hands!

The students then thought about everything they had learnt through the project and decorated a square of a patchwork quilt, using all the different art forms we had looked at the inspire their design!

Here is their finished quilt...

I'm sure you'll agree they are a very talented bunch! Thank you very much for all your hard work!

Wraysbury Primary School

Wraysbury Primary School Year 1 created their own papier mache 3D flowers! They started off with a wooden flower shape and covered it all in newspaper and water mixed with PVA glue until you couldn't see any of the wood underneath!

After they covered it completely in newspaper they covered it in a layer of photographs. They used some of their favourite photographs which they took when they visited Herschel Park! 

They put a final layer of PVA glue mixed with water so when the flower dried it would look all shiny!

Cookham Dean's WWI animation!

Mr Edmond's class at Cookham Dean school have been busy over the past few weeks putting the finishing touches to their First World War animation! 

They have learnt how to create a storyboard, how to design a set and make models of their characters. They have discovered the importance of making sure the model's aren't moved too fast and making sure that everybody's hand is out of the shot before a photograph is taken!

Thank you to the whole class for their wonderful ideas, creativity and animation skills over the past few weeks! 

Click here to watch the animation!

Parlaunt Park visit Slough Museum

Gifted and Talented art students from Year 3, 4 and 5 at Parlaunt Park visited Slough Museum on Wednesday 25th June for a fun day of art activities inspired by the museum's collection.

The art project we are working on is all about the different cultures and communities who live in Slough. People from all over the world come to Slough to make it their home so we can find out all about different cultural art forms without even having to get on a plane!

We learnt all about Polish Pisanki Easter eggs and learnt about how they are hollowed out and decorated. We even designed our own egg candles using wax pens!

We also talked about the religious festival of Diwali which is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. We made our own rangoli sand art and made clay diyas which are used to hold candles for Diwali - which is also known as the festival of lights!

Khalsa Secondary Academy's visit to Stanley Spencer Gallery

On Monday 16th June Year 7 Class 2 visited the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham to start work on their project which will be looking at Identity and Self-Portraits.

Before learning anything about Spencer and his artwork they started their project by making observations about him based on his self-portrait.  They then wrote a list of questions which they would like to find out about him and they explored the gallery to see if they could find out any more information. 

Stanley Spencer - Self-Portrait 1914

Paul Grandidge, Education Officer at the Stanley Spencer gallery, then talked to the group about Stanley and his art work. He told us about how Stanley loved Cookham so much that it became his nickname amongst his art school friends at Slade, he was home schooled by his sisters in his garden shed and how he was a very religious person.

Learning all about Stanley Spencer     

All Saints C of E School

As part of the Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead Museum Learning Project, Ms Strydom's Year 4 class from All Saints Church of England Primary School have been working on a 4 week project focusing on the Ancient Greek Olympics. 

We began the project by looking at the question 'what is art?'. After a discussion the students realised that there are many different art forms that we see everyday! They then created a mind map of all the different type of art forms associated with Ancient Greece - and there were lots of them! They listed things like sculptures, theatre and pottery!

We then learnt about the Panhellenic Games in Ancient Greece which were made up of the Olympics, Nemean, Isthmean and the Pythian Games. We talked about the link between art and the Olympics. In the modern day Olympics they used to have art competitions up until 1948!

We then looked at some different artists who had created artwork inspired by the Olympics.

Finally, we finished off by creating a 'random word poem'. We all wrote down as many words as we could think of that are associated with the Olympics on to pieces of card. We put them all into a box and each person picked out 10 words each. These words were then arranged into a poem! 

We then stuck them down onto paper and decorated them!

Wraysbury Primary School

On Thursday 5th July Wraysbury Primary School Year 1 ventured to Herschel Park to spend a lovely morning in the sunshine! 

Miss Clark's and Miss Forster's classes learnt about gardens in Victorian times and how before it became a park it used to be a private garden for the houses that surrounded it!

They looked at the Victorian features in the park and made Victorian style clay plant pots!

After completing a trail around the park they took pictures of some of their 

favourite things.

We are going to use the photographs for our art project which we will continue in the classroom next week!

Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation

Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation Year 3 returned to Windsor Museum to curate an exhibition of their wonderful clay models inspired by objects in the collection.

The group researched their objects and learnt how to write museum labels and interpretation. They then wrote label cards explaining what object their model was based on, how they made it and why they chose to make it!

They learnt about positioning the objects in a case using perspex lifts and stands and making sure the labels were clear for everybody to read!

They also came up with a name for their exhibition. They chose 'Museum of Clay.' Everybody made a poster for the exhibition to try and encourage their friends and family to visit the museum to see their wonderful work on display!

The exhibition will be on display until 2nd July so make sure you visit the museum to see it! Visit http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/museum.htm for museum opening hours and visitor information.

Well done Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation for all your hard work!

Cookham Dean start work on their animation!

Mr Edmond's Year 3 Class started work on their First World War themed animation!

They have created two sets for their film - a trench and a convalescent home. After learning about convalescent homes on their visit to Maidenhead Heritage Centre the class decided to research them further. They looked at how big, fancy houses and buildings were turned into hospitals during the war and there was even one in Cookham Dean! Whilst they were researching they came across pictures of Brighton Pavilion so decided to make their set look like a miniature version!

                                           

They also made props for their sets including sandbags, rats, spiders for the trench and hospital beds and lamps for the convalescent home to make it look more authentic!

They also created models of their characters which included nurses and soldiers and they came up with a story before going on to draw a storyboard of it!

                                                 

Next time we will start filming our animation! Stay tuned for a premiere of it on this blog soon!!

Riverside Primary's Visit to Eton College Natural History Museum

On Tuesday 3rd June Riverside Primary's Willow Class visited Eton College Natural History Museum. 

They brought along their instruments they had made in the classroom and we started the day by creating a Willow Class orchestra and came up with a rhythm for each section to play on their instruments! After many practices, we recorded the rhythm and played it back so everybody could hear how it sounded!

After lunch, the students explored the Robin Hanbury-Tenison collection of ethnographic objects in the museum and they learnt all about the people who used them, what they are made from and how they are used. They explored a Nambiquara Nose Flute, Suya Arrows, Borneo Fishing Charms and a Penan Blow Pipe.

They also learnt about Robin Hanbury- Tenison, who is an explorer who used to go to Eton College. He traveled the world and met lots of different people. The people he met gave him many of the objects that we saw in the museum's ethnographic collection as gifts. 

The class then worked in smaller groups to write a story. They were set the task of writing a story with no more than 10 lines and it had to include the museum object they had been looking at and the main character in their story had to be Robin Hanbury-Tenison!

After the story was written they added some sound effects and they then performed it for the rest of the class! We also recorded their stories and added them to the backing track that we recorded earlier in the day!

Check back here soon to listen to the sound story they created!

Thank you to Willow Class for all their hard work on the project!

Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation's Visit to Windsor Museum

On Monday June 2nd Year 3 from Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation School in Slough visited Windsor Museum to start work on their creative museum project!

They started their day by learning all about how to be a museum curator. Louisa Knight from Windsor Museum talked to the group about what her job involves. She told them all about how she creates the museum displays, carries out research and how she cares for the objects by making sure they are kept in the right conditions and making sure they aren't nibbled on by any annoying museum pests and insects!! The class then asked Louisa lots of questions about her job and about the objects in the museum's collection.

After this the class explored the museum and chose their favourite object on display. They researched all about it by reading the label and asking Louisa questions about it. 

Then they used their artistic skills to make a sketch of the object...

 and then made a model of it out of clay!

Next time they will become museum curators and create an exhibition of their clay objects!

Riverside Primary School

After making music without using any objects in week one, Mrs Fitzgibbon's Year 5 class from Riverside Primary School made their very own instruments in week two of their project!

They made tambourines...

                                

Shakers...

Rainsticks...

and Drums...

After half term Mrs Fitzgibbon's class will be spending the day at Eton College Natural History Museum and they will create their very own sound story based around objects in the museum's collection!

Cookham Dean's visit to Maidenhead Heritage Centre

On Monday 19th May Mr Edmond's Year 3 Class visited Maidenhead Heritage Centre to learn more about WWI,as part of the Artswork Museum Learning Project. 

Virginia, Maidenhead Heritage Centre's Education Officer, planned lots of exciting activities for Year 3 to have a go at and there were plenty of real museum objects and documents to have a look at up close!

Mr Edmond's class were already very knowledgeable about WWI and they were able to tell us all about the different countries involved and how the war started. At the heritage centre, they learnt a bit more about what was happening on the home front and a little bit more about what things were like in their local area.

They looked at postcards, ration books and menus and thought about what it would have been like to be a child during WWI. Using their imaginations, the class wrote postcards to family members and friends who would of been fighting at the front. They described what they would have felt, seen, heard and what games they would have played and what they would have eaten.

After hearing one of Maidenhead Heritage Centre's knowledgeable volunteers talk about life in the trenches and the different medals a soldier could receive, the class then had a go at creating their own clay medal!

Katherine, another volunteer from Maidenhead Heritage Centre, read a poem called 'In Flanders Fields' and everyone in the class made a poppy and added it on to a piece of artwork inspired by the poem.

During WWI there was a convalescent home in Cookham Dean. 'Moor Hall' was a stately home built before the Victorian period which was owned by Francis Devereux Lambert. He gave up his house in 1914 to be a hospital where patients could recover from injuries in wartime.
Year 3 looked at photographs of soldiers and nurses from 'Moor Hall' and then imagined what it would have been like to be a nurse during WWI and practiced how to bandage injuries.

Here's what Year 3 had to say about their visit..

"I enjoyed making poppies, writing a postcard and most of all I liked making a medal out of clay. Thank you!"

"I learnt that in the war there was a hospital in Cookham Dean."

"I learnt they used tokens to get food."

"I learnt more about rations and medals."

"I enjoyed writing my postcard."

Last Session with Larchfield Primary!

After being inspired by their 'tour through a tomb' talk by Eton College Collections staff in week 2, the students at Larchfield Primary school set about making an Egyptian Death Mask in week 3 of the project.

They each took a face mask and stuck it on a cardboard background and then covered it in paper-mache. The students loved making a mess of their classroom and slopping on lots of glue to make sure their masks were all covered! Holly and Zara noticed that the masks were starting to look like Egyptian mummies before we painted them!

After leaving them to dry for a week, we then painted our masks using different colours and patterns. Lots of gold paint was used to give the masks an authentic Egyptian feel!

At the end of the afternoon 23 wonderful masks were made! 

We would like to say a big thank you to Mrs Johnson and her amazing Year 4 class for all their hard work in the project! Well done!