Art at Bewick Bridge

Art  is an important element in the broad and balanced curriculum that we provide at Bewick Bridge Community Primary School.  Our art programme engages, inspires and challenges pupils as it equips them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As our pupils progress from EYFS to year 6, they are encouraged to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. 

The aims of our art curriculum are to ensure that all pupils: 

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences 

• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques  

• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design  

• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Intent

The intent of art lessons in Bewick Bridge is to enable children's cultural capital to flourish. We also aim to offer a structure and sequence of units to help teachers ensure they have covered the skills and knowledge required to meet the aims of the national curriculum.  Our intention is to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to  explore, record and produce creative, imaginative work  in a variety of techniques, including painting, drawing, 3D modelling and textiles, in a safe and nurturing environment. The lessons  foster an open-ended exploration of creativity as children are encouraged to take creative risks and to learn from the journey, rather than head towards a pre-defined end result. 

The intent is to sharpen the focus in lessons and enrichment activities on developing skills, knowledge and understanding specific to the subject. Opportunities for children to meet and work with artists and arts organisations (either online, in school or during a visit to a museum or gallery) are provided as the school develops links with the local community and art organisations in order to enrich children’s cultural capital. 

Implementation

Our curriculum overview, along with the skills progression, knowledge progression and vocabulary progression, help to give the teacher and adults leading art the confidence to plan for progression of learning and outcomes. The units focus on and develop techniques, including their control and use of their materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of the different kinds of art, craft and design.  Children’s interest and curiosity about art and design  will be developed by offering children the opportunity to ask questions and demonstrate their skills in a variety of ways including, when possible, meeting and working alongside visiting artists and visiting galleries and museums. Children will become confident and proficient in different art forms, drawing, painting, sculpting, printmaking and working with textiles, as basic skills are introduced and then built upon. Skills are revisited and the use of ongoing sketchbook work underpins this process. The lessons will offer the chance for children to develop their emotional expression through art to further enhance their personal, social and emotional development. While in EYFS the focus of our lessons is to develop skills and confidence, children in KS1 and KS2 will explore the work of others and evaluate different creative ideas as they expand their knowledge of artists from different periods of time and cultures alongside designers and craft makers. 

Impact

Art learning is enjoyed by pupils and teachers across the school. Teachers have higher expectations and more quality evidence can be presented in a variety of ways. All children will use technical vocabulary accurately and children are expected to know, apply and understand skills and processes specified. Children will become more confident in analysing their work and giving their opinion on their own and others work of art.  All children in school can speak confidently about their art and design work and their skills. 

Bewick Bridge Arts Curriculum Newsletter No 1

Art Is All Around Us

‘Art is all around us’ is a central theme to all our art lessons at Bewick Bridge. To support this aim, we produce a termly newsletter for our Bewick Bridge community which contains suggestions of some amazing places in and around Cambridge where you can see various works of art to visit at weekends or in the holidays. Each term we will send new ideas for you to enjoy.

Book Bench Art Trail: 12 book bench sculptures that have been designed by UK artists can be found across the city. Have a treasure hunt to find the benches or download a map showing where they are at love-cambridge.com. When you get home you could have a go at designing your own book bench. What story would you like to see on a bench?

Kettle’s Yard: Kettle’s Yard is the University of Cambridge’s modern and contemporary art gallery. It  is located in a beautiful house with a remarkable collection of modern art and a gallery that hosts modern and contemporary art exhibitions. Kettle’s Yard welcomes all families to the house and galleries. They offer a range of free and paid activities for parents, carers and children of all ages including a special fold out family guide to the museum.

In the house there is a large collection of Alfred Wallace’s paintings. Alfred Wallace is an artist whose life and work we study in Year 2.

Kettle’s Yard is on Castle Street, Cambridge, CB3 0AQ and  is open Tuesday – Sunday, 11am – 5pm.  Entry is free.

Fitzwilliam Museum: For those of you who have not yet visited this awe inspiring museum it is most certainly worth visiting. The museum’s superb art collection is upstairs in the museum. Many people visit the museum downstairs but do not spend time upstairs in the fantastic gallery that houses a world-renowned collection of over half a million beautiful works of art, masterpiece paintings and historical artifacts including over 20 pieces of work by Picasso whose cubist paintings we study in Year 5.

Alongside its permanent exhibition there are regular temporary exhibitions. Their new exhibition that opens in October is  Defaced! Money, Conflict, Protest.

This new exhibition is the first of its kind to examine the interplay between money, power and dissent over the last 200 years – with a key strand of the show exploring the role of the individual in protesting for rights and representation. This exhibition will support the Year 6 art unit Activism which we will study in the Spring term. 

Address: Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1RB is free to visit and is open 10:00 - 17:00 Tuesday - Saturday, 12:00 - 17:00 Sunday. Closed Monday. Entry is free.

I hope you enjoy visiting some of these wonderful exhibitions and look forward to hearing about them from your children,

Regards 

Nikki Dereboy - Art Teacher

     Bewick Bridge Arts Curriculum Newsletter No 2

Art Is All Around Us

‘Art is all around us’ is a central theme to all our art lessons at Bewick Bridge. To support this aim, we produce a termly newsletter for our Bewick Bridge community which contains suggestions of some amazing places in and around Cambridge where you can see various works of art to visit at weekends or in the holidays. Each term we will send new ideas for you to enjoy. This term our suggestions include sculpture trails, two exhibitions showcasing textile work and a powerful exhibition to support Black History Month at the Fitzwilliam. 

Sculpture trails

We are  lucky to have many outstanding pieces of sculpture sited in historic and modern Cambridge so why not click on the following link that will take you to 4 walking trails that you can enjoy with your family.

 https://www.cambridgesculpturetrails.co.uk/ All 4 trails take you to see  outstanding sculpture pieces from famous sculptors such as Barbara Hepworth and Anthony Gormly. There is also a permanent collection of 16 sculptures in Jesus college Cambridge that includes a statue by Eduardo Paulozzi whose work we study in year 2. These sculptures in Jesus College could be added to the end of one of the other trails or visited on a separate occasion. 

Fitzwilliam Museum

The Fitzwilliam Museum and Art Gallery is  open Tuesday - Saturday: 10:00 - 17:00 | Sundays and Bank Holidays: 12:00 - 17:00

For up-to-date visitor information and queries, please contact tickets@museums.cam.ac.uk, call us on 01223 332 900,

This month is Black History Month so a visit to the latest exhibition at the museum  - Black Atlantic: Power, People , Resistance -  is a great way to learn more about Black History with a focus on Cambridge.

The exhibition runs from 8 September 2023 - 7 January 2024

This thought provoking exhibition explores some new stories from history – stories that help us to separate fact from fiction and history from myth.

By bringing together collections from across the University of Cambridge’s museums, libraries and colleges with loans from around the world, Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance asks new questions about Cambridge’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and looks at how objects and artworks have influenced history and perspectives.

A second exhibition in the Fitzwilliam is - Mediterranean Embroideries - which  showcases a range of textiles from across the Mediterranean world and explores the embroidery practices that connect them. Mostly created by women, these lively and decorative textiles provided a means of self-expression for women and girls of all ages. Generation after generation of makers handed down their needle skills, creating pieces that reflected personal tastes, social standing and community affiliation.

Kettles Yard

Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery  8 July – 29 October 2023, 11am – 5pm This exhibition will close after the half term holidays so use a day in the holiday to visit this fascinating exhibition.

This exhibition also showcases  embroidery. Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery explores the historical life and contemporary significance of Palestinian embroidery. This ancient and beautiful practice remains an important living tradition and the most prominent cultural material of Palestine today. Curated by Rachel Dedman, the exhibition looks at the ways in which embroidery, primarily undertaken by women, has evolved through a century of turbulent history for the Palestinian people.

I hope you enjoy visiting some of these wonderful exhibitions and look forward to hearing about them from your children.

Regards 

Nikki Dereboy - Art Teacher