Study Day One

       

Ben Weddell delivered an introduction to the project and evaluated what knowledge the pupils already possessed. The learning outcomes for the day are to communicate how museum collections tell histories and stories through display as well as disseminating symbolism in paintings.

 

The morning was spent at The Queens House and Ben took the pupils through the history and the visual language used in three paintings from Deptford' s Maritime and Tudor history; a portrait of Elizabeth, a portrait of Sr Frances Drake and a satirical painting of the Spanish Armada. Great discussions were had over what the messages might be. It also raised questions about the differences between painting and photography. In the afternoon pupils were given an array of the museums handling objects and were asked to select, arrange and label them in order to best communicate a statement provided by Ben.

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I introduced what would happen next time we meet for the creative response session, setting a brief homework for the pupils to collect collage material that communicates something of themselves and their lives in Deptford.

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The Homework:

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Sir Frances Drake was sending a conciliatory message to Elizabeth in the gift of his 1951 portrait, what message about yourself would you like to convey to the Deptford community and what symbols could you use to do this? The following may be useful to think about in order to help you answer the above question:

 

What are you interested in?

What do you enjoy the most?

What is your favourite aspect of life in Deptford?

 

As well as your ideas please bring in materials that you can collage with for the creative response day. This might be pages from a magazine, a community newsletter, packaging from your favourite food... anything you think would help you in communicating your message, you might want to collect a variety of material all in your favourite colour? Avoid bringing in anything precious, if you have a photograph you would like to use it may be possible to have this photocopied at school.