A new sea-based exhibition created by pupils at St Herbert’s School in Keswick has opened at the town’s museum.
Pupils at the school have worked with artist in residence Alex Jakob-Whitworth and local poet Dave Cryer, who is Keswick Museum’s learning and engagement co-ordinator, to create the exhibition in the community gallery on the theme of afloat.
The project features a central theme of a storm, which represents COVID-19. Key features include a giant boat riding the waves of the storm, a graffiti boat which is covered in thoughts and reflections from the adults in school, and an Under the Sea display featuring steampunk fish.
Other highlights include a Waterfall of Words, which showcases children’s haiku poetry and many other pieces of work from pupils of all ages.
When St Herbert’s fully opened after lockdown, staff looked at new approaches to allow the children to reconnect with school, friends and learning which led to the idea of the whole-school creative project.
The project has enabled pupils to enjoy the calmness of art and creative activities, while also providing a platform to talk about and share their experiences of the coronavirus lockdown.
Alex worked with children across all the age groups, helping them to explore ideas through a variety of creative media.
The pupils also worked with Dave, who helped them write haiku poems — a form of Japanese poetry made of short, unrhymed lines that evoke natural imagery — and organised the exhibition at the museum.
Headteacher Shelagh Hughes said: “We have found in general that children have been very keen to talk about their experiences and have wanted to hear others’ tales and ideas.
:This is something they all missed during lockdown.
“This project has been a fantastic opportunity to work on something like this as a whole school, and it has brought everyone back together again.
“The idea was to use boats and storms as starting points in storytelling, art, craft, music and poetry and children have created all sorts of pieces of beautiful work relating to experiences of lockdown.”
The exhibition will be open until 11th December at the museum in Station Road.
