Year 5 Art Trip

We all arrived full of excitement and anticipation at Newbury Station at 7.15am on Thursday.   Even a cancellation and a few more changes could not dampen our spirits, and we arrived at our first destination as planned at Geevor tin min.  We had a wonderful guide and learned all about the surrounding area before venturing down an old mine as well as panning for precious gems before viewing a local artists drawing and paintings inspired by the local tin mines.

We then settled into our Dorms and had our evening dinner before venturing out to the stunning Minack Theatre where we watched a fantastic and colourful performance of Jesus Christ Superstar.

The next day we had a refreshing walk from our accommodation to Penlee Museum and Art Gallery where we were guided through a stunning exhibition called Bringing Home the Catch: Art & Fishing in Newlyn 1880 – 1940.

The Newlyn School artists ‘discovered’ this picturesque fishing village at a transitional moment in its history.  Just as the painters were setting up their easels and depicting the lives of the local Newlyn community in the 1880s, its fishing industry was expanding rapidly.  Featuring a wealth of paintings, photographs and artefacts from the period 1880 to 1940, this exhibition gave us an insight into how the artists chose to represent these changes, or even to ignore them for the sake of artistic licence.

We then met a real life ‘Fish wife’ who was born in 1805!  We travelled back in time to 1890 with Betsy Lanyon, a Newlyn fishwife and artist’s model. We learned about her life and work, and handled real Victorian objects.  We spotted Betsy in the Newlyn School paintings and we then had a go at sketching her, learning some words in the Cornish language.  

We then made our way to St. Michaels Mount, enjoying the walk across the causeway where we had our lunch before meeting up with our extremely informative guide for the afternoon.  We explored the castle and gardens, photographing and sketching along the way before we met with the head gardener to plant a rare cactus, which we were allowed to bring home.  We then caught a boat back to the mainland, made our way to the Hostel and had our evening meal before relaxing for the evening and completing the days sketchbook work.

The next day we had a super time learning all about Bernard Leach and had a go at some of the Japanese calligraphy, which he often used within his designs on his pottery pieces.  We then caught a small bus to the centre of St. Ives and enjoyed our packed lunches as we watched the local surfers.

In the afternoon with met our lovely guide called Hilary who works at the Painting School of St. Ives, she led us through The Tate and we learnt about Patrick Heron and a variety of the St. Ives artists.  We then made our way to The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Gardens, had an excellent tour around where we finished off by drawing and painting in the glorious tranquillity of her garden where there are many sculptures and tropical plants to enjoy.

Finally, we spent some time looking around shops and had refreshments before we attended the last treat and activity of the trip – The Chocolate Workshop, ‘Drawing with Chocolate’.   We first learnt where chocolate came from before some tasting and making our own mini chocolate bars and chocolate lollies.

We completed the evening by having a delicious freshly made meal at the surfers restaurant called the balcony, finishing off with some homemade Cornish ice cream. We then returned back to our accommodation to pack for the last morning in Penzance before our train journey back to Newbury.

JWS