Year 6 Art Trip

The Art Trip has been such fun.  We visited the Geevor tin mine on the first day which was incredible, seeing how it all worked and how they found the tin. It was great to actually go into an old mine.

The following day started off by visiting Penlee Gallery and Museum, I loved the exhibition on Fred Halls’ work, he not only studied at Newlyn it was really interesting to see some his work he painted locally as he lived in Newbury for some time. I bought a stunning print in the gallery shop.

We then headed to Newlyn Gallery after our snack;  this galley was much more contemporary and really cool. We had a guided tour around the exhibition and we were then taken out on to the beach to experiment with various watercolour techniques, inspired by the exhibition we had just seen: this was great fun.

We then headed for St. Michaels Mount which is based on St Mont Michel in France. We had lunch on the island before exploring the castle, the paintings, swords, shields and guns.   The cannons were cool as well as the myth about the Giant, and we found the stone heart in the cobbled pathway. I also loved the views and the stunning gardens with the tropical plants where we spent some time drawing –  it was a great day. We had a delicious Cornish ice-cream before making our way back over the causeway.

After dinner we visited the Minack Theatre, firstly with a tour and then watched the production Zig-Zag, I was really gripped; it was so interesting as well as funny.

The next day we visited the Leach Pottery and I loved hearing about the history of the building as well as the founder, Bernard Leach. We then had a pottery workshop; I can’t wait to see my piece when it has been fired. We had lunch by the beach and some free time which was good fun.

We then had a tour with an artist and teacher from the St. Ives School of painting. We sat on the Island drawing and painting the landscape, finishing our afternoon off with walking up through the narrow streets to paint the roof tops that overlooked the iconic St. Ives harbour.

As a last treat of the trip we attended a chocolate workshop on our last evening. The lollies and mini chocolate bars we made to taste as well as bring home as presents were delicious: we learnt how to add our own designs on them by ‘drawing with chocolate’ and added lots of toppings as well as wrap them all individually at the end, it was such a treat!

Before we left for home the next day, we drew at the harbour in Penzance; it was really peaceful and beautiful. We then had a last chance to buy a small souvenir and have an ice-cream before boarding our train back to Newbury.

Thank you to Mrs Syckelmoore for organising the Art Trip and to Mrs Hampson and Mrs Smith too.

Edward Horsfield

‘The Art Trip was great, I have learned a lot about art and photography. One of my favourite parts was when we went to explore St. Michaels Mount. I was really interested in the castle, the paintings and the weapons as well as the stunning views from the top. I also enjoyed going around the gardens and found out lots of information on the castle and gardens by completing the quizzes for which I won a medal and a fun coloured pencil which changes colours!

I enjoyed hearing the story about how the English stole some of the cannons from the French and about 20 years ago a French boat came in the night and stole some back again.’

Hugo Barnes

‘I really enjoyed the trip to Penzance and St. Ives because it was very informative and extremely enjoyable. We learned about some of the Newlyn and St. Ives artists. In particular I enjoyed Penlee Gallery and learning about Fred Halls’ work and visiting the Geevor Tin mine. I learnt a lot about the tin mine and the mill, it was so cool going in the mine and a bit scary!’

Matthew Bond

‘The Art Trip was very enjoyable and great fun.  I loved visiting all of the interesting places. One of my favourite places was the Geevor tin mine, there was so much to do and see and draw there, it was amazing to see the machinery they used in the 1800 and 1900’s and how they developed. It was a great end of trip treat to finish by doing a chocolate workshop, it was really fun to use the chocolate to draw and make patterns with. I think it was a very worthwhile trip and a very good idea to develop Year 6’s art skills and to learn about some incredible artists.’

Peter Compton-Burnett