Inter School Olympic Game’s Art Project 2012
Designed and tutored by Jennie Bambury
7 schools: 12 pupils from each, totaling 84 children taking part.
The idea behind this project was to enable “Gifted and Talented” primary school children of varying age, an opportunity to develop their talents in a special project using art materials not normally available for everyday use in school. In January 2012 Richard Tomlinson, Deputy Head of St. Peter’s School, East Bridgford, first suggested the idea of a project linking a cluster of schools in Nottingham County with Lynda Noble, Head of Heymann Primary School, West Bridgford, co-ordinating the project. Seven, of a number of schools invited, chose to take part:
Abbey Road, West Bridgford
Cropwell Bishop Primary School
St. Peter’s Primary school, East Bridgford
Heymann Primary School, West Bridgford
Kirkby Woodhouse Primary School
Lovers Lane Primary School, Newark
Radcliffe on Trent Primary School
The project was designed around the topical theme of The Olympic Games to capture the imagination and interest of the children involved. Twelve children were selected for their talent from each school making a total of 84 children working on the project in all. Each child designed and painted their own smaller work with acrylic paint and mixed media on to canvas to a scale that would fit around the large seven-piece work. The large-scale work was then designed to be painted into seven sections; one for each school. No one had seen all seven pieces together until they were first displayed at a pre-view, organised by Sam Jones, at Nottingham County Hall on 19th June 2012. It was a great event as the children involved were thrilled to see how their talents had come together to produce such an amazing piece of art displayed along with the all the other individual pieces depicting so many aspects of The Olympic Games.
The outcomes hoped for are that collectively the children will feel a sense of being part of this historic and momentous Olympic celebration of sport in our country through their art. Team-building skills needed for the project may help the children to gain the ability to see how a much bigger outcome can be created than could be achieved individually, whilst at the same time enjoying the freedom to experiment and use their individual talents.
From my own perspective it has been a wonderful opportunity to work with such enthusiastic and talented pupils. I am very proud of their results and I hope you will enjoy the brilliance of colour and sense the movement and atmosphere within their art. I hope it will inspire you to join in with the joy and fun of the Olympic games.
It never ceases to amaze me how creativity can open up doors and pathways to something very special. Many thanks go to all those who supported and helped with the project during its creation and in displaying this unique and very worthwhile exhibition. A lot of hard work and dedication has gone into it to make this possible.