Students Inspired by Arty Day in London
On a sunny Wednesday last month, a group of art students travelled by coach to London for a double treat when they visited firstly the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, followed by the Victoria and Albert Museum in Knightsbridge.
Year 9 student Abi told us about the trip, starting with the Saatchi Gallery.
“We had a guide who took us to each of the exhibition rooms and each room displayed work from two different artists. There were various collages, photos, lazer beams and projected films and even a sculpture of a table with human legs.
“Some of the exhibits were a little strange – the film we saw was about people in a factory trying to be fake doctors. We also saw a photo exhibit about human trafficking, which was quite harrowing.”
Abi is a keen photographer herself and won a photo competition at Longhill High last year with the theme of ‘capturing new life and life in the moment.’
Students were able to eat their lunch in the grounds of the Gallery before walking through Knightsbridge to reach the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects.
Abi was very impressed by the Museum; she told us, “We went to the Italian sculpture room and saw some amazing statues. The Victorians actually went to Italy and made moulds of some of the famous statues there and then recreated them for the Museum. We tried to draw some of the statues ourselves.
“We visited the Japanese section where I saw Samurai swords, as well as Japanese art and clothing. There were some interesting things there. We also saw clothes belonging to Queen Victoria – she was very small! You could choose a piece of classical music to listen to while you looked at the things belonging to her.”
What was Abi’s overall impression of the day? “I really enjoyed it – there was so much to see, particularly at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I would definitely like to go back and spend more time there.”
A big thank you to Mr Iozzi and Ms Newbury for taking the students on the trip, which will help to inspire some of their GCSE coursework.
