In this week’s session, the year 9s were lucky to be able to work with a local artist, Jon Lockhart. Jon set his ‘architects’ the job of recreating Turners painting out of just cardboard with a two-hour deadline!

Three smaller groups were given the task to create a specific section/ building from the High Street. These had to be at a specific scale so the Year 9s had to work out the perspective of the painting to be able to get the scale of the buildings. Part way through Jon helped the group by teaching them how to use gum strips to make their models look better and which helped to make the buildings look as realistic as in the painting.

Although many of the Year 9s found it hard to get the scale of their models correct, they also said that this was their favourite session of the entire project because it was ‘the most creative and hands-on’. They also liked working in groups and developing team working skills. The final result was amazing – we thought Turner would have been impressed!

Watch ‘Building the High Street’ on Youtube

Afterwards, the group were then asked a series of questions about the painting and art in general. The questions got the students to think about what art meant to them, how art has changed and also what the image that Turner had created could mean to them.

What is art?
‘Creative being’, ‘Expressing yourself’, ‘Originality’, ‘Imagination’, ‘Non-judgement’, ‘Sharing’, ‘Everything is art’, ‘Memory’, ‘New ideas’

What is your first impression of the painting?
‘Old’, ‘Home’, ‘Photograph’, ‘Dull/ plain’, ‘Rustic’, ‘Detailed’, ‘Vintage’, ‘Oxford’, ‘Not like today’.

We discussed the tools that Turner would have available to him if he were creating this work today, and talked about photography, video, 3D printing and 360 film.

Through these sessions, the year 9s are going to look at the High Street past, present and future through a range of media.