Schoolchildren have put on a public art show of dinosaur fossil bones that they created in class.
Pupils from Years 3 and 4 at Hackney’s Gayhurst Community School made the pieces while studying the topic of rocks and soil in science.
Their work is on show at the Tag Gallery space in the grounds of the school in London Fields until April 25.
Artist Poppy Flint sourced wild clay and brought in soil from a Hackney building site to create a slurry. The children modelled the clay to describe various soil-dwelling creatures, then made a large painting with pigments and used modelling beeswax to learn about pressure and heat.
One class created a Pliosaurus model using a mould and cast with clay and plaster, pressing sticks and stones into it to create impressions of bones as a ‘fossil’ to put on show.
The gallery is part of a long-running partnership with the founder of Hackney’s Art Hoppers art education organisation Claire Ward-Thornton.
“We created a professional-style gallery to show children’s art at its best,” Claire said. “It elevates their work when the presentation is sharp and tight, giving it a serious profile.
“Their faces light up when they find their work in the gallery and they point to it saying, ‘that’s mine!’.
“They talk with their families about what they’ve made and you can hear the knowledge they’ve acquired in those conversations — it’s brilliant.”
Nurturing the artists of the future also gives Claire personal satisfaction.
“It’s a dream job,” she adds. “I have time to develop ideas and techniques.”
The idea of the Tag Gallery takes children’s art “off the noticeboard” and into a gallery to project their creativity in a professional, ‘grown-up’ manner with posters, publicity leaflets and the #TAG website said to be “far from typical for the average primary school”.
Gayhurst Community School headteacher Karen Pedro said: “Claire teaches the children in the most creative way to make these wonderful creations.”
The exhibition is open to the public in the grounds of Gayhurst Community School in Gayhurst Road, running daily till April 25 (excluding Easter holiday), from 3.30 to 3.45pm.
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