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Year 9 have been working with Dulwich Picture Gallery on an art project that involved three trips to the gallery.

The project included a special den-building exercise inspired by the work of artist David Milne. The visit started with a private viewing of the David Milne: Modern Painting exhibition currently on at the Picture Gallery. Students were introduced to the work of David Milne by practicing artist Jo Lewis and undertook creative tasks inspired by his work.

Jo explained to students how David Milne would spend months at a time in the wilderness of Canada, building shelters and painting: constantly inspired by the landscape around him. Inspired by the idea of David Milne creating his own shelters to work and live in, students spent an afternoon in the Park building their own shelters in teams.

They were provided with the tools and equipment to make a shelter big enough for the whole group to be able to sit in. This required determination, project management and team work from all involved to make sure every team’s shelter met the brief.

The final  session back at the gallery involved students responding artistically to the work of David Milne: using graphite to sketch natural forms within the grounds of the gallery then using these sketches to produce a final, painted work of art in Milne’s style.

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What students say...

“I learnt that art is not just about precision but about how we express our feelings in everything we do.” Beatrice

“There is no limit to your creativity. Risk taking can take you very far with the things you would like to be able to achieve.” Breanna

“It was such an incredible and amazing experience to be able to discover the natural world and be able to create our own natural forms using our imagination and creativity skills. It also made us think about the real world outside of school.” Ethar

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The project with Dulwich Picture Gallery has been sponsored by the architectural firm Allies and Morrison and has been run over three separate sessions. The project will culminate in the students’ work being on show in an exhibition at Allies and Morrison’s London offices for a week in May.

Pictures: Gem Hall