Artwork created by children from Hornbill School in Brunei has been on display at The National Gallery’s recent Take One Picture exhibition in London.
Every year the gallery selects an artwork to give focus to the exhibition. This year, they chose The Battle of San Romano by the Florentine painter Paolo Uccello, which depicts events that took place between Florentine and Sienese forces in 1432, in an eight-year long battle.
Children from Years 1 to 6 at the MOD school dedicated their art week to focusing on the painting and considered how they could link the painting with the school’s citizenship values.
The inspiration for their work came from a line in the song ‘When a knight won his spurs’ which the school was learning. The song line, ‘Let faith be my shield and let joy be my steed’ became the title of their artwork.
The lyric led to the idea of creating a ‘values battle’ scene with each fighting soldier being armed with strength from a character value, including joy, love, hope, truth, peace, happiness and courtesy. The children then created a large battle scene with knights on horseback and foot soldiers, with every fighting character carrying a value written on their armour.
Andy Yeoman, Chief Education Officer at Defence Children Services (DCS), said: “The work that has gone into creating this piece of art is outstanding. The level of detail, the dedication and creativity shown by pupils and teaching staff has created something truly wonderful. We are proud of all the work that goes on in all our MOD schools and we know pupils are thriving and learning.”
Take One Picture is an annual initiative run by the gallery and this is the third time Hornbill School has been selected for display in the exhibition.