School Prints project wins gallery’s backing
AN INITIATIVE designed to reverse the decline in the number of pupils taking GCSE art has won the backing of the leading national gallery Turner Contemporary.
In 2018, The Hepworth Wakefield launched School Prints – an ambitious five-year project to engage every primary school pupil in the surrounding area with contemporary art.
Each year, participating schools are gifted a set of limited edition prints by leading contemporary artists and are supported with an artist-led education programme.
This year, Sir Michael Craig-Martin, Laure Prouvost and Linder Sterling have been commissioned to create the new works, and The Hepworth Wakefield has also partnered with Turner Contemporary to extend the project to the seaside town of Margate where the gallery is based.
Simon Wallis, the director of The Hepworth, said: “Over the last two years it has been incredibly rewarding to see the young people’s skills develop and their confidence grow.
“Many of these children had never visited an art gallery or thought art was something meaningful for them, but they have now become regular visitors to the gallery with their families. We conceived the project as one that could be extended across the UK with partner galleries, so it is exciting to take the first step towards that ambition.”
School Prints is inspired by a ground-breaking scheme set up in the 1940s by Brenda Rawnsley where artists, including Henri Matisse, Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso, were commissioned to create work specifically to allow children to have direct access to high-quality art.
Ms Sterling said: “It is so important that all children get to experience art and have the opportunity to express themselves creatively. With the focus in schools being on more academic subjects it is wonderful that The Hepworth has established this programme to help teachers incorporate creativity across the curriculum.”