With work in the gallery belonging to the city and  it’s citizens the staff were keen to capitalise on the children’s sense of pride in and ownership of our city’s treasures.As part of the MAGPIE project (Museum and Gallery Project in Education) Lead Practitioner, Hannah Mahapatra, brought pupils to do the  ‘A Picture Paints A Thousand Words’ workshop. Inspired by how this session uses artworks as starting points for creative writing staff devised a week long poetry project involving every child in the school.Using artworks as a stimulus for their writing the pupils performed the finished poems in the Gallery space.

What the children and teachers said

Knowing that all those paintings belong to everyone in Manchester makes me feel really proud! I would definitely like to take my family there. They would really like it!” Jordan, Year 5 pupil

“It was wonderful to see the pride written all over the children’s faces. Pride in themselves for the work they had produced; pride in their school for representing it in public and pride in their city for owning such a magnificent building, with such important works of art inside it. Every teacher had a similar tale to tell on returning to school and we were all buzzing for a long time afterwards.” Hannah Mahapatra, teacher

Here are just a few examples of the finished poems

Year 2 worked with the painting ‘Rhyl Sands’ by David Cox

The deep blue sea
Looks like a shark’s jaw!
Shiny as a diamond
As green as an emerald
Sounds like a crocodile
Smacking it’s tail on the ground!
Crashing like a thunderstorm!

By Aisila

Year 5 looked at ‘Work’ by Ford Maddox Brown

Orange seller
Gallic speaker
Trouble maker?
Money wanter
Peeler hater
Parent lover
Ireland misser
Home dreamer

By Nathan Lawson

Year 6 were inspired by ‘Captive Andromache’ by Lord Frederic Leighton

Thinking of her past
She’s in a pool of black
Sobbing for her lover
Wishing to see him again
Wondering if she can go
Why her? Why him?
Someone help her before she breaks
Why is everyone looking at her?
Can we rewind time?
Can we save her heart?
Thinking of her past

By Abbie Collinson

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