Art Workshop at Ripon Cathedral
04 Jul 2024
We had a lovely day at the cathedral on Tuesday. We joined children from other schools to work together at the Sacred Spaces Art Workshop.
First, we spent time looking at the beautiful features of the building, such as the vaulted roof, the stained-glass windows and the stone carvings. Next, we looked at lots of pictures showing many of the signs, symbols, paintings and sculptures that can be found within the cathedral. We found out that many of the pieces of artwork represent stories from the bible.
Then, it was time to start exploring! We were challenged to find all the objects that we had seen in the pictures. We had a quiz sheet to tick each item off when we had found them. We had to search high and low and all around the various parts of the cathedral building. As we worked in our small groups of three or four, we kept meeting other children from Fountains, as well as friends we knew from other schools. We were all keen to find all the works of art on our clue list and everyone was helping each other and sharing information about where the objects could be found.
In the next activity, we considered the symbolism of crosses. We learnt that crosses come in many shapes and sizes and we looked at many examples of different designs. Then, it was our turn to design our own cross. We spent time working on creating our designs and then we were able to choose from many different types of materials to embellish our work. Everyone had different ideas and the results were brilliant. The finished pieces were then placed together to make a giant cross that was full of bright colours and textures.
Lunchtime was fun. We were all hungry and enjoyed eating outside in the cathedral grounds, then we had some time to run around and play games on the grass.
After lunch, we began work on the next collaborative piece of artwork. A huge template of a tree had been placed on the floor in the middle of the cathedral.
We thought about all the different creatures that could be living together in a tree. Our task was to create a picture or model of a living thing to place on the tree design. Everyone was busy creating birds, insects, flowers and fruit. Some of us did drawings whilst others created models; we all worked together and shared ideas and resources.
Then, the finished creatures were placed together on the tree. There was a huge sense of what can be achieved when many people do a small amount each. Together, we had created something special.
A highlight of the day was when everyone in the cathedral celebrated William's birthday by singing 'Happy Birthday'.... not just to our William but also to another William who was born on exactly the same day!
The whole day provided a wonderful opportunity to make new friends, be creative and to work collaboratively with our peers.
Enjoy the weekend everyone!
Miss Wray and Mrs Micklefield