Kingsmead have a long-standing commitment to the National Gallery’s Take One Picture project which we have taken part in every year since 2010 (see Take One Picture page). We have an annual Creativity Week during which the whole school (Nursery to Year 6) come off timetable, dedicating a whole week to exploring the chosen National Gallery artwork.

Rich, Relevant and Representative: The LEAP Empowerment Curriculum
As part of our creation of the LEAP Empowerment Curriculum, we have developed an art curriculum that is rich, relevant and representative by exposing the children to a range of artists from the global majority and exploring how they have shaped and contributed to art history. Our holistic approach is designed to develop children’s understanding of the multitude of different people and cultures in our world. Children will look at influences from around the world, such as the importance of pattern in Islamic art and the influence of African masks in the paintings of Picasso and Modgliani.
This has led us to develop the Take One Picture project in recent years, into Take Two Pictures. For the last 4 years we have added a second artwork by a contemporary British diverse artist, that the children explore in relationship to the Take One Picture artwork each year. These have included Uzo Egonu, Hurvin Anderson, Lubaina Himid and most recently Hew Locke.

Take Two Pictures 2025

This year the National Gallery has chosen Canaletto’s ‘A Regatta on the Grand Canal’ as their focus painting for the Take One Picture project.  This is an interesting opportunity for children to explore themes such as celebration, travel and tourism, landscapes and local identity. 

Our second artwork, chosen by our  LEAP federation, for our Take Two Pictures project is Hew Locke’s, ‘Where Lies the Land?’  Hew Locke is a British artist, who grew up in Guyana and is now based in Brixton.  His sculptures explore themes of the past and their impact and effect on modern society.  Many of his sculptures explore the different stories of vessels, including trade, migration, tourism and fishing.  It is the first time we have explored sculpture as our second artwork and we were really excited to see what our children created! The children studied both these two artworks throughout our Creativity Week, exploring a range of themes, techniques and mediums to create their own artistic responses. 

We were also lucky enough to send a class from each of the LEAP schools, to see Hew Locke's fascinating exhibition 'What Have We Here?' that was on at the British Museum. The exhibition featured items from the British Museum collection that Hew Locke had chosen, to explore the impact of Empire, from encounters between cultures, to conflict and subjugation. The exhibition also featured a number of pieces of Hew Locke’s own artworks, which the children were excited to see. Some of these were sculptures of figures, who were dotted about the gallery, as though observing the visitors to the exhibition and some were ships, similar to those that feature in his artwork ’Where Lies the Land?’ that we  focused on in our Take Two Pictures project. His sculptures and mixed-media pieces sparked discussions on history, identity and storytelling. The children were fascinated by his use of materials and cultural themes.

‘I wondered why the sculpture of Queen Victoria was in the exhibition. I learnt that she was also in charge of many other countries around the world including in Africa and Asia’  Skye Yr 4
'I think the big plate was used for special foods because it was made of gold or maybe it was a decorative object' - Asha Yr 4

             

             

 Here are some photos of children creating their artworks during our Creativity Week and images of the final displays in school showcasing their creations.