Death masks and Viking boats feature in school’s first art exhibition

A PRIMARY school in Henley held its first art exhibition, showcasing work from pupils across the school.

St Mary’s Preparatory School in St Andrew’s Road opened up its school hall last week for friends and family to view the work created by 130 pupils aged three to 11.

Each class produced work inspired by their studies, with many projects based on what the pupils had been learning about in history.

Year 6 created Mayan-inspired masks using recycled cardboard, adding 3D effects with flat card. They painted the masks with acrylics and detailed them with permanent markers.

They also made self-portraits using carbon paper and enlarged photos, decorating them with stencilled patterns and words cut out of magazines to reflect their personalities.

Year 5 explored graffiti art using a generator app to design words. They brought their ideas to life with acrylic paints and Posca pens.

Year 4 pupils made models of Viking longboats. The boats were decorated with colourful shields and featured fabric masts affixed to a pole and held up by string.

Year 3 made Tutankhamun-inspired masks by attaching plastic masks to cardboard silhouettes, which they later covered with in mod-roc — plaster impregnated bandages — before painting over it.

Pupils in Year 1 made cardboard castles complete with a drawbridge and a moat. The pupils used cardboard rolls to make knights that could stand guard outside the fortress. Year 1 also made cat paintings inspired by the artists Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee.

Olivia Smith, 11, of Year 6, made a Mayan mask and a self-portrait. She said: “Sometimes the work is based on our humanities. We were studying the Mayans so we have made the masks. It has been fun.”

Tom Rowberry, 39, from Binfield Heath, came to look at some of the work done by his daughter Poppy.

He said: “You hear about the things that they are doing but it’s lovely to have the opportunity to come along and see it.”