National venue for Northumberland primary school artists

Young artists at a Northumberland school have had the chance of a lifetime to exhibit their work in the world-famous National Gallery in London.

​Pupils from St Robert’s First School, Morpeth, created their own original work on Fantastic Feet, inspired by a painting depicting a biblical story, and now it is on national display until mid-September.

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The gallery’s Take One Picture programme chooses one of its works to be the foundation for primary school pupils around the country to create their own artwork, and some of them go on to be chosen for an exhibition.

The Finding of Moses, by Orazio Gentileschi, depicts the biblical scene where the baby Moses is found by Pharaoh's daughter in a basket among the bullrushes beside the River Nile.

It was chosen for its cross-curricular themes, but the Northumberland children chose an unexpected area to highlight for their work.

Pupils at St Robert’s, a member of the Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust, were intrigued by the painting and particularly interested in the dirty feet of the women in the picture, and wanted to know why only parts of the feet appeared to be dirty.

With the help of a local podiatrist, the children discovered the anatomy of the foot and made slipper casts of their own feet, created footprints, detailed drawings and plasticine models as part of their project which was then chosen to go on display.

“I was completely overwhelmed by the exhibition. It was the proudest moment of my teaching career when I first saw it,” said Year 3 teacher Alice Butler who travelled to London for the official opening.

The work of the St Robert’s pupils was chosen along with 29 other schools to be in the resulting exhibition at the gallery which is now open to the public until September 12.
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The Finding of Moses was painted in the early 1630s and is created in oil on canvas. The picture is large and shows nine women around the basket with a baby Moses and his sister Miriam. It was commissioned by Charles I for his wife Queen Henrietta Maria on the birth of their son who went on to be Charles II.