25th June

Every teacher in the school has put on a fantastic art display and we are showcasing work from our last three phases of Virtually There in the school as part of an exhibition to close off the school year. It has taken a lot of time and effort to put all the work together and Mrs Wilson has, as usual gone that extra mile to make everything look amazing. The children have been involved in decisions regarding the way that their work is shown and they are really tuned into the details. Some of the work that is being shown comes from the children’s visit to the FE Mc William gallery to see the Virtually There exhibition. This visit happened right before the final day of the current phase and it was a serene and envigorating experience. According to their own ideas, the children brought objects with them to the gallery that were important to them -the kind of things that some of them had been working with through photography as part of the Precious Objects phase. Once they had explored the exhibition, they settled themselves down, got out their objects and became almost totally silent. They painted, drew, used pen and wash, mixed colours for about an hour. Apart from the occasional murmured conversation, they were so intent on what they were doing that you could have heard a pin drop. They were so calm. They are an amazing bunch of children. It’s always a privilege to work with them and with Mrs Wilson but this was a really special day.

So some of those images were on the wall as well as work from the current phase including contact sheet style prints of their photographs. I edited all of the voices together and put them in order of age. This became a sound piece called “Every voice in the school” and people could listen to it on headphones.

The exhibition was really well attended and the wider school community was, as always, really engaged with the work -not just from Virtually There but from all of the children. I am very lucky to be working in such a great school and, as ever, have the greatest respect for Mrs Wilson. I think that this year she has gone even further with experimentation and with the sheer volume of work -the children were photographing every single day in the school. It takes a huge amount of dedication and concentration to keep that thread running through a really busy school environment.

Thanks, again, as ever to Kids’ Own for supporting the work and allowing me to continue with this amazing project. The Virtually There tour has been running alongside the work throughout this phase and I think that it has really enriched my experience this time around. Long may it run.