Local students showcase their artwork in Kings Cross to celebrate Earth Day

Local students showcase their artwork in Kings Cross to celebrate Earth Day

Year 3 Students from Esh Winning Primary School, County Durham, have proudly displayed their artwork in the capital. The drawings, made in a workshop at The Great North Museum: Hancock were created as part of the project ‘The Wild Escape’ in celebration of Earth Day.

The Wild Escape

The Wild Escape is a project uniting hundreds of museums and schools in a celebration of UK wildlife and creativity. The project is the largest ever collaboration between the UK’s museums. Supported by Arts Council England and aims to inspire hundreds of thousands of children to visit museums and respond creatively to the threat to the UK’s natural environment by looking for animals featured in museum collections and creating their own wildlife artworks. 

Last week, to celebrate Earth Day an epic-scale digital artwork was unveiled featuring the animals imagined by children all over the country, inspired by the collections of hundreds of UK museums.

After working with the artist, Jane McCracken, at The Great North Museum: Hancock, Year 3 pupils from Esh Winning Primary School created their own animal drawings as part of The Wild Escape project. 

Seven children’s drawings were chosen to be included in an exhibition at King’s Cross as part of the estate-wide activity celebrating Earth Day, 22nd April 2023. Two of the children’s images were also portrayed onto the large digital screens in Piccadilly Circus.

Fully immersed

Caroline Hodgson, Head Teacher at Esh Winning Primary School commented:

“The opportunity for the Year 3 children to work with the artist, Jane McCracken, at The Great North Museum: Hancock was fantastic and such a wonderful experience for our children. Our children fully immersed themselves in the workshop and we are very proud of them – their behaviour, attitude and focus were exemplary. The fact that some of these drawings were then created into stands that have been displayed at King’s Cross is absolutely superb. A great experience for everyone involved and something that has created a real buzz within our school and local community.”

Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East, added:

“What a fantastic opportunity to showcase young talent from our region. We are very proud to see the work from local students displayed in Kings Cross with its enormous footfall. We hope the students involved will feel pride in their achievements and continue to pursue art. Well done to the students involved, Esh Winning Primary and the Great North Museum for this wonderful collaboration.”

The Wild Escape project is ongoing and teachers can get involved with resources on the campaigns website available here.

Esh Winning Primary School is a Schools North East Partner School. If you’d like to find out more about our Partner School Programme click here.

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