Leeds Art Gallery is an international centre for modern and contemporary art that celebrates and explores creativity in Leeds with free access to exhibitions. Founded in 1888, the gallery is nationally significant with a collection of 19th, 20th and 21st century British painting and sculpture, alongside contemporary work and other media widely considered to be the best outside the national collections.
The school and gallery worked with poet Helen Mort and flamenco guitarist Samuel Moore, with participation from the whole of Stanningley Primary School including five families acting as ambassadors for the school community.
After considering several paintings from the gallery’s permanent collection, the pupils voted to borrow On the Move by Jack Butler Yeats and have it professionally hung in their school. Helen helped Year 5 classes write their own poems using colour from the painting as a starting point, and to work together as a team to write a collective poem. This was set to music and performed by Helen and Samuel to a packed hall of children and their families in the school. A second performance was held in Leeds Art Gallery.
