Monthly news - Art pupils enjoy their very own 'You Tube'
These days, you don't have to be a prospective Picasso, budding Botticelli or emerging Emin to have your artwork exhibited. A new website is allowing people across the globe the chance to enjoy pieces, not from bohemian cafes of pre-war Paris, Renaissance Italy or even a grubby 1990s London bedroom, but from today's schools.
What started as a good practice vehicle for a family of schools in Worcester looks to become a forum in which children from all over the country are getting involved. Already almost 700 images from 126 schools have been uploaded onto www.kids101-art.co.uk, a site that's set to become the 'You Tube' of art education.
"All of our talented children deserve recognition for the effort, imagination and resourcefulness they put into their artwork," says David Channon, a web designer who created the site after chatting to his sister, an art teacher. "We hope to provide schools with the opportunity to share the ingenuity of their children while also building and nurturing confidence."
Uploading photos of children's work on to the site is free of charge and can be done either on the site itself or, if a CD of photographs is sent, by kids,101art staff. "It's a piece of cake, you don't need much technical knowledge," explains John Thurlow, a teacher at New Monument Primary in Woking who has seen his pupils' motivation levels soar since realising their work was going to be seen across cyberspace.
"I'm so excited," beams one New Monument Year 5. "People all over the world can see what I've done in school, it's amazing and I feel very proud."
"We are still at the early stages," says David. "So it is up to teachers to tell us in what direction they would like to see this go and we'll see what we can do!"
www.kids101-art.co.uk
