A creative and tasty start to the school year has involved children at Ramsgate Arts Primary creating portraits using food.
The inspiration for the Year 3 girls and boys is the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo who they studied as part of their Art to Start entry to a How We Live topic about food groups, healthy lifestyles and the human body.
The Italian painter who lived in Milan during the 1500s was best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, and fish
Year 3 teacher Kiki Amin explained: “We looked at the different portraits he created using seasonal foods.
“My pupils and the other Year 3 class with teacher Mrs Mann will be studying the different diets of animals and humans early on in this unit – so we decided to combine these two subjects by having the children create portraits of themselves using different fruits and vegetables.
“They also drew their own versions of themselves with their favourite fruits and vegetables too, and so we were able to combine use of three mediums of art: food, collage and pencil.
“Our children had lots of fun and have loved having their artwork on display in the classroom to show their friends and parents.”
Head of School Nick Budge liked the idea. He said: “This is an innovative way to start an important and varied topic.
“The work that Year 3 created was interesting and diverse. They had a great time getting to grips with their materials and turning them into portraits – and they also learnt about an historic Italian painter with a unique approach to his art.”
