Children and families at Ramsgate Arts Primary have worked together to create a giant mural that celebrates sea life and the shoreline.
The project was part of the Big Draw, a pioneering visual literacy charity that is dedicated to raising the profile of drawing as a tool for wellbeing, thought, creativity, social and cultural engagement.
The theme for this year’s event is Come Back to Colour and art teacher Kelly-Ann Smith found inspiration for the RAPS work in and around Margate.
She decided to celebrate the recent Rise Up Residency programme that created beautiful and thought-provoking murals around the town that depict issues around ocean biodiversity and plastic hazards.
She said: “Our children and families came together to create a large-scale drawing based on sea flowers and marine life. They then had the opportunity to use a variety of bold, bright colours to create a large scale art piece.
“My aim for this event was to not only bring children and their families together creating art work but to also educate families on the issue of colour bleaching and the importance of looking after our seas and sea life. As a community, we are literally bringing sea animals and plants ‘Back To Colour’.
“This was a wonderful opportunity for children to create a magnificent, collaborative art piece together as well as having relevant conversations about the purpose of the art work and why we were creating it.”
Head of School Nick Budge described the Big Draw project as “an important event for our school community.” He added: “There was a lot of support from our families and it was great to see them working together. The mural is colourful, bright and bold and we hope to put it on display in the school to celebrate the success of our Big Draw initiative.”
