[S]tudents from Langwathby C of E primary school have created a wonderful colourful quilt featuring the hand or face of every child in the school.
The ambitious arts project was the idea of headmistress Lesley Birtwell who wanted to create something special to celebrate the school’s 150th birthday.
Local artists Kate Durdy and members of the WI sewing group helped the children create the panels for the giant quilt which will be on show at the schools annual Art Mart event this weekend, the 15th and 16th July (doors open at 10am and close at 5pm Saturday, 4pm Sunday)
Lesley the headmistress is retiring in July after 17 years in post, throughout her time in the school she has built strong links with local artists bringing painters, sculptures and textile artists in to work alongside the children so the quilt is her last big artistic project.
Lesley said: “Throughout my time at Langwathby I have encouraged the children to take part in artistic projects working with local artists, this enormous quilt is by far the biggest project we have ever undertaken.
“The Community Quilt celebrates the schools 150th anniversary, every child in the school is represented with either a hand print or a decorated quilt panel.
“It has been a wonderful community effort, Kate Durdy our artist worked with the students, teachers and govenors supported by our local WI sewing group. We are absolutely thrilled with the giant characterful quilt we have created and we hope lots of people will come to view it at our Art Mart Event next weekend.”
Textile artist Kate Durdy said: “I really enjoyed working with the children, they are really inspiring to work with as they have so many original and creative ideas. It’s been a huge effort from the whole community and the quilt is a really wonderful piece of art, capturing the character of the children, all the teachers and some of governors who also made panels.”
The quilt will be on display to the public at Langwathby Schools annual Art Mart event this weekend. The school is transformed into an art gallery featuring over 250 original works from a vast array of Cumbrian artists, this years special exhibition is textiles complimenting the children’s community quilt. Everyone is welcome to visit the gallery, view or buy the art and enjoy refreshments in the tearoom.
