Regatta
Regatta
St Robert’s Catholic First School, Northumberland, ages 5–6
A Carnival on the River Wansbeck
We compared the canal in the painting to our local river. Unlike Canaletto’s canal, we noticed that our river is sludgy with algae, so we marbled the paper with green ink to show this. We then added carnival boats on top to create a Wansbeck Regatta.
Anderton Park Primary School, Birmingham, ages 9–10
A Regatta on the Ladypool Canal
We were inspired by Canaletto’s painting and where we live. We compared the Regatta in Venice to events we celebrate with decorations and street parties, like Eid. Ladypool Road is a busy road near us, so we decided to turn it into a canal full of boats and people celebrating.
St Alban and St Stephen Catholic Primary School, Hertfordshire, ages 4–5
Collaborative Collage
We explored the picture in lots of different ways – from learning about Newton’s laws of motion to speaking Italian! We then made drawings from the painting and experimented with a bubble-printing technique. Finally, we put all of our work together to make a collaborative piece.
Dolphin School, Reading, ages 8–10
Diorama
Our class decided to make a 3D version of Canaletto’s painting. We made the buildings, gondolas, people, sky and water to recreate as much of the image as possible. We created perspective by putting all of the pieces together in a triangle shape.
Kisimul School, Lincolnshire – a residential school for students with autism and complex needs, ages 8–18
Regatta Artworks
We introduced the painting to the pupils using Makaton symbols and activities accessible to all learners. We focused on a different theme each week and displayed our final pieces at our end of year graduation.
Grafton Primary School, London, ages 7–8
Grand Canal Animation
Children in Year 3 worked with our artist in residence Reza Ben Gajra, to create a stop-frame animation of the painting. They wrote a narrative and made all of the characters, boats, buildings and water. It was amazing to see their creation come to life!
Moreland Primary School, London, ages 8–9
‘Big Up’ the Canal
Our students liked that Canaletto celebrated the Venice canal in his painting. They decided to create a spoken word piece to celebrate Regent’s Canal in London and explore their own experiences and connections to it.
St Michael’s C of E Primary Academy, Birmingham, ages 6–11
A Party on the Birmingham Canal
Our class reimagined a regatta on the Birmingham canals. We kept the perspective from Canaletto’s painting and were inspired by local artist Ruth Salton for our colour scheme. We included things that make Birmingham special, like Ozzy, our famous bull sculpture.