Art Trip to Amsterdam – 18.10.17

Mrs Kearney with this trip report:

“We arrived in beautiful Amsterdam on Wednesday morning ready to see windmills, tulips and of course lots of Art! The afternoon was spent drawing by the canal, looking at the amazing architecture and unique buildings along Rokin. We were wowed by the beautiful studies created by our students. We then went to the Body Worlds exhibition by the scientist & artist Professor Gunther Von Hagen Bodies. Body parts, muscle, flesh and bone, the body is an amazing thing and the work looked like sculpture.

We then had a canal cruise round Amsterdam, seeing the sites of the city, its architecture and hearing about its history before exhausted we went back to the hotel.

Day two and we were raring to go! First stop was the Van Gogh Museum. It was incredible to see his work and especially the drawings. You even got to see his painting palette and drawing equipment. Lots of visitors were praising our students working and drawing in the gallery. We were really pleased with how the students were challenging themselves to draw more complex studies. Next was the popular and much anticipated Banksy exhibition at Moco. It was great to see his famous works first hand. They really enjoyed this exhibition and we sat in the grounds and park area, doing even more drawing and planning in our sketchbooks.

Then we squeezed into the ‘I Amsterdam’ sculpture for a quick picture, before hitting the Hard Rock Café for our tea and heading back to the hotel. Zzzzz.

The third and final day was upon us, so it was straight into Amsterdam and the Museum Quarter again. But we managed a stop off at the Flower Market … got to get ourselves some tulips!

Then we went to the Rijks Museum, more traditional art works in a fantastic building which married old and new architecture beautifully. Here we were able to see works by Rembrandt and Vermeer and what is known as the Dutch school first hand.

We then went to the Stedelijk Museum which was full of more contemporary works. De Stijl is a famous Dutch Art movement and it was great to see this style first hand, along with works by Pop Artists and one of Miss Grey’s favourites Marlene Dumas. It also had an interactive display of graffiti which we loved and made our own!

We then had a bit of retail therapy! Where Freya and Mia bought some very fetching clogs! There was further purchasing of souvenirs and as us artists are not sartorially challenged, one or two of us got kitted out quite nicely!

Then it was off to airport, where Freya and Mia entertained with a clog ‘dance’ and a rap! And then despite Storm Brian we were home, tired, sad to leave Amsterdam, full of memories, well versed in Art and much fitter after doing a whopping 54,000 steps in total! Art keeps you fit!

A fantastic trip with our amazing students who were impeccable in their behaviour and effort and whole heartedly enthusiastic about everything we saw and did. Check out everything we experienced, including the clog ‘dance’, on our departmental Instagram (wellingtonschool_artdepartment).

A huge thank you to our students for making it an amazing trip. Amsterdam we will be back!”