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Battenberg Primary School, Battenberg, Germany

Jade Buddenberg

Battenberg is a small picturesque town in the German state of Hessen approximately two hours drive from Frankfurt. Its primary school is a modern building in a landscaped open and green space offering great facilities and room for the children. It is close to my home village and was thus the school of my choice for the Keeps project.

The same day I came to present the concept of Keeps to the school headmaster, I was immediately provided with a large art room and two hours time with ten children. I appreciated the teacher’s trust in me to leave no supervisor with us because it allowed for a more casual interaction with the children. None of the participants were shy and impatiently bombarded me with question. They were greatly excited because they had been picked out of many volunteers in their class. We sat around a large table and I introduced myself, giving a bit of background to who I am. I then conducted a quiz about London with questions such as: “What is the capital city?” which all engaged in enthusiastically.

After getting to know the children a little better, all were raring to start painting. The kids got their special art overcoats to protect their clothing and chose the art materials with care. Everyone seemed eager about painting on real professional canvas as it seemed they never had before. Soon they actively engaged into discussing the topic: what is most important in their lives. Nobody was lacking ideas but they all had their independent ideas. Having planned their painting, the children gradually started their work. Their concentration and seriousness was remarkable.

There were only the four primary colours available for them and they started experimenting to mix other colours such as brown, black and “skin colour”. This was a thrilling learning process for the kids as well as for me to witness. They also liked to experiment with the different brush sizes and busily inter-traded their equipment. Especially the girls were very self critical and one of them was so disappointed by her skills that she nearly refused to give me her painting. Needless to say her painting was beautiful and after some comforting she agreed to let me take it. As for the themes chosen, most were based on the family and home. Many boys drew their pets mostly cats. Astonishing to me was the boy who drew hearts, a peace sign and musical notes because he could not live without love, peace and music. I was even more surprised when a girl explained to me that she drew a unicorn because her imagination was most precious to her. Thus I was greatly impressed by the kids maturity and creativity that came out in their art.

Upon completion of their painting each child proudly held their work for a photograph and then we all posed for a group picture. As it was nearly break time and they were all eager to join their friends outside for games I hurried to give out the certificates. This is not a very common practise in German schools and they seemed greatly proud to receive them. All kids had the courtesy to help clean up the room before they ran to tell their friends about their special activity that morning.

Overall it was a great experience for me and I think the children enjoyed the project thoroughly. They were hugely excited about the prospect of having their pictures put up in a public exhibition and in London at that. Personally, I would have liked to have a little more time to chat to the children and find out more about their background but apart from this the project was a 100% successful.

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