We had a very exciting visitor today in year 5. Gus Casely-Hayford, the director of V&A East came into our school and shared three exquisite items from the V&A collection. One was made from bronze, one was made from silver, and one was made from gold.
The beautiful gold necklace, with a butterfly clasp, originated from India. The delicate bronze box with tiny birds on the lid held gold dust, and the silver pomander was not only a masterpiece of engineering, but also held wonderful scents from spices. Gus was a brilliant story-teller, and we learned a lot about how objects teach us about history and the world around us.
It was also interesting to hear about how Gus became the director of the V&A, which began from reading The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich when he was the same age as the children in Lichtenstein class. The book taught him about art from around the world and sparked an interest in travelling and exploring artefacts.
After the presentation from Gus, Lichtenstein class responded to the items they had seen by honing their own craft skills through modelling objects from plasticine.
Thank you V&A East – we can’t wait to come and visit the museum when it opens next Spring.
