Amsterdam Culture High

On the first day of the February half term, Shiplake pupils and staff travelled to The Netherlands for a spot of art and culture. While in Amsterdam, the pupils, led by Miss Hallam, Miss Mordue, Mrs Krause, Mrs Thomas and Mr Geyton, explored the city and visited several galleries and museums as part of their art and photography A-Level projects. On Monday this week, the Art department held an exhibition and awards ceremony for the Pupils who attended. The three top pupils in each subject were awarded a prize and certificate, and certificates were also awarded for such things as ‘Always Late Award’, ‘Most Inappropriate Footwear Award’ and ‘Obsessed With Cheese Award’.

The art prizes were awarded to Tayla Caldeira and Liv Bartlett, both of Year 13, and Year 12’s Dan Anstey. The photography prizes were categorised, and the winner of ‘Best Timed Shot’ was Hannah Burnett of Year 13. Iona Wasdell, Year 12, was awarded ‘Best Composition’ and Brad Wilkins in Year 13 won ‘Best Landscape’.

Below is the report provided by Year 13 Pupil Hannah Simmonds-Gooding, who attended the trip:

On Saturday 10th February, 30 pupils and five teachers from Shiplake College arrived in Amsterdam for a five-day Art and Photography trip. The trip was jam-packed with a variety of activities, including gallery and museum visits, walks, and sight-seeing.  Amsterdam is famous for its canals, beautiful houses and so-called coffee shops, but we were inspired by the variety of things that this amazing city had to offer.

After a very early flight, we arrived in Amsterdam ready to see the city. Photographers went to the FOAM Museum and artists visited the Cobra Museum in the centre of Amsterdam. After dodging many bikes and trams on the very complicated city roads, we had dinner in a lovely food hall before returning to our hotel.

At the start of the trip, we visited a sculpture park about an hour out of Amsterdam. This park was very different to a normal exhibition that we artists and photographers would go to, but it opened all of our eyes and intrigued many of us. Afterwards, we went into central Amsterdam going into an amazing food market hall, with some amazing food making us all leave with full tummies feeling very content.

Monday started early and was a busy day ahead, with photographers and artists splitting and artists going to Rembrandts house, and photographers going on a walk, experiencing the red light district….and then joining back together again with the artists to go on a lovely and relaxing canal cruise. The artists loved the gallery and the photographers got some amazing images on the walk around Amsterdam. Then the canal cruise was one of the few moments of rest in the day, but so eye opening to be traveling through what Amsterdam is famous for, and seeing parts of Amsterdam from a different angle.

This was going to yet another busy day, filled with many advantageous outings for both the photographers and artists, and sadly our last full day in Amsterdam. We visited the Rijksmuseum, seeing a large variety of work and being so beneficial especially for the artists. The artists went to the Van Gogh Museum whilst the photographers walked around the local area, finding images to suit their project. The Stedilijik Museum was a largely multi-media museum, including some amazing installations and pieces of work, inspiring many of our photographers and artists.  We finished the trip off with a trip to the Hard Rock Café for our final meal.

Our final day included a walk around Amsterdam with a spot of shopping, allowing everyone to pick up some souvenirs. We then departed to the airport, everyone absolutely exhausted, content from such a great trip. With a safe and successful flight home, we arrived back safely.

We would like to say a big thank you to Miss Hallam for this fantastic trip.

Report provided by Hannah Simonds-Gooding - Year 13