The Age of Ice

This Wednesday, Year 5 unveiled their new piece of installation art, The Age of Ice, to parents during their learning review. We are so incredibly proud of the work the children put into this piece and we think the final outcome is sensational. The information about their piece is as follows:

The Age of Ice

By Year 5 – Congo and Nile Class

Inspired by the powerful sculptures of Anthony Gormley and the magical world of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Year 5 Congo and Nile present The Age of Ice – a haunting and imaginative piece that brings to life the chilling rule of the White Witch.

This artwork captures a frozen world where animals have been turned to stone, symbolising the fear, silence, and domination that spreads across Narnia. Each animal in the sculpture has its own story – a life, a purpose, and a tale within the wider Narnian universe.

Before their capture by the White Witch, these creatures roamed the land, each playing a part in the kingdom's rich and diverse narrative. Now frozen in time, they embody the tragedy of what has been lost. A towering black castle looms in the distance, representing the Witch’s dark reign over the land. Through sculpture, shadow, and texture, the students invite viewers to step into the world of the animals – to see the world through their eyes and feel the weight of their frozen stillness. You are not just looking at the artwork; you are part of the desperate community, waiting for hope to return and for the cruel, long Winter to finally come to an end. Let yourself be drawn into the magic, mystery, and emotion of The Age of Ice.

Quotes from the children

'I really liked that we were able to be creative when designing our installation. We were allowed to express ourselves and we made detailed prisoner statues sculptures by the White Witch from Narnia.'

'We have taken inspiration from Narnia by C.S Lewis by studying his characters and creating our animal statues. Congo decided to glaze their statues red whereas Nile chose blue because we wanted to represent the ice powers and the general icy nature of the White Witch. I really enjoyed doing the clay and it felt like we were putting a little bit of ourselves into the statues as we had freedom over creating them.'

'I really enjoyed making our installation art because everybody was able to do what they wanted to do and had the freedom to create whatever animal they wanted to create and create a backstory for them. I also loved reading the Narnia book and deciding about my sculpture. I think it was a great topic to do. In our installation, we're showing that everyone is part of a community no matter who they are and we want the viewer to side with the animal community and fight back against the Witch. We have chosen blue lighting because we want to show the dark nature of the Witch. We positioned our animals to show her biggest conquests at the front'