Penninghame Primary, Newton Stewart

Penninghame Primary Three Does ‘Jolomo’

Penninghame Primary 3 class have had a ‘night out’ at Newton Stewart Library at an exclusive art exhibition. The exhibition is about John Lowrie Morrison (Jolomo) who is a famous Scottish artist. Jolomo paints scenes from the West Coast of Scotland, he likes to capture the landscape of the West coast and uses strong bright colours in his paintings. Jolomo has strong competition in the exhibition in the library as Primary 3s have been studying his work over the last 2 months and have produced their own ‘Jolomo style’ paintings. Their canvases hang proudly next to Jolomos prints.

The project sprang from the children learning about Scottish literature and Scottish landscapes and lifestyles in the Highlands and Islands. Pupils have been studying ‘Katie Morag’ books which illustrates life and stories of people living in the islands. In his work Jolomo paints a number of images seen in the Katie Morag books such has island crofts, island ferries, fishing boats, lighthouses and landscapes. The children have been perfecting their painting skills by copying some of his most famous prints and then eventually building up to creating their own canvas in a ‘Jolomo style’ of painting for their celebratory event in the library to showcase their work to parents and families.

The library was packed out on opening night with families enjoying ‘cheese and wine’ and in true ‘art exhibition’ style canvases were being snapped up by buyers. There was a huge surprise for the children on the evening when Mrs McQuat (P.3 teacher) read out an email from Jolomo himself in which he stated –

“ ........ I HOPE YOUR LANDSCAPE PROJECT HAS GONE WELL AND YOU HAVE LEARNED HOW TO USE COLOUR .. AND MIX COLOURS TO EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT THE SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE. I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THE END RESULTS OF YOUR PROJECT AND WILL PUT YOUR PAINTINGS ON THE JOLOMO WEBSITE FOR THE WORLD TO SEE. SORRY I CANNOT BE WITH YOU AT THE OPENING OF YOUR EXHIBITION ... BUT WISH YOU WELL. “

Ann McShane (Family Learning) stated – “This has been an amazing project for the children to showcase with parents/families and incorporates the childrens literacy skills, social studies and expressive arts skills. It is definitely well worth a visit in the school holidays, Library staff will welcome as many families a possible to come in”.