West Oxford School find out about Nigeria in Take One... Country

The country selected by West Oxford Community Primary School for the focus of their annual Take One project was Nigeria and what better place to come to than the Pitt Rivers Museum? Over two weeks every class from Reception to Year 6 visited the Pitt Rivers Museum to handle and look at Nigerian artefacts.  These visits inspired art and craft work which culminated in the summer art exhibition open to parents and the local community.  I was lucky enough to visit this fabulous exhibition at the start of July and was overwhelmed by the creative, colourful and diverse responses to the Nigerian collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Take One.. Country Exhibition at West Oxford Primary School © Pitt Rivers Museum

During their 90 minute visit to the Pitt Rivers pupils looked closely at Nigerian masks, exploring the concept of masquerade where there is an attempt to make contact with village ancestors through costumed dance and song. They also had a chance to handle and test out talking drums, dance anklets and masks. To find out more about masquerades read our West Africa Masks and Carving Factsheet or visit our fabulous displays!  Pupils also looked at ways status can be conveyed through looking closely at the Benin Court Art display as the Kingdom of Benin is in southern Nigeria.  They discovered that a leopard is a sign of royal power and that in the seventeenth century the Oba (King) walked tame leopards round the city on a lead!

Leopard Brass Mask 1965.9.1 B © Pitt Rivers Museum

Year 6 Clay Leopard Mask © Pitt Rivers Museum

A self-guided trail around the Pitt Rivers also enabled pupils to discover the wide range of arts and crafts generated within Nigeria.  Pupils loved tracking down the objects, highlighted with a Nigerian flag sticker, and saw fabulous objects such as leather riding boots made by the Hausa people from Northern Nigeria or beaded fans made by Yoruba artists in Western Nigeria.  Pupils also looked at a Yoruba wooden sculpture of Queen Victoria, touching on the colonial history of Nigeria.

Hausa Riding Boots 1904.54.24.1
© Pitt Rivers Museum

Yoruba Beaded Fan 1965.12.45 © Pitt Rivers Museum

Pupils used what they had seen as a creative springboard to produce a wide range of art and craft work ranging from beaded fans, masquerade masks, tie-dye T-shirts, fabric designs, embroidered animals to leopard sculptures!  This encapsulates the approach of the National Gallery's Take One... brand which encourages schools to take one picture or object, and use it to foster pupils' critical and creative thinking. West Oxford Community Primary School have enterprisingly extended this concept to include Take One Country, focussing on India at The Ashmolean last year and now Nigeria at the Pitt Rivers Museum.  I'm looking forward to finding out where we might be travelling to next year!

Beaded Fan made by Reception pupil © Pitt Rivers Museum

Tie dye T-shirt inspired by indigo dyed Adire Cloth © Pitt Rivers Museum

Leopard Sculptures inspired by a Yoruba Leopard Box 1919.10.1 © Pitt Rivers Museum

If you would like to find out more about the project, develop you own Take One experience or book existing Take One sessions then please contact rebecca.mcvean@prm.ox.ac.uk
Staff INSET can be delivered as part of project work.

If you are studying Benin or are interested in finding out more about the masquerade masks then consider booking our Guided trail - Africa, highlighting Benin.

As you can see the stimulus of the collections here produce some amazing creative results!  As a teacher from West Oxford Primary School stated:
"This was a class act - well presented, great resources and good communication beforehand.  Great balance - pupils were able to touch and hold objects, discuss, listen, look at cabinets.'

Becca McVean
Primary School Education Officer
Pitt Rivers Museum

Take One.. Tahitian Mourner's Costume

Take One.. Mourner's Costume is a new primary school project which has been launched at the Pitt Rivers Museum.  It is part of the National Gallery's Take One... brand which encourages schools to take one picture or object, and use it as a springboard for pupils' critical and creative thinking.  Pupils are challenged to take a close look at the spectacular Mourner's Costume collected on Captain Cook's Second Voyage of the Pacific (1772-75).


Mourner's Costume 1886.1.1637.2.1© Pitt Rivers Museum

During the 75 minute taught session pupils explore the different components of the Costume, examine the materials used and find out the fascinating story of how it was collected.  They are given the opportunity to look at other artefacts collected on Cook's Pacific Voyages, focusing on the patterns, and use their research to design their own celebratory costume.


Pupils present their costume design © Pitt Rivers Museum

After the initial stimulus, schools can develop their own response to the object with explorers, costumes and ceremonies, and materials being key lines of enquiry.  Teaching Notes available here. Take One... encourages a whole school celebratory event as demonstrated by West Oxford Community Primary School who used an art exhibition open to parents and the local community this week to showcase their response to the project.  This was the culmination of every year group visiting the Museum in June to experience a Take One... session.



Replica Mourner Costume © Pitt Rivers Museum

When I walked into the school hall at West Oxford Community Primary School I came face to face with a life-size replica of the Mourner Costume.  I loved the way shiny paper had been used to resemble the pearl oyster apron, buttons imitated discs of coconut shell and crepe paper stood in for the barkcloth cape. This had been the masterpiece of Year 1, co-ordinated by Senior Teacher Liz Newman.  I was also very excited to see the cloak designed by the Reception Class, ingeniously made from dyed wet-wipes.  I was warned not to smell too closely as they had used potent dyes ranging from coffee, turmeric, tea and beetroot.  They had wanted to use natural dyes in the same way that the Tahitians had done when creating their barkcloth.



Cloak made by Reception class © Pitt Rivers Museum

I really enjoyed finding out the different directions classes had taken the project in.  Some groups had immersed themselves in the life of Captain Cook, plotted his journeys of the Pacific, designed his boats and written detailed diary entries. 



Captain Cook's Pacific Voyages © Pitt Rivers Museum

Some classes had developed their work on patterns and experimented with different methods of printmaking.



Print patterns inspired by barkcloth © Pitt Rivers Museum



Print patterns inspired by barkcloth © Pitt Rivers Museum

There are definitely some talented costume designers at West Oxford Community Primary School, as seen in the picture below captioned 'Party Time'.  I particularly liked the design where confetti could be released from the knee-caps of a costume.



Celebratory Costume Design © Pitt Rivers Museum

If you would like to find out more about the project, book Take One sessions or organise teacher INSET then please contact me at education@prm.ox.ac.uk.

Becca McVean
Primary School Education Officer
Pitt Rivers Museum