Introduction to School Prints

The original School Prints was realised through the passion and persistence of Brenda Rawnsley who developed the idea with her late art publisher husband, Derek and Yorkshire-born poet and art critic, Herbert Read. It was set up with the aim of supplying original, high-quality contemporary art to schools so that children, regardless of their background, could experience ‘good’ art.

In 1946 and 1947, lithographic prints were commissioned from British artists including L. S. Lowry, John Nash and John Tunnard specifically for schools. Conscious of schools’ low budgets, artists were asked to include decorative borders so that the prints could be pinned up without the need for framing. Around 4,000 schools subscribed to the School Prints  scheme and many individuals also purchased them.

Following this success, Rawnsley became even more ambitious, securing commissions by the leading European artists of the day including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Henry Moore to contribute to a European Series. Sadly, this series, published in 1949, was not a huge success, with many of the schools finding them too avant-garde. As a result the  School Prints initiative was dissolved, but the legacy of this important education project remains.

Inspired by this post-war scheme, in 2018 The Hepworth Wakefield launched its own version of School Prints. Initially established as a five-year project, we have now extended the project, with the ambition for every primary school child in Wakefield to grow up with art on their walls.

The Hepworth Wakefield’s project is supported by an exciting engagement programme. Each year children from the participating schools have the opportunity to try out a range of art forms and techniques in workshops led by artists in school and during visits to the gallery. A CPD programme for teachers also helps develop techniques for using art to teach subjects across the curriculum.

The commissioned artists are provided with the Rawnsley’s original 1940s brief which stated ‘We only ask you if you would be good enough to do something suitable for children and not to use more than six colours. The auto-lithographs, will be used in schools, as a means of giving school children an understanding of contemporary art.’

Sales of the prints supports the cost of the engagement programme.

A special thank you to all the artists for donating artwork to Wakefield District schools since 2018. Thank you also to artist Antony Gormley who generously donated a drawing to The Hepworth Wakefield to loan out to local schools as part of the project.

In 2018 The Hepworth Wakefield commissioned prints from Martin Creed, Jeremy Deller, Anthea Hamilton, Helen Marten, Haroon Mirza and Rose Wylie.

The primary schools who  participated in the project were  Flanshaw Junior Infant School, Lawfield Primary School, The Mount Junior Infant School, Snapethorpe Primary School and St. Michael’s Church of England School.

Selected year 9 Art & Design students from Cathedral Academy took on the role of ‘art ambassadors’, writing interpretations of the artworks and supporting in the delivery of workshops at the primary schools.

With support from Wakefield District Community Foundation, the gallery continued to work with art ambassadors from Cathedral Academy to question the importance of arts in education and to design their own #ARTSOS Campaign.

Find out more about the  2018 project

For 2019, The Hepworth Wakefield commissioned Fiona Banner, Sir Peter Blake, Francis Upritchard and Richard Wentworth to make contemporary prints and worked with 12 Art Ambassadors from Kettlethorpe High School.

270 year 5 pupils from five primary schools – Dane Royd Junior and Infant School, Hendal Primary School, Mackie Hill Junior School, Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School and Sandal Magna Community Academy – and 100 year 9 pupils from Kettlethorpe High School took part in workshops in school and at The Hepworth Wakefield.

Find out more about the 2019 project

The Hepworth Wakefield commissioned three artists – Sir Michael Craig-Martin (b.1941), Laure Prouvost (b.1978) and Linder Sterling (b.1954) to create new prints. These were unveiled with a special display at Phillips auction house in London 16-23 January 2020.

15 Art Ambassadors were chosen from Year 9 pupils at City Fields Academy  and started exploring the  importance of  art. For the first time, we partnered with Turner Contemporary to run a pilot of School Prints in Margate supported with funding by the Art Fund.

The project was paused during the Covid-19 pandemic,  and the schools then took part in the 2023 project.

Find out more about the project in 2020

The Hepworth Wakefield commissioned six artists  to create new prints in 2021:  Hurvin Anderson (b. 1965, Birmingham); Alvaro Barrington (b. 1983 Caracas, Venezuela); Sir Frank Bowling OBE, RA (b. 1934, Bartica, Essequibo, British Guiana); Lubaina Himid CBE (b. 1954, Zanzibar, Tanzania); Claudette Johnson (b. 1959, Manchester); and Yinka Shonibare CBE (b. 1962, London)

Engagement work with local schools took place over the Summer Term 2023 at  Outwood Primary Academy Park Hill, Pinders Primary School, St Mary’s CE Primary School and St Austin’s Catholic Primary School in Wakefield.

Nearly 200 pupils worked with artists during special workshops in school and during visits to The Hepworth Wakefield to discover more about the School Prints and engage with themes within the artworks. To celebrate the schools involvement in the project The Hepworth held celebration events for the each school community and invited them to the gallery for special family days.

Find out  more about the 2023 engagement project 

For the fifth edition of School Prints, we invited three artists that we have long-standing relationships with to produce new prints – Phyllida Barlow (1944–2023), Veronica Ryan (b. 1956) and Ro Robertson (b. 1984).

The engagement project took place during Summer Term 2024 with four local primary schools in Featherstone – Featherstone All Saints CofE Academy, North Featherstone Junior and Infant School, Streethouse Primary School and St Thomas’ CE Junior School.

Nearly 200 pupils worked with artist Rachel Sim during printmaking workshops in school and visits to The Hepworth Wakefield to explore this year’s School Prints.

Find out more about the 2024 project

During the sixth year of the School Prints project we invited British artist duo Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings to create a new print.

The engagement project took place in April – July 25 with four local primary schools – Crofton Junior School, Sharlston Community School, Shay Lane Primary School and Walton Primary Academy.

Year 6 of the project engaged 173 pupils during 20 workshops and events. Pupils worked with local artist Rachel Sim during printmaking workshops in school, visits to the gallery and celebration events for each school community.

Find out more about the 2025 project  

The Eridge Trust

Phillips

Art Fund

The Worshipful Company of Stationers  and Newspaper Makers

Leeds Community Foundation #iwill Fund

Wakefield Community Foundation #iwill Fund

Wakefield Council as part of Our Year – Wakefield District 2024