Walking with Constable : Walk E.1

Walking with Constable

<p style='text-align: justify;'>A beautiful Monday on 22 May 2023 saw us recreate John Constable’s walk to school as we embarked on <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://walking-the-landscape.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/walks/Walk-E/'>Walk E</a>. We were accompanied by children’s author, <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://inbali-iserles.com/'>Inbali Iserles</a>, and a whole class of excited children from Year 3 of a local primary school, on a mission to experience what it would have been like for Constable to walk to school every day. We stopped along the way to contemplate the view of the <a href='/view/PR-FITZWILLIAM-P-00232-01954-00002-B/1'>‘Summer Evening’ mezzotint</a> and soak up the sights and sounds of the Dedham Vale. Whilst the children took it in turns to experience the augmented reality view, the others undertook an exercise in <a href='/view/PH-CONSTABLE-WALK-E-00002/1'>observational drawing</a>. Using small, folded booklets of sketch paper, they focussed on small details before turning to a broader view of the landscape. The children were also tasked with remembering the things they saw; the colours, the animals, the sounds, the smells, and the weather for example, in order to undertake a creative writing exercise based on their walk that would take place back in school on the <a href='/view/PH-CONSTABLE-WALK-E-00003/1'>next day</a>. Please note faces in photographs have been redacted for privacy reasons.</p>