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Stromness 200 - Stromness by the Sea


  • The PIer Arts Centre Victoria Street Stromness (map)

Stromness 200 - Stromness by the Sea                
Work by Stromness  Academy  S2  Art and Design pupils
This project was inspired by a 3D paper pop up calendar given to me as a Christmas gift. Each month showed different examples of well-known architecture from around the world. Each section was intricately cut, showing the outline of the buildings, the shapes of the roof, windows, columns, structures and other memorable details.

As the Stromness 200 celebrations were approaching, I thought it would be a good idea if the pupils could produce a similar style of design, whereby the local architecture, street layout and identifiable aspects of Stromness, as it is today, could be captured in cut paper.

Photographs of areas of the town were carefully composed and taken by Art and Design teacher, Mrs Olivia McPherson. These photographs were then scaled up and printed to give pupils a clear image on which to base their drawing. Different levels and layers representing foreground, middle ground and background were selected and each level drawn and cut in a different tone of paper.

This display is the culmination of many hours of work by pupils practicing and honing their cutting skills whilst also learning about pop-up techniques, paper engineering and positive and negative shapes. In addition they had to make choices as to the most important details of the buildings and surroundings to include in their composition. They had to take into account depth and distance and try and bring the individual qualities of each view to life. The pupils needed to think about the folding and attaching of each layer in order for their construction to fold neatly creating a pop-up appearance.

These paper constructions were mostly produced by pupils working in pairs or threes but some have been made by a single pupil. 

Each little model has been created with consideration and skill by our pupils and we are delighted to be able to share them here at the Pier Arts Centre.

Brenda Johnstone
Principal Teacher Art and Design
Stromness Academy