Young Workington artists go international!
Japanese Picture Exchange 2009 – Tenth Anniversary Celebration
The opening ceremony of the tenth annual Japanese Picture Exchange was held on Monday 2nd November at the Lakes College, to celebrate the exhibition of more than 100 children’s paintings.
The Picture Exchange is run jointly by International Nuclear Services (INS) Ltd and the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC), and is a hands-across-the-sea project involving primary school children, aged between 9 and 11 years old, in the Sellafield area and the area surrounding the Tsuruga and Tokai-Mura nuclear facilities in Japan.
INS has worked closely with students from the Lakes College West Cumbria. Art students from the college worked with children, from local Primary Schools, to help them develop their ideas into images of the local area and its customs. Their pictures were displayed at the ceremony alongside pictures by Japanese school children. A selection of the pictures will be despatched off to tour Japan later this year.
Mr Misaru Yoshida from JAPC, who is currently seconded to JEPIC (Japan Electric
Power Information Centre Inc) Paris office and his wife attended the opening ceremony, together with the Mayor and Mayoress of Allerdale. This was followed by a viewing of the exhibition of the pupils’ work, a party science show and then a tour of the college. Mr Yoshida said he and his wife were very pleased to attend the event and view the excellent pictures.
Speaking at the event, Rupert Wilcox Baker, International Nuclear Services, Corporate Responsibility Director, said: “INS is very pleased to be able to sponsor this event. We have a good, long standing relationship with our Japanese customers and are delighted to welcome Mr Yoshida and his wife to the opening ceremony. The pictures give a wonderful view of West Cumbria from a child’s perspective and similarly the pictures from the Japanese children provide a wonderful insight into their local area. I‘d like to congratulate the schools and the children for the high standard of the entries.”
Jane Foreman, Communications Manager for INS, said: “The children were delighted to see their pictures on display, side by side with the pictures from the Japanese children and are very excited that their pictures will be displayed in Japan. They also thoroughly enjoyed the party science show, where they watched and participated in a variety of exciting visual experiments.”
