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On Wednesday 18^th July, 10 students and Ms Cooke and Ms Jones visited Christie’s Auction House in Central London. These students and teachers had been working on a piece of artwork for around two weeks and they had to incorporate urban and rural into the design. The students involved in making this piece are : Mila, Oliver, Joseph, Amelia, Milly, Cassie, Iola, Matthew, Aaron and Benjamin. They got given the brief of urban and rural that they had to do the piece of art work around. They used a map of London to create a collage of maps and then sprayed darker colours on the bottom to represent the pollution in the urban areas. They then used lighter colours such as yellow to represent the brightness of the rural areas. To make it stand out they decided to add the word “London” in the centre of the piece out of polystyrene to make it three-dimensional. Depending on the angle you look at it from, you will be able to see the word sticking out from the map. However from certain angles it camouflages into the surroundings. Flowing through the centre of the canvas is the blue river Thames, one of the most significant parts of London.

I went on the trip as a late addition and I was astonished when I had seen the piece my artistic peers had created. In comparison to the 20 other schools that were there, ours had to be one of the best. It was so unique and imaginative. After we had collected the work, we went to the gallery to eye up the competition but we mainly went there to hang the piece of work. We decided to hang it nearest the window so that the light would create shadows under the letters. Joseph and Mila had to keep the canvas steady and in the right position so the nails could be hammered in. Oliver did the first nail and Milly did the second. After everyone had finished admiring it, we went up to the great room where all of the auctions are held at Christie’s so that the auctioneers could have their training (our auctioneer was Aaron). Three auctioneers from Christie’s stood in front of us all, Mr. Edmonds , Ms Hilton and Mr Martineau ( I can’t remember their first names). They taught us tips and tricks about what they do to overcome nerves when they stand in front of everyone and how to exercise the mouth for pronunciation. We learnt about the history of Christie’s and the Christie’s podium as well as how many auctioneers are employed by Christie’s internationally ( 62 – 39 male 23 female). After the 35 minute session was over, we went to St James’ Park to eat lunch and returned at 1:45 for the auction.

There were 21 lots for the auction, 1 for each school. We were lot number 19 so we were one of the last. The bidding for each was around £90-180. However when it got to Harris Rainham, the bidding soared to £220. At this point I was wondering what sort of price we would get. It went to £100. Then £200. Straight past £220. Carried on past £300 and the highest bid was £340 to the lady who runs the international education at Christie’s. Everyone was gobsmacked. The whole room had their jaws dropped. It was even better when we found out the Ms Hickey had bid up to £310 and Lord Harris bid up to £330. It was Christie’s Auction House who finally sealed the bidding war! Our wonderful piece of art will now be hung at Christie’s! Quite an achievement!

In the end we got the highest bid of £340, Harris Bermondsey got £230 and Harris Rainham got £220. There was quite a big gap between 2^nd and 1^st. It was such a wonderful day and everyone was congratulated on the way out. I would love to do it again someday. This is the 3^rd year in a row where Harris Beckenham have attained the highest bid at Christie’s!

By Katie