Master Collection activity 5: shrimps, luggers and basket weaving
Here’s an ‘impressive trawl’ of ideas to whet the appetite… from shrimping and stormy seas, to luggers in art, fishing togs, fishermen’s tales and basket weaving… all inspired by images at Learn with Objects Master Collection 5: fishing.
Learning objectives
Increased knowledge and understanding of traditional fishing methods and the lives of fishing families in the UK and abroad.
Develop skills and confidence in drawing, creative writing and/or basket weaving.
Curriculum links
KS1-4 Art (investigating art, fishing boats in art, portraits of working people)
KS1-2 History (history of the fishing industry, including Folkestone).
KS1-2 English (creative writing)
There are lots of links and ideas here to explore these subjects in depth…
Shrimping
Explore the lives of shrimpers at Boulogne, the north French coast and Pegwell Bay, Kent. Investigate and discuss the shrimping images at Learn with Objects Master Collection 5: fishing. Then look at the links below.
- 19th century etching by Paul Mathay of a French shrimper (Pecheuse de crevettes)
https://art.famsf.org/paul-mathey/pecheuse-de-crevettes-19633030910
- Boulogne and north French coast shrimping images (contemporary photos and historical photographic postcards)
http://completementzinzin.hautetfort.com/tag/haveneau
Compare with shrimping in Pegwell Bay
- Information about Pegwell Bay shrimping in the context of William Dyce’s painting, Pegwell Bay, Kent - a Recollection of October 5th 1858
https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/in-focus/pegwell-bay-kent-william-dyce/coastal-resort
- William Dyce’s painting:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dyce-pegwell-bay-kent-a-recollection-of-october-5th-1858-n01407
Fishing nets and basket
Ask pupils to compare the Boulogne shrimp nets and baskets to fishing nets and baskets in
- Gaetano Dura, Pescatori
- Samuel Prout, Fishermen unloading their catch
- Gioacchino La Pira, The Harbour, Naples
- What are the similarities and differences?
- Why are the designs different? [for catching and storing different things]
Basket-making
Look at basket-making (basket-weaving) in different places across the world (large variety of images and information on the web). Ask pupils to compare
- Materials
- Purpose
- Form
- Method of making
Seasonal togs
Ask pupils to compare clothes worn here by fishermen with those in:
- Samuel Prout, Fishermen unloading their catch
- Gioacchino La Pira, The Harbour, Naples
- Gaetano Dura, Pescatori
What are the similarities and differences?
What are weather conditions like?
Fishermen’s tales
Get pupils in small groups to devise short plays featuring two or more of the characters in Dura’s image.
- Ask pupils to imagine and write a conversation between two or more of the characters.
- Ask pupils to imagine the same scene but in the summer and to describe what is happening.
Fishing in Southern England and Naples
Ask pupils to compare Prout’s fishing boat, fishermen, net and baskets to those in the Neapolitan pictures:
- Gioacchino La Pira, The Harbour, Naples
- Gaetano Dura, Pescatori
- Gaetano Dura, Marinari in Abito d’Inverno
- What are the similarities and differences?
- Why are clothes, nets and baskets different?
- What do the fishermen catch?
Look at and discuss the painting by William Borrow of A Good Catch (Hastings Fishermen’s Museum) with similar boats and baskets
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-good-catch-74162/search/keyword:hastings/page/6
For a modern painting of a clinker-built fishing boat see John Bratby’s Fishing boat at Dungeness (Brighton and Hove Museums and Galleries)
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/fishing-boat-at-dungeness-rx67-74296/search/works_auto:fishing/page/5
Fishing tales:
Ask pupils to
- write a diary entry for a day in the life of the fisherman
- write a newspaper report of an interview with the fisherman just returned from trawling
- compose an advertisement for the sale of fish just caught
Luggers in art
Fishing boats were considered a very picturesque subject, especially Hastings luggers.
Compare Prout’s drawings of the lugger and Fishermen unloading their catch with drawings by other artists.
- Constable charcoal drawing of a lugger (Gallery Oldham)
- Turner sketchbook studies of a Hastings lugger:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/a-hastings-lugger-r1131152
Look at luggers in paintings.
- The Hastings Coast by John Linnell (Towneley Art Gallery & Museum)
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-hastings-coast-151179/search/keyword:hastings/page/8
- A fishing lugger and Customs boat off a coastal town (probably Hastings) by Charles Powell (UK Border Force National Museum)
- Lugger Mizpah ‘RX135’ (Hastings Fishermen’s Museum)
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/mizpah-rx135-73473/view_as/grid/search/keyword:hastings/page/1
- Dutch lugger entering the Thames by Samuel Bough (Glasgow Museums)
- Dutch luggers entering harbour by Arthur Meadows (Science Museum)
For an idea of scale, look at a painting with lugger and other shipping:
- The Clipper ‘Anglo Saxon’ in the Downs with a Deal lugger by Samual Walters (National Maritime Museum)
Stormy seas
Using the following images, explore the experiences of fishermen in stormy seas:
- ‘RX94 Industry Coming Ashore’ by an unknown artist (Hastings Fishermen’s Museum)
- Fishing boat at sea by William Borrow (Hastings Fishermen’s Museum)
Ask pupils to write:
- a day in the life of a fisherman
- newspaper report of a stormy fishing trip
Look at traditional baskets woven by fishing families in the UK and around the world and have a go at weaving your own simple mini version.
Learn with Objects links
Use Learn with Objects Master Collection 5: fishing and Maritime 4: fishing community.
