THE legacy of one of West Linton's best known artists lives on through an art project by the local Primary School.

Pupils from West Linton Primary School were inspired by the work of Christian Small, and with the help of local artist Deborah Campbell, they created a banner featuring their school motto and images of the village.

The banner, titled West Linton: Our Village 2019, was unveiled at the school on Tuesday, February 4, where the young people and friends and family of Christian Small could see the art up close.

To help the children design the banner, Deborah adopted some of Christian's techniques for creating her landscape pieces.

She said: "Christian loved to work on her paintings outside and to give the children an insight into the life of the artist we ventured out into the village giving them the experience of working and responding directly to the landscape using graphite sticks and watercolour paints.

"Back in school and referring to their outdoor drawings and paintings the children explored the theme of their local environment through textiles, opening up new materials and methods of working.

"It was then my job to work the children's ideas up into a finished banner using machine embroidery and calling on the children from P6 to hand embroider the school song and values."

Pupils found inspiration in one of Christian's 200 piece collection - dating from 1960, an appliqué picture of West Linton.

Christian passed away in 2016 at the age of 90.

The Primary School project was spearheaded by Christian's daughter, Jenny Alldridge, with The Alice Hamilton Trust.

Funding for the banner came from the sale of Inside & Out, a book of Christian's work and poems by Gerda Stevenson, published in 2018, as well as support from the Alice Hamilton Trust.

Jenny told us: "It was a wonderful occasion. Full of excitement anticipation and delight in seeing the finished work. That enthusiasm radiated off the children too and was palpable.

"I was very touched and inspired by the children's enthusiasm about their involvement in the project. Christian loved the village and the landscape around and that is clearly reflected in the banner.

"Deborah Campbell knew we wanted the kids to be able to have observational time outside as mum was such an outdoor person.

"The banner is important because it is a visual representation of how the children of the village see their village. A sense of community and belonging is so important in this era of dislocation from our surroundings and what creates community. When you learn to know and live something you take care of it."

The banner will remain on display in the school, and can be viewed at any community events held in the school.