(First used at Wormley Primary School, 11.02.19)
Start with a game of ‘Priceless or Worthless?’ Show a series of artworks and ask if the pupils think they are Priceless or Worthless – ask a few individuals and then have a vote for each option to see which is the favourite. Then reveal the truth. Resist the temptation to spend too long on this!
For this I used images of:
- Tracy Enim’s ‘My Bed’ – shortlisted for the Turner Prize, sold for £2.5 million.
- Jackson Pollock’s Number 5 – sold for £140 million
- A painting by Congo the chimpanzee – a collector paid over $25,000 for three of his paintings
- Nursery child’s artwork (I used the fourth stage image) – worthless, except to the part to whom it is priceless!
- Banksy’s shredded ‘Girl with Balloon’ now called ‘Love Is in the Bin’ – sold before being shredded for £1 million, but what is its value now? For most of us it would be nothing, but with Banksy’s name attached to it…
Having enjoyed this tell the story of the discovery of the lost Rembrandt painting ‘The Unconscious Patient’. It was only when the owners had it cleaned and the painter’s name was revealed was it’s true value discovered! It’s sale price had been valued at $500-$800, it has now been sold for $3-4 million. It turns out that the value of a piece of art has a lot to do with whose name is on it, who made it.
Reveal that you have one final round of ‘Priceless or Worthless’. Get a volunteer to stand behind a cut out of a frame so that they are ‘in the picture’. How much is this one worth?
Read Psalm 139:13-14:
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
it turns out that we have God’s name on us, he made us. This means we are valuable and precious – Priceless in fact! Ask what difference this might make to how we look after ourselves and how we behave – does having God’s name on us mean we should respect ourselves and our bodies?
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