Aberdeen education officer David Atherton does not set out to mix his professional life with his personal one when he goes on holiday, but the chance to create an art project linking Aberdeen and Hungarian primary schools was an opportunity he couldn’t resist.

“I first visited Hungary in 1989 when I was an artist-in-residence for five weeks at a print studio in Pecs, in the west of the country,” says Mr Atherton, who is with Aberdeen City Council’s cultural services department. “That was shortly before I took up my post here. I didn’t return to Hungary until 1995, following a call from the studio director, who wanted me to take up a residency at a new arts centre he had established.

“I’ve spent the month of July at the centre almost every year since then. Getting the opportunity to work as an artist, rather than a functionary, is very satisfying.

“I can now speak basic Hungarian and many young Hungarians speak English these days, but communication has never been a real problem because art gives you a common language.”

During his stint at the centre in 1999, Mr Atherton did some work with children at a summer arts camp at the local village primary school. The pupils and teachers were eager to find out more about their counterparts in Aberdeen and, given the initiative by the Scottish Executive to develop international links in education, Mr Atherton was unable to refuse the urge to set a low-key art project in motion. It involved an exchange of pupils’ self-portraits as well as pictures of their school, homes and the local environment with the P7s at Pitmedden Primary.

The project snowballed when, the following July, a primary teacher from Gyor, also in western Hungary, saw the art work and asked if her school could become involved.

Anne Lyden, headteacher of St Peter’s Primary in Aberdeen, was also keen to take part, not least because her P7 class teacher, Irene Wischik, who has a PolishAustralian background, has a special interest in art. Her pupils went to Aberdeen Art Gallery for workshops and an art specialist visited the school before their paintings were sent off.

Mrs Lyden says: “The children were very excited when the parcel of art work arrived from Hungary and were interested to discover that the Hungarian pupils looked just like them.

“They really enjoyed the project and we hope to continue it with another P7 class and may become involved in a teacher exchange.”

As to the quality of art being produced, Mr Atherton says the Hungarian work is more colourful, but Aberdeen has the edge where technique is concerned. “But Hungarian schools are currently very under-resourced compared to schools in Scotland,” he explains. “And the point of the exercise has not been competition but communication, which is why the children have been exchanging self-portraits and art that depicts their school, home environment and local surroundings.”

In Hungary, news of the Aberdeen links has continued to spread. When Mr Atherton returned to take up his residency last summer, he was contacted by two more teachers who wanted to take part in the project. The Aberdeen-Hungary art exchange is gathering its own momentum.