It is not every day you bump into David Beckham, Nelson Mandela, Spiderman and Shrek all in the same room – but this is the prospect facing visitors to a North Finchley art gallery.

Children from ten Barnet schools have been given the opportunity by artsdepot, in Nether Street, to work with professional artists to produce a series of artworks on the theme of “heroes and icons”.

Entitled Creative Roots, the project matched the children with artists Lizzie Reakes, Katerina Fotopoulos, Alistair Lambert, Barbara Dean and Othello to create a diverse and colourful array of paintings, sculptures and photographs.

The works will be displayed for six weeks, until January 11, in the Gallery room.

Artsdepot education manager Inga Hirst was in charge of co-ordinating the project. She said: “It’s really fascinating what the children come up with. Some come up with everyday heroes, like nurses, teachers, judges, some look at more personal heroes like their parents, while some choose people like Ronaldo and Britney Spears.

“They produce an amazing range of work. The artists encourage them to try new materials that the schools might not normally have the expertise to use, so the kids love it.

“It’s great seeing how excited they are when they come and see their work in a professional space like this.”

Over the past three years more than 1,400 youngsters from Barnet schools have taken part in the project, producing soundscapes, photomontages, computer animations and textile sculptures.

The theme changes each year, but it is always designed to give the young artists’ imagination as much freedom as possible. Previous projects have focused on identity, dreams and the use of art.

This year pupils from Brunswick Park School, in Osidge Lane, Southgate, created a vibrant three-dimensional zig-zag picture from paint, ink and coloured plastic entitled “Alter Ego, Super Hero”, which showed different images when looked at from opposite directions.

Pupils from Northway School, in The Fairway, Mill Hill, which caters for special needs children, chose a more conceptual design, creating a series of sculptures based on the five senses from plaster, paper and wood.

Other schools fashioned superheroes – Batman, Leona Lewis, Richard Hammond, “Mum” – out of sticky paper, felt, sequins, tinfoil and metal.

In one corner visitors had the chance to write their own heroes and icons on post-it notes and stick them on the wall. Ideas ranged from family members to Bart Simpson Ronaldo.

Sue Simpson, arts co-ordinator for Northside School, in Albert Street, North Finchley, was very enthusiastic about the project.

She said: “The kids really get so much out of it. We spent hours talking about what an icon is, so it really got the children thinking. One child chose a Nintendo, another a mobile phone.

“Because we are a multi-ethnic school, art is an excellent and democratising way of getting the children to express their ideas. And Barbara Dean, the artist, was very good at getting them to brainstorm in front of their peers, which can be a bit of a challenge for some of them.

“We really hope we’ll get to do it every year.”