Thinking Visually
Please note that this workshop will only be running until Fri 30th March 2012.
Open your eyes, follow the artist’s gaze and engage your senses to explore ways of seeing, feeling and understanding. Working individually and collaboratively, students use objects to create dialogue, discover meanings and form their own interpretations of images and artefacts in the gallery.
Aims (Skills, Knowledge, Activity, Result)
- To develop students’ critical thinking skills and visual language
- To use paintings, sculptures and objects to explore genres such as still life, portraiture and landscapes
- To encourage students to look at artworks first then find more information to help them form their own interpretations
- Students are invited to question and offer responses to artworks.
- To develop students aesthetic understanding and engagement with art
What happens in a workshop
The group will be introduced to the gallery and ways of seeing through a drawing exercise and discussion. Students will create a 21st Century still life mind map inspired by 17th Century still life paintings. They will use objects to develop vocabulary and draw comparisons and metaphors to interpret the gallery’s collection. Individual and group discussions allow ideas to be shared, challenged and developed. Students will leave with an information booklet to stimulate further research.
Prepare for your visit
- Discuss with pupils the basics of visiting a public art gallery, the value in seeing real artworks rather than reproduced images
- Think about the gallery as a sense of place, the importance of art galleries what is a gallery? What do they contain?
- Encourage students to bring an open mind and individual experiences to a gallery, to understand that we do not need to prepare to look at works of art
- To look at artworks without information beforehand encourages students to have an open mind and not feel as if what they have to say about a work of art is wrong. Art works are ambiguous and are open to many forms of interpretations
- Find out how to plan your visit, including booking information, parking, facilities and a downloadable risk assessment
What people are saying about the workshop
"The best thing about today was the students were involved directly with artwork. Drawing from artwork, talking about artwork and discovering different ways of thinking in response to seeing artwork."
Carolyn Waxman, Teacher, King David High School.
"When I leave I am going to finish my research, remember to ask questions – don’t be shy. Have confidence and admire my work!"
Year 9 student. St Joseph's RC High School.
