Tour and draw at the Walker Art Gallery
An interactive drawing tour of the gallery, which will introduce children to the concept of art appreciation. Inspired by pedagogy that encourages critical thinking and creative learning, children will also about the five creative habits that every artist practises.
Workshop details
What is art? Who is an artist? This tour with a twist takes children on a journey through our gallery as we visit the highlights of our collection.
Children will discover that although the way art has been produced over the years has changed, the artist’s core role, to make and create in response to the world they live in, endures.
Visiting our historical collections as well as contemporary, children will be encouraged to share their opinions on what they see with their peers.
Drawing activities will reiterate the key messages that personal perspective, imagination, and self-belief is what makes an artist. Specific artistic vocabulary will be introduced and encouraged to be used, alongside recognising that visual literacy can be expressed in very personal ways.
This workshop is a fantastic way to embed the value that art is for everyone. The workshop takes place on gallery, surrounded by artworks, which makes it an authentic and valuable way to boost your students' cultural capital.
Image © Gareth Jones
Curriculum links
Art and design
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
- Improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials (for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay).
English
- Consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others
- Using standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts, including classroom discussion.
- Giving short speeches and presentations, expressing their own ideas and keeping to the point.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
Students will:
- Learn about great artists and understand the historical and cultural developments of art.
- Learn what a collection is.
- Understand how artists use visual symbols to communicate information.
Skills
Students will:
- Develop their visual literacy skills by learning how to look for clues in works of art and decipher what these clues may mean.
- Learn to look for and describe differences and similarities in works of art.
- Improve their speaking and listening skills in a group discussion context.
- Develop sketching skills.
Attitudes
Students will:
- Feel confident in their own ability at interpreting artworks for themselves.
- Have an awareness and appreciation that the Walker Art Gallery is part of a public organisation that looks after a national collection.
- Feel welcomed, respected and supported in their learning.
- Perceive the gallery as a creative space that is there to inspire.
Enjoyment, inspiration, creativity
- Students enjoy themselves and are enriched and inspired by their experience.
- Students feel a sense of achievement and wellbeing by participating in creative activities.
- Students feel inspired to create art.
Activity, behaviour, progression
- Students feel motivated to progress their creative practice both at school and at home.
- Students will return with their family and friends to visit the Walker Art Gallery outside of school and attend events held at the gallery.
- Students want to learn more about the gallery’s collection, using it as a resource for their school work but also as part of having a culturally rich life.