In this CPD session, the AccessArt team talks about the importance of artist educators stepping forward to inspire communities. We are joined by John and Sarah Gamble from Art School Ilkley, and artist educator Inbal Leitner, who share their inclusive and diverse offer to the art education community and their journey towards achieving this.

This session is part of the Tiny Art School Movement, designed to celebrate and promote the notion of “Tiny Art Schools” across the UK. As part of this movement, we’ll be sharing how artist educators are working with their audiences, using community centres, village halls, and private studio spaces as art education labs to build creative and economic communities of all sizes.

This session recording is suitable for artist educators running or interested in running their own Tiny Art School. We also welcome educators working in all settings, including EYFS, Primary and Secondary Schools, Health & Community Care, Home Education, Lifelong Learning, and Museum and Gallery Education.

The video below is available to full AccessArt members. Please log in to access the video.

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AccessArt is a UK Charity and we believe everyone has the right to be creative. AccessArt provides inspiration to help us all reach our creative potential.

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Session Recording: Creating School Exhibitions & Displays

Finger Palette Portraits

elastic band sketchbook

A collection of sources and imagery to introduce shape.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creation, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However, external websites and videos are updated, and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link or if you feel content is no longer appropriate.

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos, it may be due to your school’s firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

An Introduction to Shape

Shape is used throughout art for lots of reasons; shapes can be vehicles for colour, convey emotion, and lead the eye on a journey around the page.

Different types of shapes can be categorised as ‘geometric’, ‘organic’ and ‘intuitive’.

Geometric shapes, like squares and triangles, are mainly found in manmade objects, for example, houses. You would often find ‘organic’ shapes in nature, for example, in leaves or shells. In 2-dimensional artwork, artists also create shapes ‘intuitively’ to represent a ‘thing’.

Artists use shapes to communicate a certain message or convey an emotion.

• What emotion do you associate with certain shapes, for example, a triangle, circle or square?

• Do you feel different when you look at organic shapes compared to geometric shapes?

Artworks consist of lines and shapes built together with colour in a certain composition, whether it’s an abstract or figurative piece.

• Some people would define shape through line. What do you think?

• When does a line become a shape?

When you look at an artwork, consider the shape and also the space around the shape (negative and positive space). These are shapes in themselves.

• How do the shapes sit in the composition?

• What is your eye drawn to? Why do you think this is?

Discuss the artwork below, considering some of the statements and questions above.

Abstract Landscape (1915- 1916) painting in high resolution by Henry Lyman Sayen. Original from the Smithsonian Institution.

Artist Unkown, Still Life with Guitar, Original public domain image from Saint Louis Art Museum

Landscape by Joe Gamble

Polypodium vulgare, British by Anna Atkins and Anne Dixon, Original public domain image from Getty Museum

Area Broken by Perpendiculars (ca.1934) painting in high resolution by Joseph Schillinger. Original from The Smithsonian Institution.

Monoprint by Claire Harrup

Questions to Ask Children

Describe the shapes you can see? Consider the edges, angles, colours etc.

How do the shapes connect with each other?

Do any of these artworks use negative space? What shapes can you spot?

Shapes can give the illusion of something being there. In Claire Harrup’s monoprint, what can you see?

Where is your eye drawn to? What journey does it take and do you think it’s intentional?

What do you notice about the overall composition of the piece? How do the shapes and colours impact your opinion and overall feeling?

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A collection of sources and imagery to explore terms used in colour theory.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Colour Theory

Colour theory can be overwhelming to understand and teach. 

AccessArt would encourage an intuitive approach to teaching colour through resources such as Expressive Painting and Colour Mixing, however the information below will help you understand some of the terminology used in colour theory.

Primary Colours

Primary colours are any of a group of colours from which all other colours can be achieved by mixing. Red, yellow and blue can’t be recreated through colour mixing and act as the building blocks for all other colours.

Secondary Colours

Secondary colours are achieved when the primary colours are mixed together in equal parts. On the colour wheel, secondary colours are located between primary colours.

• Red and blue: Purple

• Red and yellow: Orange

• Yellow and Blue: Green

Tertiary Colours

Tertiary colours can be achieved by mixing primary and secondary colours. Blue-green, blue-violet, red-orange, red-violet, yellow-orange and yellow-green are colour combinations you can make from colour mixing. On a colour wheel, tertiary colours are between primary and secondary colours. – Adobe

Additional Terms Used When Talking About Colour:

Hue: Brightest and purest form of the colour on the colour wheel.

Saturation: The intensity and vibrance of a colour.

Value: How light or dark a colour is.

Shades: Achieved by adding black gradually to a colour.

Tint: Achieved by adding white gradually to a colour.

Tone: Achieved by adding grey gradually to a colour.

See Resources Exploring Colour Below…

Colour Mixing

Exciting Colour

Expressive Painting and Colour Mixing

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Manipulating Paper: Turning 2D into 3D

Making Prompt cards

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Adapting AccessArt: Playful Making Inspired by Nnena Kalu