Marionettes

Sculpture Balance

Pathway: Exploring Identity

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Collage, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

That artists embrace the things which make them who they are: their culture, background, experiences, passions – and use these in their work to help them create work which others can relate to.
That people are the sum of lots of different experiences, and that through art we can explore our identity.
That we can use techniques such as working with layers to help create imagery which reflects the complex nature of our identities.
That as viewers we can then “read” imagery made by other people, unpicking imagery, line, shape, colour to help us understand the experience of the artist.

In this pathway children are introduced to artists who explore their identity within their art.

Pupils explore how artists use various aspects of their identity, creating imagery which explores many different aspects within one image by using layers and juxtaposition. Children listen to how the artists construct their work, before working physically in drawing and collage or digitally on a tablet to make their own layered and constructed portrait.

Pupils also use sketchbook throughout to help them generate ideas, experiment with materials and techniques, and record and reflect.

Medium:
Drawing Materials, Tablet (if digital), Paper

Artists: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Yinka Shonibare, Thandiwe Muriu, Mike Barrett

This pathway will take approximately half a term, based upon a weekly art lesson.

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

The Drawing 2 by Mike Barrett
Self portrait details by Mike Barrett
Portrait Club Sketch by Jake Spicer
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

History: Explore the identity of a figure from your chosen history topic.

PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion, Different Religions, Ethnic Identity.

I Can…

I have seen how artists explore their identity by creating layered and constructed images. I can share my response to their work with my classmates.
I can use my curiosity to think about how I might adapt techniques and processes to suit me.
I can use my sketchbook to record, generate ideas, test, reflect and record.
I can work digitally or physically to create a layered portrait to explore aspects of my identity, thinking about line, shape, colour, texture and meaning.
I can share my work with my classmates, articulate how I feel about the journey and outcome. I can listen to feedback from my classmates and respond.
I can appreciate the work of my classmates and I can reflect upon the differences and similarities of their work (and experience) to mine. I can share my response to their work.
I can take photographs of my artwork, thinking about lighting, focus and composition.

Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.

Materials

Soft B pencils, handwriting pens, sharpies, oil/chalk pastels, acrylic or ready mixed paints, inks, brushes, A4 cartridge paper, collage papers, digital devices (tablets) if working digitally.

Pathway: Exploring Identity

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

Aims of the Pathway

The aim of this pathway is to enable children to explore how artists embrace aspects of their experience of life – using their background, culture, race, gender, and interests to inform and shape their artwork.
Week 1: Introduce

Discover Artists & Approaches

Explore the free to access Talking Points below and introduce pupils to artists who work with notions about identity.

Explore as few or as many of the artists below as you would like:
Have sketchbooks open and make time during the exploration to use the “Making Visual Notes” resource. For example pupils might make references, collect ideas, jot down methods of working, draw equivalents etc.
Week 2: Sketchbook work

Portrait Club

Bring portraiture into the classroom in a light-hearted flexible way with the “Portrait Club” resource. Encourage open and intuitive observational drawing.
Weeks 3, 4 & 5: Explore & Create

Making Layered Portraits

Use the “Let Me Inspire You: Mike Barrett” resource to enable a physical (using drawing materials, paper, collage), or digital exploration of how to make a layered portrait which captures aspects of your personality and identity.

The resource consists of 4 parts: a video from Mike introducing himself and then 3 stepped stages to the project.

Use sketchbooks throughout to help explore and focus, test and reflect.
Week 6: Present & Share

Share, Reflect, Discuss

Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document the work, thinking about lighting, focus and composition.

Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project.

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Springfield Juniors

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

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Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

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Pathway: Fashion Design

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Fashion, Painting, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

That designers bring their own culture, experiences and passions into their designs, for other people.
That as individuals we can grow our experience of the world by experiencing (seeing, listening, taking the time to understand) the creativity expressed by other people.
That we can use colour, pattern, line, shape, form, material, texture to express our creativity.
That when we design fashion, we can understand what it might feel like to wear the clothes. How would they change the person wearing or seeing them?
That when we design clothes, we can build an awareness of how 2d shapes might become 3d forms.

In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that design is often about relationships – between the designer/artist and the person who then sees, buys or wears the end result. Where and how do the experiences and passions of both designer and viewer meet? How is one affected by the other and what can we learn from each other?

Children are introduced to contemporary fashion designers and use sketchbooks to record things about the designers which interest them, or to note ways of working which may be useful.

Pupils are then given a design brief and invited to make their own designs, again working in sketchbooks to explore and test, before making decorate papers through which they can bring their designs to life in 2d or 3d.

Medium:
Paper, Acrylic Paint, Tape

Artists: Alice Fox, Rahul Mishra, Pyer Moss, Tatyana Antoun, Hormazd Narielwalla

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

unfurled paper
assembling the outfits
attached to mannequin
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Geography: Trade links and the history of importing textiles from other continents.

History: Design clothing inspired by your chosen civilisation topic e.g. Ancient Greek elite, slaves, gods or goddesses.

Maths: 2D / 3D shapes, measuring.

Music & Drama: Create costumes for, or in response to, drama or music productions.

PSHE: Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion, Different Religions, Ethnic Identity.

I Can…

I have explored the work of contemporary fashion designers and I can see how their interests and experiences feed into their work.
I can share my own response to their work, articulating what I like or don’t like about their work.
I can use my sketchbook to make visual notes to capture key ideas about how the designers work.
I can listen to a design brief, and use my sketchbook to generate and test ideas, explore colour, line, shape, pattern in response to the brief.
I can use my sketchbook work to inform how I make a 2d (or 3d) design, using paint, paper and collage.
I can understand how 2d shapes can become 3d form and the relationship they have to our bodies.
I can share my designs and outcomes with my classmates and articulate my journey. I can listen to their feedback and respond.
I can appreciate the work of my classmates and reflect upon similarities and differences. I can share my response to their work.
I can take photographs of my work, thinking about presentation, lighting and focus.

Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.

Materials

Soft B pencils, graphite, handwriting pens, sharpies, coloured pencils, watercolour, acrylic paint, brushes, assorted coloured papers and fabrics, A4 cartridge paper, cardboard or wooden mannequins, clear tape (and ideally tape holders), scissors, glue sticks.

Pathway: Fashion Design

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

Aims of the Pathway

This pathway aims to present pupils with an opportunity to see how designers work to bring their own background, culture, passions and concerns into their fashion design. The pathway invites pupils to work to a design brief and express their response in two or three dimensions.
Week 1: Introduce

Fashion Designers & Artists

Choose 2 or 3 of the designers below and explore their work via the free to access Talking Points resources.

As you explore as a class, use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to help pupils to make visual notes in their sketchbooks.

Alice Fox

Rahul Mishra

Pyer Moss

Tatyana Antoun
Week 2: Brief

Working in Sketchbooks

Set a design brief. You might decide that pupils have free choice to design whatever fashion they like, or you might like to tie the project in with another curriculum theme, for example designing for another culture, era or geography. Be creative in your brief setting, i.e. If I was living in Ancient Greece, what would I wear which combines what I like about todays fashion, with what they used to wear? Or, If we live on Mars, what might we wear which reminds us of Earth?

Revisit sketchbook work from last week to remind pupils how the designers you looked at work. Pupils will use sketchbooks to generate and test ideas, experiment with shape and form, pattern, colour and texture. They will think creatively about what elements can be added and stuck into sketchbooks, e.g. paper, fabric, thread etc.

Remember: Whatever the theme brief, once you get children to start generating ideas on paper, you must be able to provide suitable paint/paper for next weeks session so that they can continue the development.
Weeks 3, 4, & 5: Explore & Make

Fashion 2D & 3D

Use the “Making 2d & 3d Fashion Designs with Painted and Decorated Paper” resource to enable an exploration of fashion design.

Have sketchbooks open so that pupils can refer to previous weeks work, and also encourage them to keep adding to the sketchbooks as they explore and create.

If pupils need inspiration using collage, you may also like to explore the free to access “Talking Points: Hormazd Narielwalla” resource.
Week 6: Present and Share

Share, Reflect, Discuss

Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

Display their work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they are in a gallery. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hard work.

Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project.

If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working alone or in pairs, thinking about presentation, lighting and focus. Explore how children can take high quality photographs of 3d artwork with this resource.

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Year 5 Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton

Year 5/6, Histon and Impington Brook Primary

Year 6, Senacre Wood Primary School

Screenshot 2024-05-22 at 14.54.02

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Drawing Source Materials: Athletes in Action

A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing in schools and community groups.

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.

These resources are free to access and are not a part of AccessArt Membership.

free to access

Athletes

Use this collection of films as source material for pupils exploring the human form during sports. In the first instance you might want to pause the videos as suitable points to enable the children to carefully look at the main forms and details. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause the video 4 times and ask the pupils to make a 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute drawing at each pause.

Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to features of the athletes.

When pupils are more experienced, you can also try getting them to make their drawings as the videos play – making quick gestural sketches.

Talking Points: Inspired by Olympian Artists

A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to the Olympic artists.

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.

ages 5-8
ages 9-11
ages 11-14
free to access

Olympic Artists

“For the first four decades of competition, the Olympics awarded official medals for painting, sculpture, architecture, literature and music, alongside those for the athletic competitions. From 1912 to 1952, juries awarded a total of 151 medals to original works in the fine arts inspired by athletic endeavour’s.” – Smithsonian

In more recent times, the Olympics is celebrating art through their Olympian Artists programme, whereby Olympians who are also artists get to showcase their work. Below you will find a selection of Olympian Artists work.

Laureene Ross

Questions to Ask Children

What do you see in her collages?

How does Laureen combine her passion of skiing with a passion for creating?

What do you like/dislike about her work? Why?

How do her collages make you feel? Why?

Luc Abalo

Questions to Ask Children

For Luc, what are the similarities between sport and art? Can you think of any other similarities?

What do you like/dislike about his work? Why?

Ye Qiaoba

Questions to Ask Children

Ye Qiaobo talks a lot about ‘time’, how does ‘time’ relate to speed skating and painting?

How does her work represent the Olympic Values?

Drawing Source Material: Ceremonies and Celebrations

A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing in schools and community groups.

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.

These resources are free to access and are not a part of AccessArt Membership.

free to access

Ceremonies and Celebrations

Use this collection of films as source material for pupils exploring ceremonies and celebrations. In the first instance you might want to pause the videos as suitable points to enable the children to carefully look at the main forms and details. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause the video 4 times and ask the pupils to make a 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute drawing at each pause.

Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to features of the ceremony.

When pupils are more experienced, you can also try getting them to make their drawings as the videos play – making quick gestural sketches.

Drawing Source Material: Mountain Top Landscapes

Talking Points: Etel Adnan

Explore this resource to help you talk about the work of painter Etel Adnan.

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.

ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access

Etel Adnan

‘Born in Beirut, Etel Adnan moved to California in the 1950s and built a painting practice inspired by her cross-cultural experiences and spiritual engagement with the natural world. She creates her intimate, small-scale compositions with a palette knife instead of a paint brush, which results in rich, geometric fields of color that evoke sunsets, valleys, and mountains. Mount Tamalpais, a peak in Marin County, California, has been a frequent subject. Adnan studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and established herself as a poet, academic, and essayist before she began to make art.’ – Artsy

Questions to Ask Students

In the first video, what similarities & differences did you see between Adnan’s work and the work of Van Gogh?

Choose a painting to show students and ask the following…

What can you see in Adnan’s painting? Describe the shapes and colours as well as the landscape.

What do you like / dislike about the painting?

What season do you think it was when Adnan painted the landscape?

What was the weather like that day? What makes you think this?

How does the painting make you feel?

Compare and contrast two different paintings by Adnan.

Talking Points: Karen Wicks

Explore the work of printmaker, Karen Wicks.

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.

ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access

Karen Wicks

“My practice has developed out of a love of surface and process and through trying to find a medium to record and express my fascination with sense of place and the memories that can be held from previous human habitation. I have always been interested in pushing print processes and using them in ways that perhaps are not standard. For me, making art is about recording your ideas but in a way that is non-permanent.

Collagraph printing always reveals surprises and I think that is why I continue to explore its limits: by using household packaging to create intaglio ‘drawings’ I like to incorporate the accidental and play with what can make marks. I also like that there is zero waste from using low-fi print methods at home: everything can be recycled.” – HAUS-A-REST

Her work is inspired by derelict buildings and captures the presence and intrigue of these abandoned structures using intaglio print techniques. Her work uses recycled packaging which becomes fragile and disintegrates over time, which reflects the subject matter of the ‘ghost buildings’ that inspire her. Ghostbuildings

RAF Tangmere by Karen Wicks Medium: Collagraph Paper Type: Fabriano Unica (250gsm) Year: 2022 Print dimensions: 22.5cm x 22cm

Commodore Hotel, Collagraph print, H 380 x W 280 mm

Commodore Hotel 3/3 by Karen Wicks Tetrapak print, H 280 x W 380 mm

Questions to Ask Students

What kind of mark-making can you see within the print?

How would you describe the tonal range?

What kind of atmosphere do the prints capture? How do you think this has been achieved?

How do you feel when you like at the prints?

What do you like about the work?

Can you name some similarities and differences between the prints made by Karen and prints made by Gail Brodholt?

Talking Points: Gail Brodholt

Videos and sources to help you explore the work of Printmaker Gail Brodholt.

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.

ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access

Gail Brodholt

“I suppose what I’m really interested in is those unconsidered and unnoticed places that people pass through. They are on their way to somewhere else, presumably more important – on the escalators, on the tube, train station platforms, motorways….

“I like the sense we all have that between here and there anything can happen. Although of course it almost always doesn’t. When you are travelling you are free from normal life with all the anticipation of an adventure ahead of you.”

Gail is both a painter and a printmaker and finds that working in one medium informs and enhances the other. – Gail’s Website

Questions to Ask Students

What do you notice about Gail’s process?

What can you spot any themes running through her prints?

How would you describe Gail’s poster for the London Transport System? Consider line and colour.

What do you like about Gail’s work?

Do you prefer the black and white work or the coloured work? Why?

Talking Points: Edgar Heap of Birds

A collection of imagery and sources designed to explore the work of artist Edgar Heap of Birds.

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.

ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access

Edgar Heap of Birds

‘Based in Oklahoma City and on tribal land, where he has lived since 1981, Heap of Birds consistently creates works that confront repressed or unacknowledged histories of state and settler violence against Native communities in the United States. His work often draws parallels between historical violence and ongoing injustices today. By employing the contemporary term “active shooter” to characterize massacres committed by U.S. troops against Native Americans over a century ago, Heap of Birds reanimates the past in the language of the present. In so doing, he points to the violence of history itself: the power of a dominant culture to erase, forget, or otherwise obscure its own acts of oppression.’ –MoMA

Find more work on Edgar Heap of Birds Website

At 00.55 there is an artwork in the background with language you may not want to show young students.

Questions To Ask Students

How does Edgar Heap of Birds incorporate his identity into his artwork?

How would you describe the monoprints?

What do you like about the physical appearance prints?

How does the work make you feel?

Are these prints important? Why? Consider both the artist and the audience in your answer.

Talking Points: Sinclair Ashman

Videos and sources to help you explore the work of Printmaker Sinclair Ashman.

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.

ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access

Sinclair Ashman

Sinclair Ashman’s practice as a printmaker is in deliberate, stark contrast to his controlled, client-focused work as a graphic designer. His highly textured, largely abstract prints are elemental expressions of mood and immediate, unplanned responses to everyday materials. In essence, he sees the print as a three-dimensional medium, often employing deep impressions in thick, high quality papers.

His creative process starts not with thinking about the print, but with the printing plate. This is a direct response to the chosen materials, which are stuck down onto a board base. Sketches are rarely used. Instead, plates are created in response to ‘what the materials want to do’. – Derby Print Open

Sinclair Ashman Metallics Print

Sinclair Ashman Flexure I Black Scaled
Sinclair Ashman Spirit Scaled

Questions to Ask Students

How do you think that Sinclair’s collagraph process differs from his graphic design job?

Can you spot some of the different materials Sinclair sticks to his collograph plates to make marks?

How would you describe the kinds of marks you can see in his prints? What techniques do you think he’s used?

What do you like about the work?

Do you prefer the flat prints or the sculptural prints? Why?

How does the work make you feel?

Talking Points: Paul Nash

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of Paul Nash.

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.

ages 9-11
ages 11-14
free to access

Paul Nash

‘Paul Nash (11 May 1889 – 11 July 1946) was a British surrealist painter and war artist, as well as a photographer, writer and designer of applied art. Nash was among the most important landscape artists of the first half of the twentieth century. He played a key role in the development of Modernism in English art.

The artworks he produced during World War I are among the most iconic images of the conflict. Later in life, during World War II, he produced two series of anthropomorphic depictions of aircraft, before producing a number of landscapes rich in symbolism with an intense mystical quality.’ – Wikipedia

Show the whole video or select parts to watch in class, to discover Paul Nash’s love for landscape, his work as a war artist and his fascination with WWII planes later in life.

Landscape Paintings

Avebury (1937) by Paul Nash. Original from The Museum of New Zealand. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

image-from-rawpixel-id-2968469-jpeg

Landscape by Paul Nash. Original from The Yale University Art Gallery.

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Oxfordshire Landscape (1944) painting in high resolution by Paul Nash. Original from The Birmingham Museum.

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you can see.

How would you describe the marks in this painting?

How does light, shadow and colour impact the space and atmosphere?

Compare two paintings. What similarities and differences can you see?

How does this painting make you feel?

Which painting do you prefer? Why?

WWII Planes

image-from-rawpixel-id-2968479-jpeg

Bomber Lair (1940) painting in high resolution by Paul Nash. Original from The Birmingham Museum.

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Bomber Lair–Egg and Fin (1940) painting in high resolution by Paul Nash. Original from The Birmingham Museum.

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Whitley Bombers Sunning (1940) painting in high resolution by Paul Nash. Original from The Birmingham Museum.

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you can see.

What materials do you think Nash used?

How has Nash used light and shadow to create a sense of space? Consider foreground and background.

What do you like / dislike about this painting? Why?

How has Nash created a sense of form in this drawings?

Talking Points: Althea McNish

Videos and sources to help you explore the work of African-Caribbean textile artist Althea McNish.

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.

ages 9-11
ages 11-14
ages 14-16

Althea McNish

Althea McNish (1924-2020) was one of the first African-Caribbean textile designers to gain international recognition for her work. Althea came to England with her family as part of the Windrush Generation. Her designs capture the British landscape through a “tropical eye”, bringing bright colours and abstract patterns depicting flora and fauna, injecting much needed colour and excitement in a post-war textiles industry.

Althea McNish used a variety of printing process to create her designs, from monoprint to screenprint.

McNish’s work proved popular with the chairman of Liberty London’s department store and soon she was creating exclusive designs for furnishings, wallpapers and fashion designers across Britain. Find more information at the V&A website and explore some of McNish’s works.

Watch on Youtube from minute 4.10- 7.30 of Whoever Heard of a Black Artist to find out more about Althea McNish and her work.

Questions to Ask Children

“Everything I did, I saw it through a tropical eye.” – Althea McNish 2015

Can you spot the influence of both tropical flora and fauna and British landscapes in McNish’s designs? Describe what you can see.

Why do you think Britain was ready an injection of bright colours and patterns post-war?

What do you like about Althea McNish’s designs?

Which design is your favourite? Why?

How does McNish’s work make you feel?

Talking Points: Henry Moore – Drawing in The Dark

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the coal mining drawings made by Henry Moore.

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.

ages 5-8
ages 9-11
ages 11-14

Henry Moore

Henry Moore is best known for his sculptures and Shelter drawings, but in 1942 Moore also created a series of sketches from Wheldale Colliery, where his father had worked. Moore spent one week drawing from observation down the dark coal mine, and then created drawings, combining memory with observation.

Moore reflected upon his experience, stating “I now like black for its blackness – for its strength, its drama, its seriousness (and unsweetness).” – C. Owen, Drawing in The Dark: Henry Moore’s Coalmining Commission, 2022, p.136

Pit Notebook

In his Pit Notebook, Moore would create preparatory sketches. He would also make notes, jotting down what he could see or words that came to mind as he drew. On the pages of his Pit Notebook he would quickly carve out the space, creating a sense of what it was like down the coal mine in Castleford.

Some of the sketches focus on figures and others on the environment.

These preliminary drawings were pivotal in the development of final drawings. Moore would piece together the different sketches, considering the notes he had jotted down and how he had felt within the space to create a complete drawing.

Explore a selection of Moore’s Pit Notebook sketches below.

Miners at the Coalface, 1941-42 Page 29 from Coalmining Notebook A HMF 1886 pencil 127 x 200 mm The Henry Moore Foundation: gift of the artist 1977 Photo: Nigel Moore.
Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation
Miner Working, 1941 Page 33 from Coalmining Notebook A HMF 1890 pencil 127 x 200 mm The Henry Moore Foundation: gift of the artist 1977 Photo: Nigel Moore. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation
View Down Tunnel, 1941 Page 38 from Coalmining Notebook A HMF 1895 pencil, crayon 127 x 200 mm The Henry Moore Foundation: gift of the artist 1977 Photo: Nigel Moore. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation
Study for 'Miners at Work on the Coalface' 1942 HMF 1961 Photo: Henry Moore Archive Study for ‘Miners at Work on the Coalface’ 1942 HMF 1961 Photo: Henry Moore Archive

Quotes From Henry Moore

Here you will find some quotes by Henry Moore referencing his developmental drawings. You may use these quotes as prompts for some activities from the “An Exploration of Coal Mining Through Henry Moore” pathway, or just use them for discussion.

“There was the problem of getting form out of darkness – of making the light from the miners’ helmet-lamps produce figures out of thick blackness – of drawing in the dark.” C. Owen, Drawing in The Dark: Henry Moore’s Coalmining Commission, 2022, p.136

“The blackest chalk or ink is grey compared to the pitch blackness of complete darkness.” C. Owen, Drawing in The Dark: Henry Moore’s Coalmining Commission, 2022, p.67

“To record in drawing what I felt and saw was a very difficult struggle. There was first the difficulty of seeing forms emerging out of deep darkness, then the problem of conveying the claustrophobic effect of countless wooden pitprops, 2 or 3 feet apart, receding into blackness.” – C. Owen, Drawing in The Dark: Henry Moore’s coal mining Commission, 2022, p.67

“As each drawing develops, it is like going outside from a lighted room on a dark night – at first seeing nothing, then slowly distinguishing objects and distances – sensing space with unknown depths.”- C. Owen, Drawing in The Dark: Henry Moore’s Coalmining Commission, 2022, p.8

“The white of the paper showing through the black chalk gives off light (almost real light) like the night sky reflected in water.” – K. Clark, Henry Moore Drawings 1974, p.292

1942 Henry Moore sketching two miners at Wheldale Colliery Henry Moore Foundation archive 7 x 8” black and white print. Photo: Reuben Saidman
Henry Moore At the Coal Face 1942 Image (C) the Whitworth The University of Manchester (003)
Four Studies of Miners at the Coalface, 1942, drawing. (HMF 2000a). Photo Michael Phipps. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation copy
Pit Boys at Pit Head 1942 Wakefield Permanent Art Collection Image Courtesy of The Hepworth Wakefield LR copy. © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2022 / www.henry-moore.org. Photo credit: Wakefield Permanent Art Collection

Questions to Ask Students

What kind of marks can you see?

How would you describe the atmosphere?

What do you think Moore was trying to capture in the image?

How do you think Moore might have felt drawing in the coal mine?

How do the preparatory sketches feed into his final sketches? Can you see any similarities or differences?

Questions by Laura McKendry

What impact do you think sketching in a contained, hot, dark space such as an underground mine would have had on Moore’s drawings?

Henry Moore is known for his sculptures of the reclining female form. How would drawing miners at work have differed from his usual subject?

What atmosphere is Moore trying to evoke in these drawings? How do his marks contribute to the overall feel of the images?

Explore Laura McKendry’s resource “Expressive Charcoal Collage: Coal Mines“.

Many thanks to AccessArt trustee, Chris Owen, for the inspiration behind this Talking Points.

‘Chris Owen’s comprehensive account of the coalmining drawings explores every aspect of the commission – from Moore’s return to his childhood home and the challenges associated with ‘drawing in the dark’ to the significant influence of the project on Moore’s later work, including the Warrior and Helmet Head sculptures, and his little-known illustrations to W.H. Auden’s poetry’ – Find Chris’s book here.

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: An Exploration of coal mining Inspired by henry moore

Featured in the ‘An Exploration of Coal Mining’ pathway

Pathway: How Can I Use Light & Dark To Create A Sense Of Space, Inspired By The Coal Mining Drawings Of Henry Moore?

For ages 11-14, explore this pathway inspired by Henry Moore’s coal mining drawings

Show me what you see

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Talking Points: Andersen M Studio

A collection of imagery and sources designed to encourage students to engage with paper animations made by Andersen M Studio.

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.

ages 9-11
ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access

Andersen M Studio

‘London based Andersen M Studio is a creative partnership between siblings, Martin Andersen and Line Andersen. The studio started in 2001. Andersen M Studio work in the areas of art direction, graphic design, photography, animation, film and music. Their work has been exhibited and published worldwide’ – Vimeo

Watch a behind the scenes video about how Andersen M Studio worked with a team to bring these paper sculptures to life in their ‘Clipper: Naturally Colourful’ campaign.

Questions To Ask Students

Do you think that you’d enjoy working as part of an animating team? Why?

Andersen M Studio were commissioned to create an animation for Star Alliance (an airline alliance) to highlight five specific destinations offered. Find out how they used plane tickets to create this advert.

Questions To Ask Students

Do you think that an animation advert or a live action advert it more effective? Why?

Questions To Ask Students

What is happening in this animation?

Describe the atmosphere created, how have they achieved this?

What do you like/dislike about this animation? Why?

Questions To Ask Students

What is happening in this animation?

How does this differ from the other animations?

Do you prefer the conceptual feeling of this animation, or the more literal stop motions? Why?

Talking Points: Su Blackwell

A collection of imagery and sources designed to encourage students to engage with work by artist Su Blackwell.

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.

ages 9-11
ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access

Su Blackwell

Su Blackwell is an artist who creates beautiful cut out paper illustrations. As well as exhibiting her book sculptures worldwide, she has also designed sets for theatre such as Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Snow Queen’ and been involved in many high profile campaigns.

Set Design

Paper Set Model by Su Blackwell
The Snow Queen performed at The Rose Theatre Kingston by Su Blackwell

Questions To Ask Students

What can you see within the set?

How does the set make you feel?

What do you like about it?

How has Sue ensured that actors can interact with the set?

How do you think the set design might have been transformed into something life size?

Storytelling

Questions To Ask Students

Do you recognise this story?

What do you like/dislike about this animation? Why?

Do you think it is effective in conveying a narrative?

Which is your favourite part? Why?

How does Su create different transitions between scenes? Can you think of any other ways to divide the scenes using a book format?

Advertising

Questions To Ask Students

What is your favourite part of the animation? Why?

What methods do you think might have been used in to create this?

Do you prefer this to live action adverts? Why?

Do you think this method is effective in communicating a narrative?

Talking Points: Julie Chen

A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce students to book artist, Julie Chen.

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.

ages 9-11
ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access

Julie Chen is an artist specialising in books. Her work doubles up as both a traditional book and also a sculpture. Her books can be found in libraries all over the world. Julie Chen’s “approach to artists’ books combines personal narratives with book forms that present the reader with both intimate reading experience as well as beautiful objects that can be displayed as sculpture.” – National Museum of Women in the Arts

Watch the videos below to see Chen’s books come to life. Explore more of Julie’s work on her website.

Ode To A Grand Staircase By Julie Chen

Questions to Ask Students

What kind of structures and shapes can you see within Julie Chen’s books?

What do you like / dislike about the work?

How does Julie use structures to communicate her narrative?

Do you think this is an effective way to communicate a narrative, why?

If you were building a book about the impact of climate change what kind of structures or shapes might you include?

Drawing Source Material: Inspirational Stadiums

A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing in schools and community groups.

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.

Inspirational Stadium Designs

Use the film below to enable students to explore inspirational stadiums around the world. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause the video 4 times and ask the pupils to make a 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute drawing at each pause.

Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to different qualities.

Try the same exercise using different materials, ie handwriting pen, ink and nib, using a ruler to make all the lines etc.

When pupils are more experienced, you can also try getting them to make their drawings as the videos play – making quick gestural sketches.

Marionettes

Sculpture Balance

Pathway: Exploring Identity

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines: Collage, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

That artists embrace the things which make them who they are: their culture, background, experiences, passions – and use these in their work to help them create work which others can relate to.

That people are the sum of lots of different experiences, and that through art we can explore our identity.

That we can use techniques such as working with layers to help create imagery which reflects the complex nature of our identities.

That as viewers we can then “read” imagery made by other people, unpicking imagery, line, shape, colour to help us understand the experience of the artist.

In this pathway children are introduced to artists who explore their identity within their art.

Pupils also use sketchbook throughout to help them generate ideas, experiment with materials and techniques, and record and reflect.

Medium:Drawing Materials, Tablet (if digital), Paper

Artists: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Yinka Shonibare, Thandiwe Muriu, Mike Barrett

This pathway will take approximately half a term, based upon a weekly art lesson.

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

History: Explore the identity of a figure from your chosen history topic.

PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion, Different Religions, Ethnic Identity.

I Can…

I have seen how artists explore their identity by creating layered and constructed images. I can share my response to their work with my classmates.

I can use my curiosity to think about how I might adapt techniques and processes to suit me.

I can use my sketchbook to record, generate ideas, test, reflect and record.

I can work digitally or physically to create a layered portrait to explore aspects of my identity, thinking about line, shape, colour, texture and meaning.

I can share my work with my classmates, articulate how I feel about the journey and outcome. I can listen to feedback from my classmates and respond.

I can appreciate the work of my classmates and I can reflect upon the differences and similarities of their work (and experience) to mine. I can share my response to their work.

I can take photographs of my artwork, thinking about lighting, focus and composition.

Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.

Materials

Soft B pencils, handwriting pens, sharpies, oil/chalk pastels, acrylic or ready mixed paints, inks, brushes, A4 cartridge paper, collage papers, digital devices (tablets) if working digitally.

Pathway: Exploring Identity

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

Aims of the Pathway

The aim of this pathway is to enable children to explore how artists embrace aspects of their experience of life – using their background, culture, race, gender, and interests to inform and shape their artwork.

Discover Artists & Approaches

Explore the free to access Talking Points below and introduce pupils to artists who work with notions about identity.

Explore as few or as many of the artists below as you would like:

Have sketchbooks open and make time during the exploration to use the “Making Visual Notes” resource. For example pupils might make references, collect ideas, jot down methods of working, draw equivalents etc.

Portrait Club

Bring portraiture into the classroom in a light-hearted flexible way with the “Portrait Club” resource. Encourage open and intuitive observational drawing.

Making Layered Portraits

Use the “Let Me Inspire You: Mike Barrett” resource to enable a physical (using drawing materials, paper, collage), or digital exploration of how to make a layered portrait which captures aspects of your personality and identity.

The resource consists of 4 parts: a video from Mike introducing himself and then 3 stepped stages to the project.

Use sketchbooks throughout to help explore and focus, test and reflect.

Share, Reflect, Discuss

Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document the work, thinking about lighting, focus and composition.

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

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Pathway: Fashion Design

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:Fashion, Painting, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

That designers bring their own culture, experiences and passions into their designs, for other people.

That as individuals we can grow our experience of the world by experiencing (seeing, listening, taking the time to understand) the creativity expressed by other people.

That we can use colour, pattern, line, shape, form, material, texture to express our creativity.

That when we design fashion, we can understand what it might feel like to wear the clothes. How would they change the person wearing or seeing them?

That when we design clothes, we can build an awareness of how 2d shapes might become 3d forms.

Children are introduced to contemporary fashion designers and use sketchbooks to record things about the designers which interest them, or to note ways of working which may be useful.

Pupils are then given a design brief and invited to make their own designs, again working in sketchbooks to explore and test, before making decorate papers through which they can bring their designs to life in 2d or 3d.

Medium:Paper, Acrylic Paint, Tape

Artists: Alice Fox, Rahul Mishra, Pyer Moss, Tatyana Antoun, Hormazd Narielwalla

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Geography: Trade links and the history of importing textiles from other continents.

History: Design clothing inspired by your chosen civilisation topic e.g. Ancient Greek elite, slaves, gods or goddesses.

Maths: 2D / 3D shapes, measuring.

Music & Drama: Create costumes for, or in response to, drama or music productions.

PSHE: Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion, Different Religions, Ethnic Identity.

Disciplines:
Collage, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Medium:
Drawing Materials, Tablet (if digital), Paper

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Disciplines:
Fashion, Painting, Collage, Sketchbooks

Medium:
Paper, Acrylic Paint, Tape

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…