Autobiographical Houses

By Helena Lyons

This project is inspired by the work ‘House’ by British contemporary artist Rachel Whiteread, a monumental concrete cast of the inside of a Victorian terraced house made in the early 1990s.

In this activity, learners are invited to consider spaces where they feel safe, how those spaces make them feel, and the memories they associate with them. To ensure inclusion and sensitivity towards our different experiences of home, invite learners, where applicable, to consider other spaces that feel safe for them. This could be their home, a particular room in school, a house from a story, a friend’s house, a den, a treehouse, or even a museum.

Using a range of techniques such as cardboard construction and frottage (rubbings), monoprinting and collage, leaners will create a freestanding structure of an ‘autobiographical house’ that communicates personal feelings and associations. 

This activity is aimed at KS1 and KS2 children, but could be adapted and enjoyed by older age groups too. To engage fully with the range of techniques, you will need between 3 and 4 one hour sessions to complete this activity.

 

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A pupil holding up her autobiographical house sculpture


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