Making a Pocket Gallery
By Anne-Louise Quinton
This post shares an idea devised by Anne-Louise Quinton in which she enables children and teenagers to revisit the “ordinary” and resee its potential. The activity is a great way not only to inspire children as artists and curators, but also to introduce them to a whole range of concepts and vocabulary. It would be a great activity to use in a museum and gallery education context, as well as the classroom.
All of us seem to respond to the idea of “miniature”, and this process is adaptable for all ages, abilities and contexts. Enjoy!
To Begin:
Make an environment to host your exhibition. This could be based upon an imagined or real gallery space. I made a foamboard 1.50 scale model of the Longside Gallery at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (I made very approximate measurements taken from pacing the gallery space, drawing sketches, photographing it and guessing the height). I also made the plinths from foamboard.
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Sheila C
October 30, 2017 @ 11:32 am
Anne-Louise – what a very clever way to encourage young people to look and understand the value of re-assessing what they see whilst also exploring context and placement. Thank you for sharing with AccessArt. We look forward to more contributions from you. Best wishes, Sheila – AccessArt
Catherine H
February 7, 2026 @ 5:10 pm
I used the pocket gallery idea with my art club and the children loved it! They brought in everyday objects from home that they could display and they developed an understanding of curating a space, the importance of relative scale and considered the question ‘what is art?’ Each child then made their own smaller gallery and included their original installation, their mini-me figure and a painted miniature canvas. I had a message from one of the parents the evening following the art club session to say that both her children had spent the whole evening adding shelves, more art and a gallery cafe!!!
Thank you for such an inspirational idea.
Rachel
February 17, 2026 @ 12:45 pm
Thanks for your comment, Catherine, and we’re so pleased to hear your pupils enjoyed doing this!