A collection of sources and imagery to explore exciting packaging design.
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.
Packaging design is really important for a products success. The packaging has to echo the values of a company through design.
Read this Waitrose case study to find out how they redesigned the ‘free from’ range to fit with the values of the company and customers.
See how packaging is used to unify the brand feel here.
Watch the videos below to find out what designers might consider when designing packaging.
Questions to Ask Children
Do you prefer the old design or the new design? Why?
Can you list the different things that designers factor in when they’re thinking about a redesign?
See how designers might create a mock up of their design to show the client how the packaging will look.
Watch a designer improve upon a packaging design.
Questions to Ask Children
Do you prefer the first design or the design that this designer created? Why?
Would you be more likely to pick up packaging with photos or with drawings on it? Why?
As a class, discuss how you might create packaging for pineapple juice. Think about the shape of the juice carton, colours and text.
Once a company has created packaging they need to think about advertising.
Questions to Ask Children
As a class discuss how you might advertise your pineapple juice.
Watch this video to find out how you can make a net for a packaging box.
A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce pupils to the Artist Lubaina Himid.
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.
Lubaina Himid
“Born in Zanzibar in 1954, Lubaina Himid is a British painter who has dedicated her thirty-year-long career to uncovering marginalised and silenced histories, figures, and cultural moments. Himid creates paintings, drawings, prints and installations. She paints on a variety of surfaces, including ceramic and wood, often producing objects with performative potential intended to be encountered in a space”. RA
Watch the videos below to learn more about Lubaina Himid’s work and ideas.
Note for teachers on adult content: Please be advised that some of Himid’s work contains inappropriate imagery, some of which may be visible in the background of these videos. Please ensure you have watched them first to ensure you are happy to show to your class.
Note for teachers on adult content: We have tried to ensure that all videos below are suitable for use in schools, but please be advised that some of Himid’s work does address adult themes. Please ensure you have watched these videos first to ensure you are happy to show to your class.
Questions to Ask Children:
What different surfaces does Lubaina Himid work on? What type of paint does she use?
What can you read from the expressions on the two figures in the artwork called ‘Carrot Piece’? What do you think they are thinking or saying?
Do you think the man on the right is turning and standing still or is he walking away? Why might he want to do that?
Lubaina Himid describes the figures as “larger than life” – what do you think it would be like to see such a large artwork in real life?
Watch the video on Vimeo to find the playbar and controls.
Questions to Ask Children:
What warm or hot colours do you notice in some of the paintings displayed in the video?
Do you agree the paintings are vibrant? Why?
Some of the figures in the paintings appear to be quite flat and almost 2 dimensional. Do you think Lubaina Himid painted them in this way deliberately and what effect does it create?
Watch the video below from 2.00-3.30 minutes.
Questions to Ask Children:
What do you think it would be like to walk in and amongst all the painted wooden figures?
Some of the figures are playing musical instruments – what kind of music do you imagine they are playing?
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the colourful spaces created by Yinka Ilori.
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.
Yinka Ilori
Yinka Ilori is a multidisciplinary artist and designer with a bold bright visual language influenced by his British-Nigerian heritage. Three components that feature heavily in Yinka’s work are pattern, colour and storytelling.
Yinka uses his crafts as a way to communicate Nigerian parables and verbal traditions.
His work is described as a fusion between contemporary design and Nigerian tradition.
That when designers work with fonts and layout it is called Typography.
That we can use the way words look to help us communicate ideas and emotions.
That we can create our own typography and combine it with other visual elements to make artwork about chosen themes.
In this pathway children are introduced to typography design and they explore how they can create their own fonts and designs. Children explore how we can use visual letters and other elements to help convey ideas and emotions.
They are introduced to the work of an artist and a designer who have both used lettering combined with maps to produce maps which tell stories. Children then go on to create their own visual and often three dimensional maps.
Themes: Identity, Environment, Habitat
Medium: Pencil, Pen, Paper
Artists: Louise Fili,Grayson Perry, Paula Scher, Chris Kenny
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!
Geography: Trade links, digital mapping, ordinance survey maps, detailed sketching of maps.
History: Create maps inspired by your chosen ancient civilisation topic e.g. an Anglo Saxon settlement or village.
Maths: Pictorial representations, 2D / 3D shapes.
PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion.
English: Leaflets, posters
I Can…
I have understood that Typography is the visual art of creating and arranging letters and words on a page to to help communicate ideas or emotions.
I have seen how other artists work with typography and have been able to share my thoughts on their work.
I have explored how I can create my own letters in a playful way using cutting and collage. I can reflect upon what I like about the letters I have made.
I have drawn my own letters using pen and pencil inspired by objects I have chosen around me. I can reflect upon why my letters have a meaning to me.
I have used my sketchbooks for referencing, collecting and testing ideas, and reflecting.
I can make my drawings appear visually stronger by working over maps or newspaper to make my marks stronger.
I have seen how some artists use their typography skills and drawing skills to make maps which are personal to them. I have been able to reflect upon what I think their maps mean, what I like about them, and what interests me.
I can use my mark making, cutting and collage skills to create my own visual map, using symbols, drawn elements and typography to express themes which are important to me.
I have shared my work with the class, reflected upon what was successful and been able to give useful feedback on the work of my peers.
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, cartridge paper, black sugar paper, assorted papers/cards, old maps or newspapers, A1 cartridge paper, assorted small objects and plants, PVA glue, tape, scissors.
This pathway aims to give pupils the opportunity to explore the work of designers who work with font and typography. Pupils go on to create their own typography and develop their skills further in a visual map project.
Week 1: Introduce Typography
What is Typography?
Visit the free to access “Talking Points: What is Typography” resource. Enable children to understand how typography can be used creatively to express thoughts and communicate ideas visually. Make some “Visual Notes” in sketchbooks.
Introduce an Artist
Louise Fili
Explore the work of Louise Fili who is a pioneer in establishing herself as a woman working in Typography. Use the free to access “Talking Points: Louise Fili” resource to see how she and her team created a poster for the New York Subway.
Play & Experiment
Play with Cut Out Typography
Invite the children to create their own letters in a playful way to discover arrangements they like. Use the “Cut Out Typography” resource.
Stick the outcomes in your sketchbook. Think about what you like about the letters you create, and what you might like to develop further.
Work on large sheets or in your sketchbooks. Explore as many variations of letters as you can.
If you have time, develop a whole word or even phrase, but pay just as much attention to each letter.
Pupils will be drawing on previous knowledge and skills in creating varied mark-making. For a recap on mark-making explore “Finding Marks Made by Artists“.
Week 3: Developing Stronger Drawings
Explore Making Powerful Visual Imagery
Sometimes we need help to make our drawings visually powerful.
If you don’t have maps to work on you can do the same exercise working on newspaper or other paper which is pre-printed.
Week 4 & 5: Creating a Visual Map
Messages in Maps
The next stage of the project is to apply your new typography skills and your powerful drawing skills to make a visual map.
See How Artists Create Maps
Grayson Perry & Paula Scher & Chris Kenny (and the Marauder’s Map)
Maps don’t just have to tell us where to go. They can also be very personal places which reveal things about the artist that made them, or they can be comments about culture, place and time. They can also be a place where messaging is concealed and revealed. They can be based upon reality or imagination, or both.
Introduce children to a selection of artists who use maps in their work to express identity. Create “Visual Notes” in sketchbooks inspired by your choice of artists.
Choose from the following of free to access Talking Points:
“Talking Points: Grayson Perry ‘Map of Days’” Please Note: Please be advised that at 1.51 of the video via this link there is inappropriate language shown on the map. You may wish to show up to this point or to skip past the shot of the language in question.
Using ideas developed from the Typography activity in Week 2, follow the “3D Visual Maps” resource to understand how we build on the idea of creating visual text, and how this can be applied to map making.
Develop
Annotate Your 3D Visual Maps
Ask the children to use explorations of identity to annotate their 3D Visual Maps with typography, references, thoughts, ideas and associations. They can do this both in 2D and 3D, using cut out paper. See “Manipulating Paper from 2d-3d” for inspiration.
Questions to ask:
Where am I in my map? Why have I chosen to place myself here and what is around me?
What words do I associate with home and where I live?
What things or places am I surrounded by and why is this important to me?
Week 6: Reflect and Discuss
Share and Celebrate the Outcomes
Lay the maps out on the floor if possible. You could even use the playground or school hall if the weather/space allocation permits.
Ask the children to walk around each other’s work. Take time to absorb and discuss.
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of Morag Myerscough.
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.
Morag Myerscough
Artist & Designer Morag Myerscough creates installations and immersive spatial artworks that transform places and champion community and public interaction.
From schools and hospitals to cultural hubs and town centres Morag transforms public spaces by creating engaging experiences for everyone.
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of Fausto Melotti.
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.
Fausto Melotti
‘It wasn’t until the early 1980s that he designed set pieces for the actual stage. This exhibition looks back throughout Melotti’s lifetime to consider how theatre – conceptually as much as a dramatic art – informed the artist’s own creativity. –Galleries Now
Watch the videos below to find out more about the exhibition.
Apologies if you cannot watch one of the videos because your school has blocked YouTube.
Pause the video on stills of Melotti’s work and ask children the following questions…
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you can see.
How does the set make you feel?
What do you like/dislike about the set?
Describe the atmosphere of the set. How do you think this has been achieved?
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of Chris Kenny.
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.
Twigs
Chris Kenny works with humble, found materials: fragments excised from books or maps, discarded photographs or books, and fine twigs. He transforms these constructing fragile pertinent worlds that provoke wonder, humour or pathos.
Please note that that there are swear words on the artists website so you may not want to ask pupils to research by their own accord.
Twenty Twigs 2021 36 x 36 x 5inches Construction with cut twigs By Chris Kenny
Twelve Twigs 2012 construction with twigs 22 x 22 x 3” by Chris Kenny
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
What could the stick people be doing?
Which is your favourite stick man? Why?
Noli Me Tangere (After Veronese) 2016 construction with found twigs 27 x 27 x 3″ by Chris Kenny
Questions to Ask Children
What do you think is happening in this image?
How does this image make you feel?
How do you think the artist created this stick image? Do you think he planned the image with a pencil or just start making?
Maps
Mexico Triptych, Second Panel 2018 Construction With Map Fragments 36 x 36 x 3 by Chris Kenny
Maidenhead Thicket 2011 construction with map fragments by Chris Kenny
Elsewhere 2014 18 x 18 x 3 construction with map fragments by Chris Kenny
Questions for Children…
Describe what you can see.
Do you like this work? Why?
How does it make you feel?
Which map is your favourite and why?
How much does Chris Kenny reveal about himself through the map?
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of The Shoreditch Sketcher.
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.
Tips from The Shoreditch Sketcher
The Shoreditch Sketcher has kindly provided the following tips for your own drawing. Read the tips and then explore his drawings below. Can you see his tips some to life in the drawings he makes?
Travel light You don’t need to have lots of expensive equipment for urban sketching. I find the less kit I have, the easier it is to focus on the drawing. If you always travel with a small selection of pens and an A5 sketchbook, you will be able to set up camp anywhere and get drawing quickly wherever you are.
Pick a subject that interests you There is absolutely no point in sketching something that doesn’t excite you. The fact is, you’re more likely to get a great result with something that interests you. Start with whatever catches your eye!
Get comfortable For beginners and people who work at a slower pace, a seated position may be more comfortable and allow for more accuracy. Find a location where you can easily sit on a wall or chair to give yourself more time to capture the scene.
Remember that a drawing is not a photograph Don’t fall into the trap of trying to faithfully capture the scene you are drawing as if it were a photograph. A sketch is an expression of what you’re looking at, not an exact reproduction. Celebrate the mistakes!
Set yourself a time limit It can be useful to give yourself a time limit on your live drawings. This helps to focus your mind and instil your drawings with energy, and it forces you to move on to another view. Quick sketches often capture much more than an overworked piece!
Work in a medium that you feel comfortable with I love drawing with pen – straight in, with no pencil. But I’m very aware this requires a lot of confidence and my advice to beginners is always to start with a medium you feel comfortable with. This might well be pencil or charcoal, both of which are quite forgiving.
Stop and come back to it later Don’t be afraid to call time on a sketch even though it’s not ‘finished’. Remember, you are the one to decide what’s finished and what’s not. A great tip is to take a quick photo of the view you’re sketching on your phone and then use the image as a reference for adding more detail, tone or colour later on!
Keep at it Practise makes perfect, and a sketch a day is a great way to train your eye. Draw everyday things such as bus journeys, sandwich shops, mugs on desks and drab buildings. You’ll quickly become adept at looking for interesting views, and soon your sketchbook will become a record of your travels!
Piccadilly London by the Shoreditch Sketcher
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
Look at the artwork as a whole – which words would you use to describe the whole piece?
Tell me about the details you like.
How does it make you feel?
Chinatown London by the Shoredtich Sketcher
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
Which details are missing?
How do you think he decided how much detail to include or leave out?
Tell me about the details you like.
Westminster by the Shoreditch Sketcher
Questions to Ask Children
What can you see?
Do you recognise any of these buildings?
Why do you you think he chose to include details of those specific buildings and leave others out?
Tell me about the details you like.
Royal Academy London by the Shoreditch sketcher
Questions to Ask Children
What can you see?
Which details do you like?
Leicester Square London by the Shoreditch Sketcher
Questions to Ask Children
What do you see?
How has the artist given the image perspective?
How would you describe the atmosphere?
Do you think that the blank space adds anything to the overall composition?
A collection of sources and imagery to explore tiny houses.
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.
Apologies if you cannot watch some of the videos because your school has blocked YouTube.
Questions to Ask Children
What do you think of the materials used to build this home? Name some of the materials you can see.
Would you live in this microhome?
What are the pros and cons to living in a tiny home?
Questions to Ask Children
Could you live in this space?
Do you like the interior space? Why?
Would you prefer to have a tiny house in the countryside or in a city?
Can you think of a clever way to design a chair so that it can be stored away easily.
Questions to Ask Children
What do you think of this home?
Would you live in this microhome?
What premade structure could you make a tiny home out of?
AKT II and OFIS Arhitekti
Questions to Ask Children
Does this microtome have enough space?
Would you like to live in a microtome that could be moved around?
Do you like the design of the home? Why?
Could you fit all of your belongings in this home?
Questions to Ask Children
Could you live in this space?
Do you think that all homes should be made like this in the future? Why?
Do you like the interior space? Why?
What would you miss if you had to live in this space?
Drawing Source Material: Amazing Architectural Homes
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.
This resource is free to access and is not part of AccessArt membership.
Amazing Architectural Homes
Use this collection of films as source material for pupils exploring amazing architectural homes. 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 building.
When pupils are more experienced, you can also try getting them to make their drawings as the videos play – making quick gestural sketches.
When we make mono prints we use mark making to create one off prints.
When we make mono prints we create an impression of a drawing.
That we can generate playful narratives and inventions through drawing.
That we understand that using a range of marks will generate different effects when creating mono prints.
That we can create creative responses to different stimuli and make the work our own.
Building on the exploration of drawing in Autumn term 1, this pathway starts with two explorations of drawing – one drawing from photographs or film, and two drawing from small, closely observed objects.
In both sessions pupils develop drawing and mark making skills.
Children are then introduced to mono print. They explore the work of an artist who uses mono print in his own work, and are introduced to a simple mono print technique.
Classes then have a choice of projects to develop mono printing and drawing skills, depending upon their preferred area of subject focus.
This pathways encourages children to take creative risks and use drawing as a way to playfully invent and create narratives.
Themes: Natural and Manmade Forms, Invention, Narrative
Medium: Graphite pencils, Oil Pastels, Carbon Paper
Artists: Xgaoc’o X’are, Leonardo Di Vinci
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!
English: Link to English by asking children to draw upon their own experience for narratives.
Geography: Adapt to explore habitats, continents.
Maths: Use language to develop understanding of symmetry (peeling back monoprints).
Science: Animals, trees, materials.
PSHE: Peer discussion. Collaboration.
Be aware that you leave the making open enough for the children to explore fully and freely (not constrained by working too closely to a theme).
I Can…
I can make drawings using photos from films as my source material.
I can look closely guided by my teachers voice, and work in my sketchbook or on paper to make drawings using soft pencil or handwriting pen.
I can look closely at small objects close to me and make drawings with soft pencil or handwriting pen at the same scale or size.
I can think carefully about which marks I will include in my drawing.
I can share my sketchbook work with the class and talk about what I like about my work. I can listen to others talking about their work, and sometimes I can add my thoughts.
I have seen what a mono print is and have explored the work of an artist who uses mono print. I can share my thoughts on the artists work.
I can use carbon paper to make mono prints. I can experiment with the kinds of marks I make, and think about how they help make my drawings interesting.
I can base my drawings upon careful observational looking. I can slow down my looking and mark making and work for 5 to 15 minutes on a drawing.
I can explore a theme and make mono prints using my imagination to make my drawings personal.
I can share my work and talk about what I like, and what I would like to try again.
I can enjoy looking at the work of my classmates and sometimes I can share my thoughts about their work.
I have understood that through art, I can invent and discover.
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.
This pathway aims to encourage children to explore the world around them through monoprint. How can we use line, mark, shape and colour to make imagery informed by our own perception of the world?
Week 1: Explore
Draw from Stills & Film
Children will spend the first week making drawings in their sketchbooks. Use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Natural World” resource to inspire their drawings.
Use the “Drawing Small” resource to help children become aware of the relationship of drawing, looking and mark making.
Pupils will work in sketchbooks or on larger sheets of loose paper.
If you want further challenges, invite children to draw with their non dominant hand, create a blind drawing, a backwards forwards drawing and also a continuous line drawing.
By the end of week two sketchbooks should be full of a variety of images – from drawings of the natural world capturing movement and energy made in week one, to collections of small, still, found objects made in week two.
Recap
Reflect and Discuss
End week two with a short class or small group discussion about the sketchbook work. Encourage children to remember what they did and discuss whether pupils prefer drawings from week one or week two.
Week 3: Introducing Mono Prints
What is a Mono Printing?
Introduce pupils to the technique of mono printing with ink. Watch this video on “trace monotype” and find out how you can facilitate a lesson on printmaking.
NOTE: In this pathway you will be using a slightly different method which is cleaner and easier!
Introduce an Artist
Explore the Work of Xgaoc’o X’are
Explore the work of Botswanan Printmaker Xgaoc’o X’are using the free to access “Talking Points: Xgaoc’o X’are” resource. Use the questions on that resource to discuss his work.
This activity encourages children to look carefully at their subject matter and make thoughtful marks in response. The addition of oil pastel enables children to experiment with colour and shape as well as line.
Children can either draw from the same objects that they drew in week two, or new objects. The aim of the session is for pupils to explore and see what they can do with this technique – the journey is more important than any final outcome. Pupils will work in sketchbooks or on sheets of paper.
Week 4 & 5: Find Your Focus
Choose a Theme
Choose from one of the projects below, or adapt a similar approach to your own area of focus/curriculum theme.
All the resources below share the common aim of enabling children to explore printmaking with a focus on mono print. Whatever the focus or theme you attach make sure you give pupils plenty of freedom to play and invent.
Give children plenty of time and space to explore, take creative risks, discover and share, without working towards a predefined outcome. Encourage and celebrate individuality.
Have sketchbooks open on tables and encourage children to make notes (whatever form they take), and record and reflect.
Option 1
Mono Printing Session with ‘Change, Grow, Live’
If you’d like to continue the theme of animals/natural habitat/natural world, then use the “Mono Printing Session with Change, Grow, Live” resource to make prints inspired by animals. (Pls note: the resource describes using carbon copy paper to print and also using ink and rollers to print. In this case use carbon copy paper).
Xgaoc’o X’are’s prints are inspired by the cave drawings made by his ancestors. It could be interesting to get children to think about a narrative involved in the animals that they choose to draw. For example an animal that they think represents them.
Invite children to bring in animal toys or find images of animals with significance to them.
If children worked on separate sheets of paper throughout the project, consider if they would like to make a “Backwards Sketchbook” from the experimental loose prints and drawings made throughout the half term.
Invite children to display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they are in a gallery. Open out sketchbooks. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hardwork.
If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams.
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.
This resource is free to access and is not part of AccessArt membership.
Oceans and Seas
Use the film below as source material to enable the children to draw things living in the ocean.
You can either choose to stop the video, and draw from a collection of paused images, or you can also choose to ask the children to work from the moving image.
Find drawing exercises below to help your drawing exploration.
Drawing Exercises
Have the children draw in a quiet room, with the video on the whiteboard.
Stop the video at a chosen frame and use your voice to direct their drawing. Choose words which relate to the imagery, for example you might decide to focus their attention on vertical lines, so you might choose words like: line, growth, upward, downward, fall… or you might choose to attract their attention to the energy of a wave or the curve of an animals back. Think carefully about the words you use – they don’t have to be used in sentences – you can speak lists.
Each sketchbook response might take just 3 to 5 minutes, then move on to another still. Create a sense of momentum.
Direct pupils to use a chosen medium. You might like to start with soft pencil or handwriting pen.
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of Yinka Shonibare.
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.
Yinka Shonibare
Yinka Shonibare is interdisciplinary artist. Within his practice he explored Western art history and literature to question contemporary cultural and national identities within the context of globalisation.
Through examining race, class and the construction of cultural identity, his works comment on the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe, and their respective economic and political histories. Find out more on his website here.
“The wild is far from unlimited. It is finite. It needs protecting.” – David Attenborough
This series of new sculptures by Shonibare reflect on the connection between the history of colonial domination and humankind’s domination of the natural world and the exploitation of its limited resources.
Questions to Ask Children
In your own words, what do you think that the artist is trying to say through his work?
Do you like the sculptures? Why?
How do the sculptures make you feel?
Wind Sculptures
We can’t see wind, but we do see its effects. Here the dynamic movement of a piece of fabric in a gust of wind is rendered in solid fiberglass at monumental scale.
What we now regard as traditional African cloth is based on Indonesian batik fabric first brought to Africa by Dutch traders in the 1800s. For Shonibare, and for Wind Sculpture, identity is always a richly layered and dynamic set of relationships. – Public Art Fund.
Questions to Ask Children
In your own words what do you think the artist is trying to say with this series?
How does that artwork make you feel?
How do you think the scale of this sculpture impacts the viewer?
Talking Points: Flemish and Dutch Still Life Paintings
A collection of sources to explore the still life paintings of Dutch and Flemish artists between 1600-1800.
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.
Jacob Vosmaer
A Vase with Flowers, Jacob Vosmaer (Dutch, Delft ca. 1584–1641 Delft) 1613, Oil on wood, 33 1/2 x 24 5/8 in, Purchase, 1871
Questions to Ask Children
How would you describe the mood of this painting?
How have the colours impacted the mood?
How does the painting make you feel?
Jan Davidsz
Close up of Flowers in a glass vase by Dutch painter Jan Davidsz. de Heem, 1606-1684, Oil on wooden panel, height 93.2 cm x width 69.6 cm – from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Questions to Ask Children
How does this painting compare with the first painting of flowers?
Which do you prefer and why?
Rachel Ruysch
Still life with a rose branch, beetle and bee (1741) painting in high resolution by Rachel Ruysch.
What stands out to you when you look at this painting and why?
How would you describe the atmosphere of this painting?
Melchior d’ Hondecoeter
Peacocks, Melchior d’ Hondecoeter (Dutch, Utrecht 1636–1695 Amsterdam), 1683, Oil on canvas, 74 7/8 x 53 in. (190.2 x 134.6 cm), Gift of Samuel H. Kress, 1927
Questions to Ask Children
What can you see in this painting?
What time of day do you think this painting captures? Why?
Do you think that the animals in this painting get on? Why?
Why do you think the animals have congregated together in this painting?
What do you like/dislike about this painting? Why?
Peter Claesz
Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, Pieter Claesz (Dutch, Berchem? 1596/97–1660 Haarlem), 1628, Oil on wood, 24.1 x 35.9 cm, Rogers Fund, 1949
Questions to Ask Children
What can you see?
What do you think the painter was trying to say with this painting?
A collection of sources to explore the art of Paul Cezanne.
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.
Paul Cezanne
Cezanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter.
It is said that he formed the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and the early 20th century’s Cubism.
Cézanne’s often repetitive, exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and clearly recognizable. He used planes of colour and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex fields. His interest was not in the objects themselves but in using them to experiment with shape, colour, and lighting. He arranged his still lifes so that everything locked together. The paintings convey Cézanne’s intense study of his subjects. Find out more here.
A collection of sources to explore contemporary artists who study still life.
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.
Hilary Pecis
The imagery in Pecis’ work comes from snapshots taken from trips, visits with friends in their homes or restaurants, and the artist’s surroundings. Pecis focuses on specific details that evoke the feeling of the moment. Pecis then uses texture and brushstroke, colour and pattern, and perspective as tools to create a sense of place.
Pecis often includes stacks of monographs, exhibition posters, and works by other artists within her compositions, allowing Pecis the opportunity to include different styles of painting in one composition. Cultural art and historical references within her paintings allow the viewer to understand the time and place. – Rachel Offer Gallery
Sleeping Dog, Hilary Pecis, Painting, 2020
Watch the video above as teacher, so you have an understanding of Hilary’s work. Then pause the video at set places to introduce the pupil’s to Hilary’s paintings.
Questions to Ask Children
When you look at one of Hilary’s paintings, what words come to mind? How would you describe it to someone who couldn’t see it?
How do Hilary’s paintings make you feel?
Do you have favourite parts of the paintings? Do you recognise anything you have at home?
Think about your interests and hobbies- what objects might you include in a still life that reflects snapshots of your life and memories? Could you write/draw them in your sketchbook.
Nicole Dyer
Nicole Dyer creates vibrant paints, drawings and mixed-media assemblages and sculptures that explore contemporary life and everyday objects.
Dyers creates playful still lifes using materials such as paper-mache, collage techniques and impasto, putting a twist on traditional still lifes.
Palegrino, Nicole Dyer, 2019, Acrylic, flashe, and insulation foam on canvas, 10” x 8”
Questions to Ask Children
Is this a painting or a sculpture?
How would you describe it to someone who couldn’t see it?
What do you think the artist was trying to say with this painting?
What do you like/dislike about this painting?
How does this painting make you think differently about still life paintings?
Bas Meeuws
Bas Meeuws is a digital florist artist. His work inspired by the still life paintings of dutch and Flemish artists in the 18th Century.
“The bouquets actually were impossible constructions, with flowers from different seasons, all in full bloom. I like to emulate this in my work, and to transcend time. The consolation of photography, that is how I see these timeless works.” – Bas Meeuws
Questions to Ask Children
Meeuw’s takes lots of photographs of flowers and other objects and then manipulates the images into one still life. What does this enable him to do, which he couldn’t do if he just took a photograph of an arrangement of flowers?
In the video he uses a dark background for the photographs. Why do you think he does that?
In the video he mentions 17th century still lives. Take a look at “Talking Points: Flemish & Dutch Still Life” and see if you can see the links between the work of the old painters and that of Meeuw.
What do you like about Meeuws’ photographs?
“I just start and work until I get stuck, then I’ll start something new and go back to it later on,” says Bas Meeuws in the film. Why do you think working like that helps him?
Hirasho Sato
Hiroshi Sato is focused on contemporary realist oil painting. He draws influence from past and present artists including Vermeer, Andrew Wyeth, Euan Uglow and Chuck Close. Sato explores the illusion of form and flatness in space.
A collection of sources to explore the work of Hannah Rae.
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.
Hannah Rae
Hannah Rae is a textile artist based in Cambridge. Her work is formed of embroidery and free motion embroidery.
The works are responses to the environment and the passage of time. The surface of Rae’s work are pieced together through stitch, rust and eco printing, dyeing, painting, and applique; faded and weathered by use and the elements, fragments of past times.
A collection of sources to explore the work of Frank Bowling.
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.
Frank Bowling
‘Frank Bowling has been hailed as one of the finest British artists of his generation. Born in British Guiana in 1934, Bowling arrived in London in 1953, graduating from the Royal College of Art with the silver medal for painting in 1962. By the early 1960s, he was recognised as an original force in London’s art scene with a style combining figurative, symbolic and abstract elements.’ – Explore Frank Bowling’s website.
Questions to Ask Children
What objects would you choose to include in a painting? Why?
How would you describe the way he works in one word?
How does scale impact the way that the artist works?
Questions to Ask Children
How does Frank Bowling’s work make you feel?
What do you like/dislike about Frank Bowling’s work?
How does scale impact the viewers experience of the work?
Which geometrical shapes would you include in your abstract painting? Why?
Choose one of Bowling’s paintings to look at in class:
Ask children to describe the colour palette, movement and texture. If you can see objects on the paintings take a closer look and think about why he might have chosen them.
A collection of sources to explore the work of Alice Kettle.
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.
Alice Kettle
Alice Kettle is a contemporary textile/fibre artist based in the UK. Alice originally trained as a painter and will often begin her work with a painted background which she then embroiders on. Her large scale work is composed of individual tiny stitches, which combine to form great swathes of colour, painterly backgrounds incorporating rich hues.
Alice Kettle, Odyssey, thread on canvas (2003)
The Scalloped Edge
“The project uses stitch as a common cultural language to make connections through motif, process and metaphor. The sharing and exchange of the tacit knowledge with the local community in a series of collaborative works forms an important part of this collection.
Embroidery in Madeira as with British stitchwork, is undertaken primarily by women. The exhibition uses distinctive elements of Madeiran embroidery reinterpreted into my contemporary works in machine and hand stitch. Titled the scalloped edge, which is a feature of this embroidery, it draws upon the characteristic palette of white or blue and the repeated flowing lines in satin stitch and long-and-short stitch.” – Alice Kettle
Watch the first 4 minutes of this video about the project.
Sea Figure, Alice Kettle, 2016, Thread on linen, 223 x 128 cm
Questions to Ask Children
How does the work make you feel?
How do you think that collaboration benefitted the community and the artist?
What connections can you see to the sea in these works?
How does scale impact the viewers experience of the work?
Threadbound
Watch this video to find out more about Alice’s recent collection for the exhibition ‘Threadbound’.
Questions to Ask Children
What do you like/dislike about the work that you can see in this video?
Did one textiles piece stick in your mind? Why?
If you combined an image of yourself with a plant, what would you choose? Why?
Introduce pupils to the technique of mono printing with ink. Watch this video on 
