Videos and sources to help you explore the work of African-American artist Romare Bearden.

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.

Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden’s artwork includes poetic memories from his childhood, powerful and thought-provoking statements about African American culture, and reinterpretations of biblical stories from an African American perspective.

In the work below, we see Bearden’s collages of Homers Odyssey, influenced by the quilting craft from African-American slaves and by post modern artists such as of Henri Matisse. 

Download the PDF at this link to see some high quality images of the work produced. 

The following video describes Romare’s work as a Black American artist.

You can find a Google Arts & Culture Story about Romare’s work here.

Questions to Ask Children

“You sing on the canvas. You improvise, you find the rhythm, and catch it good, and structure it as you go along, then the song is you.” Romare Bearden.

What do you think Romare meant by the quote above? 

What do you think it is about the shapes and colours Romare uses in his artwork that helps his images speak to so many people?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: working with shape and colour

This is featured in the ‘Working with Shape and Colour’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Videos and sources to help you explore the work of Printmaker Claire Willberg.

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.

Claire Willberg

Claire Willberg graduated as a sculptor at the Royal College of Art in 1989. Subsequently she completed an MA in Printmaking at Camberwell College of Art. Since 2010 she has been based at the Slaughterhaus Print Studio in South London.

Her current practice combines traditional intaglio and relief printmaking techniques. She takes inspiration from discarded objects found on the streets of London and gives them a new existence through her work.

In the videos above Claire uses the shapes inspired by the objects she finds to make animations. 

www.instagram.com/clairewillbergartist/

Questions to Ask Children

When you watch Claire’s animations, what do you think? 

What kind of a world is Claire creating for us? 

Look around you and find items which have been discarded. Look at packaging too – open out cartons and boxes and look at the shapes. What kind of shapes would they inspire you to make out of paper, and what could they become in an animation?

Do you have particular colours you are drawn to using?

Do you think you have to know “what you are doing” or can you “play” with shapes and see what happens? Do the shapes give you ideas for stories? 

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: working with shape and colour

This is featured in the ‘Working with Shape and Colour’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Video and sources to help you explore cut outs by Matisse.

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.

Painting with Scissors: Cut Outs by Matisse

Enjoy the videos below to understand what we Matisse meant by “Painting with Scissors” and to understand how revolutionary his cut outs were at the time. 

See a Visual History Of Matisse’s work at Google Arts & Culture here. 

The video below is an animation made using cut outs by Matisse, animated by Beatriz Rosa. 

Questions to Ask Children

How do you think the size of the scissors matisse used affected the artwork he created?

Do you think Matisse drew on the paper first before he cut the shapes out?

Do you think Matisse had a “plan” in his head when he picked up coloured paper and scissors?

Matisse was old and ill when he made the cut outs. Can you tell that from the energy of the work? 

How big would you like to work? 

What do you think Matisse would have thought about the animation made by Beatriz Rosa? 

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: working with shape and colour

This is featured in the ‘Working with Shape and Colour’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Video and sources to help you explore the Bayeux Tapestry.

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.

The Bayeux Tapestry

Discover the entire Bayeux Tapestry scene by scene and follow online the 70 meter-long embroidered canvas which tells the story of the conquest of England in 1066 via the official Bayeux Tapestry site.

Use the above images to inspire “Show Me What You See” looking and drawing exercise. 

The Animated Bayeux Tapestry was created as a student project while at Goldsmiths College. Just as the historic original embroidery does, the animation depicts the lead up to the Norman Invasion of Britain in 1066. 

Animation by David Newton, Music and sound design by Marc Sylvan.

“Close Looking” Questions to Ask Children

Tell me about the clothes the people wear. What purposes do the outfits serve? What patterns can you see repeated? 

What shapes and forms do you see repeated? Why do you think the artists repeated similar forms? 

Tell me about the colours you see. How do they make you feel? Would we use similar colours today? 

How do the artists depict ideas about strength and power?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: working with shape and colour

This is featured in the ‘Working with Shape and Colour’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Introducing you to the work of Enfant Précoce

Enfant Précoce / Francis Essoua Kalu

Teacher Advisory: Please watch the video before showing it to children to ensure you are happy. You may prefer to pause the video at several key points and present them as a series of stills. 

Enfant Précoce / Francis Essoua Kalu. Enfant Précoce is a painter, born in Cameroon in 1989

Instagram

Interview at Metal Magazine

Interview at Artsper

Website

Questions to Ask Children

What do you think the artist is trying to do with his “Exposez-Moi” project? (translated as “Expose Me”)

Introducing you to the work of Kenyan Photographer Thandiwe Muriu.

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.

Thandiwe Muriu

Camo 05 © Thandiwe Muriu

Thandiwe Muriu is a photographer from Kenya. Thandiwe’s work celebrates her own African heritage and tackles issues around perception of identity. 

See more at Thandiwe’s website and Instagram feed

Questions to Ask Children

When you hear Thandiwe speak and listen to her words how does it make you feel?

When you look at her photographs what do you see? What do you feel?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Exploring Identity

This is featured in the ‘Exploring Identity’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Drawing, Sketchbooks, Collage

Key Concepts:

• That artists explore the world, seeing things around them in new ways, and bring things back to their studios to help them make art.

• That we can go into our own environments, even when they are very familiar to us, and learn to see with fresh eyes and curiosity.

• That we can use the things we find to draw from, using close observational looking.

• That we can explore and use art materials, be inventive with how we use them, taking creative risks and enjoying accidents as well as planned successes. 

• We can use the shape of the page, and the way we arrange elements on the page, to create compositions which we like. 

In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that artists can be collectors: they go out into the world, look at things in new ways, and bring things back to the studio to inspire their art.

Children explore observational drawing and experimental mark making, and think about how they can use composition to create their artwork. 

The exercises and projects in this pathway encourage children to begin to develop hand-eye coordination through slow and paced looking. This is balanced by encouraging children to nurture a playful exploration of media, a curiosity towards the world around them, and to begin to take creative risks/trust instinct. 

Themes:
Natural Forms, Seasonal Changes, Patterns, Symmetry

Medium:
Graphite, Handwriting Pen, Watercolour / Brusho, Wax Resist

Artists: 

Rosie James, Alice Fox

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.

Curriculum Links

Geography: Adapt to explore habitats. 

Maths: Use language to develop understanding of patterns, sequence, symmetry, pictorial representation, repetition. 

Science: Identifying common and wild plants, trees, structures of plants, exploring local environments and habitats, seasons, planting and growing. 

PSHE: Peer discussion, Collaboration. 

I Can…

• I have seen how some artists explore the world around them to help them find inspiration.

• I can explore my local environment (school, home, etc) and collect things which catch my eye.

• I can explore composition by arranging the things that I have collected.

• I can talk about what I collected, and how and why I arranged the things I collected.

• I can take photographs of my artwork and I can think about focus and light.

• I can use careful looking to practice observational drawing, and I can focus for 5 or 10 minutes.

• I can hold an object and I can make a drawing thinking about the way the object feels. 

• I can combine different drawing media such as wax resist and watercolour, graphite and water, wax crayon and pencil in my observational drawings.

• I can work small in my sketchbook and on large sheets of paper, exploring how I can use line, shape and colour in my work.

• I can cut out and collage to explore composition.

• I can talk about the work I have made with my classmates, sharing the things I thought were successful and thinking about things I would like to try again.

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 pencils, handwriting pens.

Project 1: Wax Resist Autumn Leaves – A3 cartridge paper, metallic wax crayons, brusho ink.

Project 2: Autumn Floor Drawings – Water colour, graphite, charcoal, soft B pencils, inks, A2 paper.

Pathway: Explore & Draw

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  In this pathway pupils are introduced to the idea that artists are inspired by the world around them. Children are empowered to go out into the world, re-see, collect and re-present through drawing. 

• Week 1: Introduction
  

  Artists Are Collectors & Explorers

  Introduce children to the idea that artists are often collectors and explorers. 

  

  Visit the “Talking Points: Artists As Collectors & Explorers” resource and choose from one or more artists. Enable children to understand that by exploring our environments with “fresh eyes” and curiosity we can find inspiration for our artwork. 

  Use sketchbooks to make visual lists of places and things you could explore and collect in your school, home and area. 

• Week 2: Explore and Collect
  

  Explore and Collect

  

  Get active and invite children to go outside into the playground or school area to collect and create “Patterns With Nature”.

  Play with the objects to create new shapes and patterns on the ground, around branches, and on logs. Be curious. Think about how even ordinary things like twigs and pebbles might be interesting when you really look at them.

  Gather the objects back to the classroom and explore composition and arrangements on paper and table tops. Don’t fasten anything down. Just play with the compositions you can make. Can you sort by colour, size, material, type?

• 
  

  Photograph Your Work

  Take photographs of the compositions. Ask the children to adapt and change how the objects are arranged or to photograph them from different angles or orientations.

  Remember to reflect on the different elements of the session: active gathering and careful documentation. Discuss how the children found these approaches.

  Create “Digital Collages” using this resource.

  

  Print out the photographs and save them. They can be used later in the project.

• Week 3: Sketchbook Work
  

  Two Drawing Exercises

  Working in a sketchbook and using a variety of media (handwriting pen, pencil), try the exercises below, drawing the things you collected the week before as individual items (i.e. not part of a bigger composition). 

• Exercise One:
  

  Continuous Line Drawing Exercise

  

  Continuous Line Drawings are a great way to get participants to loosen up, get them to look closely, and make new and interesting marks on the paper. With younger children (6 to 10) we sometimes call them “squiggle drawings”.

  For full instructions visit the “Continuous Line Drawing” resource. 

• Exercise Two:
  

  Feely Drawings

  

  Make drawings inspired by sense of touch. This is a fun way to encourage children to be really curious about what they are drawing. How do they use the sense of touch to find the  information they need to make a drawing? Can you forget what you know by sight? And how does this make your drawings look?

  For full instructions visit the “Feely Drawings” resource. 

• Week 4 and 5: Projects
  

  Choose a Project

  Choose one of the two projects below to explore how pupils can bring all their skills together into a finished drawing. 

• Project One:
  

  Wax Resist Autumn Leaves

  

  In the “Wax Resist Autumn Leaves” resource, children are introduced to wax resist techniques, inspired by the rich colours and shapes of autumn leaves.

  Begin with observational drawing techniques, using the objects you collected from your environment as subject matter, followed by an immersive exploration of colour and scale using wax crayons and Brusho Crystal Colours. If your pupils collected other objects rather than leaves, simply adapt the resource to suit. 

  You might also like to visit the “What is Composition?” resource to help pupils think about how they might build an awareness of composition in their artwork. 

• 
  

  Or…

• Project Two
  

  Autumn Floor Drawings

  

  Use the “Autumn Floor Drawing” resource which you can find as the second part of the resource. to give pupils the opportunity to continue practicing their observation and mark-making skills, this time bringing in two added elements:

  1) Thinking about composition. These drawings have no top or bottom as they are inspired by the fallen leaves and twigs on the ground. You might like to talk to pupils about composition using the “What is Composition?” resource. 

  2) Great experimentation with different media. Explore graphite, water soluble graphite, wax resist and watercolour or ink, or a combination of all those media. 

• 
  

  Reflect, Share, Talk

  

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

  Give the work the respect it deserves and clear a space to see all the work made, including the sketchbook work made earlier. Remind the children of their hard work and enable them to connect all the elements of their learning. 

  If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams. 

  You might like to assemble the drawings made in Week 2 and 3 into a “class” Backwards Sketchbook. 

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

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

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

Scroll drawings

Encourage children to experiment with size and ratio

Larger than life Scroll drawings

Explore drawing objects life sized, using a selection of media

Help children to draw larger

Explore a more gestural approach

A collection of imagery and sources designed to explore the idea that artists can be collectors and explorers.

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.

Introduction

The following videos and weblinks explore the idea that artists can be collectors and explorers. 

By approaching the world with curiosity and openness, we can re-see the things around us and use them to inform and inspire our creative processes.

The following artists all venture out into the world, exploring familiar and new places and finding inspiration in the things around them. These artists then bring the things they “collect” back to their studios to make work. 

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy is a British Sculptor who has become know for making art from things he finds in the landscape. Sometimes he creates the artwork in the landscape itself (he calls this “land art”), but in this video he shares how he takes ice and rocks from the landscape and lets it make a “drawing” as it thaws in his studio.

The video is suitable for children, however depending upon the abilities/experience of the children in your class you may wish to watch the video yourself, then turn the sound down as you play it to the children, using your own voice to help share what the artist is doing. 

TateShots: Andy Goldsworthy, Studio Visit

Questions to Ask Children

Andy Goldsworthy says: “Art has this amazing ability to show you what’s there.” 

What do you think he means by that? 

Do you like the artwork in the video more because you can see how it has been made?

How much control does Andy have over the artwork he makes? Does he want more control? 

Joseph Cornell

Joseph Cornell was an American visual artist and film-maker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. He was a great collector.

His images are copyright protected but the Royal Academy has created some excellent videos about his work, and there are images on the site too. 

Take a look at the videos here. 

Hassan Hajjaj

Hassan Hajjaj was born in 1961 in Larache, Morocco, and now lives and works in London, UK. He is inspired by Moroccan culture and artefacts and his work crosses many disciplines including photography and design. 

www.instagram.com/hassanhajjaj_larache/

Avantarte

Questions to Ask Children

What kinds of things catch Hassan’s eye when he is looking around his environment?

Do you think there is a clear distinction between “art” and “life” in Hassan’s mind? 

Lorna Crane the Brush Maker

Lorna Crane is an abstract painter whose work is inspired by the Australian landscape. She makes her own artist’s brushes using diverse natural and man-made materials, many of them found at Pambula river mouth on the NSW far south coast.

Questions to Ask Children

How do you think Lorna decides which things to pick up and turn into brushes?

Do you think two brushes are ever the same?

Which part do you think Lorna likes best: the collecting, the making brushes, or the painting with her brushes?

What could you make brushes out of? What marks would they make? What challenges might you face?

Alice Fox

Alice Fox took on an old allotment and on the allotment were a number of sheds. Alice spends time discovering the past through the things she finds and creates small, carefully crafted artworks, inspired by what she finds and natural materials.

You can see more of Alice’s work here. 

A film about artist Alice Fox who works with found, gathered and grown materials all within the boundaries of her allotment.

Questions to Ask Children

Can you think of some words to describe the small pieces of art that Alice makes? What do they make you think of?

When she is making her work, how do you think Alice feels? 

Where do you think she gets her ideas about how to transform materials from?

Do you think she works quickly or slowly?

Nicole White

Nicola is a “Mudlarker” and artist, who uses the glass she finds on the beach to make her artworks.

Nicola White, Mudlarker and Artist

Trash Art Project

Trash Art Project collected from Brokenstraw Creek, USA

Questions to Ask Children

Do you think these students knew what they would make before they found the materials?

How do you think they decided what to make?

Do you think the project went right from the start, or can you imagine they had to keep rethinking challenges along the way?

What challenges do you think they faced?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Explore and Draw

This is featured in the ‘Explore and Draw’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Pathway: using natural materials to make images

This is featured in the ‘Using Natural Materials to Make Images’ pathway

Show me what you see

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.

Birds

Use this collection of films as source material for pupils exploring birds. 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 bird. 

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

You May Also Like…

Pathway: Making Birds

This is featured in the ‘Making Birds’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

You May Also Like…

Pathway: working with shape and colour

This is featured in the ‘Working with Shape and Colour’ pathway

Pathway: Print & Activism

This is featured in the ‘Print & Activism’ pathway

Talking Points: What is a Screenprint?

A collection of imagery and sources designed to encourage children to explore the work of Paul Klee.

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.

Watercolour Paintings by Paul Klee

Take a close look at these paintings. Use the questions to talk about them as a class.

Klee was born in 1879 in  Switzerland. When he was 35 he visited Tunisia in Africa, where his experience of the light and colours of the landscapes and architecture helped awaken his interest in colour. 

He became less interested in painting exactly what he saw and in fact from 1915 onwards he never again worked from a model. Instead, he became interested in painting the colours around him, letting them detach themselves from the objects the colours were on. In this way his worked moved towards Abstraction. 

He became interested in creating fantastical worlds, full of symbols, shapes, colour and line.  

He took his inspiration from the world around him, and his imaginative response to the world, and also from poetry, music and literature. 

Sometimes his work was serious and meditative, other times it was full of humour. He also loved the sounds of words and phrases and the titles of works were often very important to Klee. 

Battle scene from the funny and fantastic opera “The Seafarers” (1923). Painting by Paul Klee. Original from the Kunstmuseum Basel Museum

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

What do you think is happening?

How does the title change the painting?

Why do you think Klee painted in blocks of colour?

How does the painting make you feel?

The Firmament Above the Temple (1922) by Paul Klee. Original from The MET Museum

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

Can you see the landscape and the sky? How has Klee painted them?

How does the painting make you feel?

Temple Gardens (1920) by Paul Klee. Original from The MET Museum

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

How does this landscape make you feel?

If you were there, in the painting, how would you feel?

Tell me about the colours. Why do you think Klee choose these colours?

Persian Nightingales (1917) by Paul Klee. Original portrait painting from The Art Institute of Chicago.

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

What materials do you think Klee used?

Can you see two letters?

The R and the N stand for Rose and Nightingale. Can you spot the rose and the Nightingales in the painting? 

How does this painting make you feel? 

How do you think the painter felt when he painted it? 

This is an animation of one of Klee’s paintings.

Questions to Ask Children

How do you feel watching the animation?

What kind of world has Klee/the animator created?

If you could animate one of the paintings above, how would you bring it to life? What would you make it do? 

In this video Klee’s paintings are shown alongside music. 

Questions to Ask Children

How does the music change the way you look at the paintings?

Do you think Klee would have liked this video (remember Klee made his paintings at a time when there were very few films).

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Exploring Watercolour

Featured in the ‘Exploring Watercolour’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of imagery and sources designed to encourage children to consider what role a plinth may play in creating or displaying artwork. 

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.

What Is A Plinth?

“Limestone plinth with the feet of a male statuette” Licensed under CC0 1.0

In the traditional sculptural sense, plinths are usually heavy boxes or bases made from stone, wood or metal, which raise a sculpture above the ground.

Plinths sometimes protect the sculpture from the elements, such as a sculpture raised out of the way of puddles of rain in the street. 

More often, the role of a plinth is to give the sculpture some kind of status. By raising the sculpture to a certain level, the sculptor can decide how the viewer interacts with the artwork. 

Plinths also help create a separation between the ordinary everyday world around us and the art “object”. 

Seeing an object on a plinth might encourage us to view that object as an artwork – as something special. 

Questions to Ask Children

Have you seen any sculpture on a plinth in and around the place where you live?

Why do you think those sculptures are on plinths? How does the way the sculpture is displayed affect how you think about the sculpture?

Imagine two peas. One is on the kitchen floor, but an identical pea is on a plinth in a gallery. How does it change how you think about the pea? 

The Fourth Plinth

Photo of “Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle,” by Yinka Shonibare, Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square, London by Andy Hay

What is The Fourth Plinth?

The Fourth Plinth is considered to be one of the world’s largest ongoing public art commissions. Its main aim is to bring contemporary art to the public and to encourage debate about what art is.

The “fourth plinth” was originally intended to hold a sculpture of a horse belonging to William IV, but the sculpture was never displayed due to lack of money. For over 150 years the plinth remained empty, until in 1998, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) commissioned three contemporary sculptures to be displayed temporarily on the plinth. The legacy of those three sculptures was a rolling programme called the Fourth Plinth.

Take a look at the Fourth Plinth website to explore some recent commissions and explore the work of one Fourth Plinth artist, Antony Gormley below. 

Antony Gormley, The Fourth Plinth

“One and Other” by Antony Gormley, Image by Feggy Art

Whilst Antony Gormley usually makes sculpture out of more traditional materials like steel, he was commissioned as part of the Fourth Plinth to produce a rather different kind of art. 

Instead of working in traditional materials, Gormley used the plinth as a focus for creating an artwork which “became a portrait of the UK, now”. For 100 days in 2009, 24 hours a day, Gormley and the team coordinated members of the public to take stage on the plinth for an hour at a time. They could do whatever they liked, using the plinth to give their expression a literal and metaphorical platform. 

Through “One & Other”, Gormley hoped that by giving the public free will to express their hopes and fears for what might be,  a “portrait of the nation” would be revealed.

Questions to Ask Children

How would you use your time if you were given an hour on the plinth?

The Fourth Plinth Challenge

Can you find a “plinth” at school and coordinate a similar project?

How would children and teachers “apply” for a slot on your plinth?

Who would decide who gets a slot and what would your criteria be?

How long would each slot last?

How would you encourage an audience?  

How would you document the event?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: The Art of Display

This is featured in the ‘The Art of Display’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to different types of sculpture.

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.

What is Sculpture?

Interactive Cloud Sculpture by Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett

“Interactive Cloud Sculpture” made of 6000 lightbulbs by Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett

This sculpture is made of 6000 lightbulbs which can be switched on and off by the audience. Find out more about Interactive Cloud Sculpture here. 

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see. Think about the gallery space as well as the sculpture itself.

How would it feel to be in that space, interacting with the sculpture?

What do you think the artists are trying to say through the artwork?

Why do you think two sculptors collaborated on this piece?

How does it make you feel? What does it make you think? 

Floating Piers by Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Floating Piers by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Italy, 2016

L’Arc De Triomphe Wrapped by Christo and Jeane-Claude, Paris, 1961

Christo and Jeanne-Claude are artists who have become known for wrapping large objects/buildings/environments. 

Christo started out wrapping objects like chairs and books, interested in how the wrapping changed the meaning. More recently the large projects, which can take years of planning, are often made just for the purpose of enabling us to look at the world in new ways. 

Christo says: “We make beautiful things, unbelievably useless, totally unnecessary.”

See more work by Christo, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude here. 

Questions to Ask Children

What have the artists done here?

How many people do you think were involved in making this artwork? What jobs did they have to do?

How long do you think this artwork will last? Do you think the artists minded making an artwork which won’t last forever?

How do you think the visitors feel? How would you feel if you were there? What would the yellow bouncy path make you want to do?

How do you think the people felt when they returned to the “normal” landscape around them? Would they have been changed by the artwork?

How do you think it looks from above?

What do you think the artists were trying to say through the artwork?

Dev Harlan 

“Parmenides I”, Dev Harlan, 2011

Parmenides I is a light sculpture exhibited at Christopher Henry Gallery, New York. 

www.devharlan.com/

Questions to Ask Children

What can you see in the video above?

Can you imagine how the artwork is made?

How does it make you feel?

How long do you have to look at the sculpture before it has an affect on you? If you saw a still image of the sculpture would you feel the same way? 

Food Sculptures by Nicole Dyer

Food Sculptures by Nicole Dyer

Nicole Dyer makes sculptures inspired by food. See more of their work here “Talking Points:Nicole Dyer“.

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

How do the sculptures make you feel? 

How do you think the artist made the sculptures?

Faith Bebbington

Sculptures by Faith Bebbington

Faith Bebbington is best known for her sustainable practise; her large sculptures utilise lots of waste materials, with her biggest sculpture to date re-using over 2500 deconstructed plastic milk bottles! 

See sculptures by Faith Bebbington and read more about her approach here. 

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

How do the sculptures make you feel? 

What do you think the artist is trying to say through her work?

What other recycled or waste materials could we use to make sculpture? 

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Playful Making

This resource is features in the ‘Playful Making’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

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Talking Points: Introduction to Sculpture

A collection of imagery and sources designed to stimulate conversation around the idea of sculpture used to help us remember.

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. 

Cretto di Burri by Italian Sculptor Alberto Burri 

Alberto Burri – Cretto di Burri (Crack of Burri), 1984–2015, concrete, 1.50 x 350 x 280 m (4.9 x 1,150 x 920 ft), Gibellina, Sicily, Italy, photo: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 by Luca Di Ciaccio

The Cretto di Burri alias Crack of Burri is a landscape artwork by Italian visual artist, painter, sculptor, and physician Alberto Burri

Located in Sicily, Italy, the project began in 1984, only to stall in 1989 when funds ran out. It was finally completed 30 years later in 2015. 

This piece of land art sculpture, made from cast concrete, commemorated the destruction of the city of Gibellina in 1968 by the Belice earthquake.

The quake destroyed the landscape and left thousands of families homeless. 

Alberto Burri – Cretto di Burri (Crack of Burri), 1984–2015, concrete, 1.50 x 350 x 280 m (4.9 x 1,150 x 920 ft), Gibellina, Sicily, Italy, photo: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 by Michele Cannone

Alberto Burri was an artist involved in the creation of a new town, 20 km to the west of the destroyed town. This article describes how the mayor was so impressed with Burri that he invited him to make a piece of art to commemorate the catastrophic event. At first Burri wasn’t sure, but after he visited the destroyed area he said: 

I almost felt like crying and immediately the idea came to me: here, here I feel that I could do something. I would do this: we compact the rubble that is so much a problem for everyone, we arm it well, and with the concrete, we make an immense white crack, so that it remains a perennial memory of this event.

Burri and his workers collected the rubble and redistributed it, casting it into huge cement blocks to recreate the old streets. 

“The cracked white concrete of this monument memorializes and conceptualizes the ordeal and suffering of the Belice earthquake, with the slits marking not just the literal streets and corridors of the old town but also the violence done to the land, people, as well as profoundly to the cultural memory of the site.” https://publicdelivery.org/cretto-di-burri/

Alberto Burri – Cretto di Burri (Crack of Burri), 1984–2015, concrete, 1.50 x 350 x 280 m (4.9 x 1,150 x 920 ft), Gibellina, Sicily, Italy, photo: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 by Luca Di Ciaccio

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

Which words would you use to describe the whole piece?

Can you imagine walking through the structure? Flying over it? What would it smell like? Feel like?

What do you think the artist is trying to say with this artwork?

How does it make you feel?

What is the environmental impact of the piece? 

A collection of imagery and sources designed to encourage children to consider how artists are inspired by 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.

Ernst Haekel

Trochilidae–Kolibris from Kunstformen der Natur (1904) by Ernst Haeckel. Original from Library of Congress. Ernst Haekel was a was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. Wiki

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.

What do you think the artist is trying to say with this artwork?

How does it make you feel?

Hoang Tien Quyet

Hoang Tien Quyet, Origami artist, Vietnam. Hoang uses wet paper to make his origami creations. See his work at https://htquyet.origami.vn/tagged/designs

Questions to Ask Children

What do you think the sculptures by Hoang are made out of ?

How do you think he made them?

How do you think he decides how much detail to include or leave out?

How do they make you feel?

What do you think the artist is trying to say with this artwork?

John James Audubon

John James Audubon was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictorial record of all the bird species of North America. Wiki

Pied oyster-catcher from Birds of America (1827) by John James Audubon, etched by William Home Lizars. Original from University of Pittsburg. 

Fulmar Petrel from Birds of America (1827) by John James Audubon, etched by William Home Lizars. Original from University of Pittsburg.

Snow Goose from Birds of America (1827) by John James Audubon, etched by William Home Lizars. Original from University of Pittsburg.

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.

What materials has the artist used?

What do you think the artist is trying to say with this artwork? 

Can you describe the nature/personality of the bird? Why do you think that? How has the artist made you think that? 

Pejac

Camoflage by Pejac. Silvestre Santiago, better known as Pejac, is a Spanish painter and street artist. He was born in 1977 in Santander, Cantabria, Spain. He studied Fine Arts in Salamanca and then Barcelona. In 2001, Santiago continued his studies in Italy at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Milano. Today the artist lives in Santander.

Inspired by the work of Belgium Surrealist Rene Magritte, Pejac plays with the idea of negative space in this installation piece. Explore images of the piece via the My Modern Met article

Questions to Ask Children

What do you see?

What has the artist done in this piece?

How does this piece of art make you feel?

What do you think the artist is trying to say?

Dusciana Bravura

Dusciana Bravura is an Italian Sculptor and Interior Designer. 

Dusciana makes beautiful birds out of beads. See her work at www.duscianabravura.com/en/sculptures

Questions to Ask Children

What words would you use to describe these sculptures?

Can you imagine how Dusciana makes her work?

How do they make you feel? 

What do you think the artist is trying to say?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Making Birds

This is featured in the ‘Making Birds’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see