This post shares how Paula Briggs and Sheila Ceccarelli from AccessArt and Kate Noble from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, enabled teachers to explore 20th Century paintings and sculpture, through using sketchbooks & drawing as tools for looking and remembering.

Overcoming the White Paper 

Drawing can be a powerful route into exploring artworks.

This session was about using drawing as a tool to ‘look’ and gather information – not about creating finished pieces but building drawings, rich with visual clues and reminders for later.

It can be helpful to be able to have drawing techniques or warm up exercises to take away the feeling of being daunted by great works and overcoming one’s own ‘white page syndrome’.

First teachers are encouraged to hold the pencil gently in the tips of their fingers and let it dangle over the paper to explore, gentle, light movements.

Then, working their way down the pencil until held half way and grabbed or clutched and allowing the pressure of marks to push down onto the paper. The pencil is still vertical and marks are strong.

Continuing the exploration of the pencil, teachers then hold their tool horizontally, allowing the tip to make rich, small and thick scraping movements.

Tools for looking at, and reflecting on, 20th Century Art by Kate Noble

Sometimes it is good to just take the time to look really closely at just one painting or object.

We started the session by spending a few minutes sitting in silence looking at the painting. We guided our looking by starting at the top of the painting and then letting our eyes travel slowly down the picture in a zig zag from left to right.

If there was an area which was interesting we were invited to stop and look at that detail for a bit longer. Once we had all had time to look we talked about what we had seen and then chose a part of the painting to explore in more detail.

This time we ventured ‘inside the frame’ to imagine ourselves in the painting. What could we smell, hear, see, touch during our adventure? We then shared our personal responses to the painting and discussed how this helped our own looking and increased our awareness of individual differences in interpretation.

Click on this link to take a closer look at William Nicholson’s Frostbound

Drawing to collect ideas

Teachers were then encouraged to move around the gallery looking for works from which they wanted to respond. This was an exercise to help ‘collect’ visual information and make visual ‘notes’ using drawing.

They worked with a ‘continuous line’, filling the paper with contour drawings of their observations.

To prevent teachers worrying about their own drawings and to aid keeping to the task of looking at the artworks in front of them, they were given a piece of cardboard to block their view of their own drawing.

Taking notes to trigger memories later

As part of ‘collecting’ teachers were also encouraged to make notes on their drawings to help trigger memories later.

Many thanks to the teachers who participated in this InSET training session for sharing their process with AccessArt and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Thank you to Kate Noble for facilitating this session.

Photos by Paula Briggs, Kate Noble and Sheila Ceccarelli.

UK Charity AccessArt created this resource in collaboration with the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

AccessArt has over 850 resources to help develop and inspire your creative thinking, practice and teaching.

AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.

We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.

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

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However, external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Olympic Artists

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

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

Laureene Ross

Questions to Ask Children

What do you see in her collages?

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

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

How do her collages make you feel? Why?

Luc Abalo

Questions to Ask Children

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

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

Ye Qiaoba

Questions to Ask Children

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

How does her work represent the Olympic Values?

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Visual Notes

Find out how pupils can respond to artists work in sketchbooks

Show me what you see

Enable close looking and drawing with this exercise

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.

Ceremonies and Celebrations

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

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

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

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

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Paul Nash

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

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

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

Landscape Paintings

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

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

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

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you can see.

How would you describe the marks in this painting?

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

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

How does this painting make you feel?

Which painting do you prefer? Why?

WWII Planes

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

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

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

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you can see.

What materials do you think Nash used?

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

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

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

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

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

Althea McNish

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

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

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

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

Questions to Ask Children

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

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

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

What do you like about Althea McNish’s designs?

Which design is your favourite? Why?

How does McNish’s work make you feel?

A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce students to event based architecture firm, Populous.

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.

Populous is a global company which designs stadiums. In their words “working with communities of all sizes and using a range of disciplines, we create experiences that amplify the joy felt in shared human moments.”

Browse the images on their site to get a real sense of what it means to design stadium which bring people together and create an exciting environment for an event. See the Populous site. 

Watch the videos below with the pupils. Find questions to prompt discussion at the end of this resource. 

Questions to Ask Students

What kind of structures and shapes can you see within the stadiums?

How do the stadiums work with or against the landscape around them?

How does ‘community’ factor into their designs?

When designing a stadium what different spaces need to be considered?

If you were going to design a space what kind of events would it hold? Would you make it multifunctional?

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PATHWAY: HOW CAN I CREATE COMMUNITY THROUGH STADIUM DESIGN?

Explore architecture and stadium design with this pathway

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Pathway: Exploring Watercolour

Featured in the ‘Exploring Watercolour’ pathway

Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

This is featured in the ‘Mixed Media Land and City Scapes’ pathway

PAINTING THE STORM AT BOURN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Collection of Landscape Resources by Hester Berry

part 2: Exploration of Watercolour in the studio

Talking Points: Paul Klee

part 1: Introduction to Watercolour

The resource describes and demonstrates individual watercolour techniques, and then shows examples of these techniques in paintings from the Fitzwilliam Collection.

part 2: Exploration of Watercolour in the studio

After studying paintings from the collection at first hand and identifying how various marks within the paintings may have been made, teachers undertake their own exploration of working with watercolour.

Megan Boyd

Scottish Fishing Fly Maker

In a cottage in northern Scotland, Megan Boyd twirled bits of feather, fur, silver and gold into elaborate fishing flies — at once miniature works of art and absolutely lethal. Wherever men and women cast their lines for the mighty Atlantic salmon, her name is whispered in mythic reverence, and stories about her surface and swirl like fairy tales. With breathtaking cinematography and expressive, hand painted animation, Kiss the Water adheres to and escapes from traditional documentary form, spinning the facts and fictions of one woman’s life into a stunning film about craft, devotion, love, and its illusions.
Enjoy the preview of Kiss the Water below – the film is sure to inspire.

Hubert Duprat

Caddis Fly Larvae

French artist Hubert Duprat worked in partnership with caddis fly larvae to create these wonderful living works of art.

Cornelia Parker

Manipulating Matter

British sculptor and installation artist Cornelia Parker transforms ordinary objects into something compelling and extraordinary.

Cornelia Parker @ 5×15 from 5×15 on Vimeo.

How to Make a Tessellated Design

‘Pouncing’: A Simple Technique to Transfer Patterns onto Plaster Tablets

Gilding and a ‘Touch of Gold’

Painting on glass

The Firm

In 1862 Frederick Leach started F. R. Leach & Sons, artist-decorators who worked with the best-known Victorian architects/designers including William Morris, Charles Kempe and George Bodley.

Their expertise led the firm to work on ecclesiastical and civic arts, crafts and decoration as well as domestic architecture and interiors.

If their workshops could talk they would have told of stained glass being designed, painted and fired; stone statues carved; wooden decorations turned; panels chiselled, decorated and gilded; furniture crafted; metal forged; and tiles painted. In fact they could create anything that a well-decorated house, church or college would need.

Pouncing

Wall painting was a popular decoration for churches during the neo-gothic revival in the mid to late Victorian era.

The paint colour was mixed by hand and then often applied straight to the wall or ceiling. The design was often painted freehand or using stencils which included a technique called ‘Pouncing’.

This technique is where the design is drawn out on paper and the outline is pricked all around to produce small holes.

Click on the image above to see How to Make a Tessellated Design.

This is then placed on the wall and dabbed all over with a small bag of fabric filled with powdered graphite or chalk. The powder is forced through the holes so that when the paper is removed it leaves an outline of the pattern on the walls.

Click on the image above to see how teenagers used ‘Pouncing’ to Transfer Designs onto Plaster Tablets

Gilding

Gilding was a popular finish for the ornaments that decorated the ceilings of neo-gothic churches.

These ornaments were made of lead or plaster and were often start that shone down from their great height once gilded in gold.

The first stage to gilding is when gold is pounded until it becomes as thin as tissue paper (25g can be beaten out to cover an area of 3m square).

The surface of the ornament to be gilded is prepared by brushing it all over with a glue called size.

This is left to dry until it reaches a ‘tacky’ state.

The gold sheets are then carefully laid onto the surface of the ornament and the size sticks it to the surface.

The gold is then worked into all the areas of the ornaments using a brush to push it down. There were special brushes made for doing this including one made from squirrel’s fur.

Click on the image below to see how to apply gold leaf to a plaster relief sculpture Gilding and a Touch of Gold

Stained Glass

The neo-gothic revival saw a resurgence in stained glass design for churches and domestic architecture of the day.

One technique used was that of Silver Staining Glass. This is where silver nitrate is painted onto clear glass and fired until the silver paint becomes part of the molecular structure of the glass and produces colours from a pale yellow to a rich orangey-amber.

Follow the link above to see How to Print on Glass.

Motifs or designs were painted onto glass ‘quarries’ or shapes of glass that would be could together to form a leaded window.

For this reason diamonds, squares or other shapes that would tessellate were popular. This type of stained glass window also allowed a lot of light into the building which went well with the decoration of a neo-gothic church where the walls were decorated and deserved to be seen.

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Sir Ken Robinson on Ted Talks

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