In this post Paula Briggs, author of Make, Build, Create: Sculpture Projects for Children and Drawing Projects for Children, explores how AI and digital might impact a return to making.

The number of conversations around what AI might mean to visual arts education, of course, increases. How do teachers view artwork generated by AI? Should teachers use AI to create relevant lesson plans? Might AI write a better proposal/email/cover letter than I can? What does it mean for artists if artwork can be generated by AI?

We are all clear about one thing – that we are at the start of an experiment with very little protocol. And the “what ifs” feed right into the sweet spots which anxiety loves: the unknowable future, the fear of change and the existential wrestle over whether our lives are, or are not, relevant.

For many years I have been meaning to write a post called The Slip and The Grub, exploring the relationship of physical to digital in art education. As a maker, I was the child with stuff on my hands. Clay under my nails, glue on my skin, ink on my clothes. Where there is physical material, there is always a battle – no matter the tools that help us shape, the ideas which lead us forward, whenever we make the physical materials resist. That’s the fun, the challenge: we learn to form, to control, to re-shape. To me that’s the Grub. It’s a dirty, physical business. Our fingers ache, sometimes we bleed, but it’s what humans have done so some of us still do it.

Alongside, because we have known what it is to make, to hold a vessel, to feel a texture, to sense a weight (these are our haptic senses), we also then have the skills to look at an object, a thing, and feel a response. Think of it as a kind of empathy towards physical things around us. We feel it in nature. We might feel it when are near architecture. If we’re lucky, we might sometimes feel it in an art gallery, or a museum, looking at a tiny object which has survived the centuries, or a piece of contemporary sculpture. Humans can read objects – with our bodies as well as our heads.

But there’s the Rub of the Grub that’s been niggling at me since I studied Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in the 1990’s. A growing feeling that “sculpture” as a discipline wasn’t perhaps having its best time. A niggle that goes along the lines of: when an artist has spent so long investing their thoughts and actions in a material they are tuned in to reading that material, that object. But increasingly, audiences lag behind. They usually do not spend hours building their relationships with materials, and so when those audiences look at that sculpture in a gallery, there can be a big chasm between the two experiences. Of course that’s the gamble when we make art – will anyone else in the world get it? Does that matter? But I felt sculpture suffered from this risk more than other art forms. I felt that as our access to images grew, through digital media, and we became proficient only at processing those images for tiny fractions of time (ie seconds) any requirement made by a piece of physical sculpture on the viewer, to slow down and respond to its physicality, with our physicality, seemed to be an increasingly big ask.

Time passed, and on a personal journey, I left making sculpture behind, and instead formed AccessArt. Instead of making our own sculpture, my then colleague and friend Sheila Ceccarelli and I turned back to our own childhoods, to the essential part of us that had dirt under our nails, and we went into schools to enable making.

I have worked for over 33 years in schools, and always when you give children materials they fall to making with an appetite, but, the reality is, we have seen (and I generalise of course) children perhaps struggling a little more than they used to in a few areas. They often just don’t have the opportunity (at home and at school) to build their relationships with materials through unstructured play or making. Materials start to feel alien to them, purely through lack of experience. Dexterity suffers, as do fine motor skills, as does empathy for the material. Frustration on the other hand, grows. Frustration born out of the fact that there is a battle between materials, hands, hearts, head, that the materials aren’t always compliant, that fingers ache, and frustration born out of confrontation with what is becoming “the other”. This affects not just what they make, but vitally, how they perceive what others make.

So that’s the Grub that children are becoming less familiar with. And the Slip? The Slip is the alternative – the digital. The lovely, easy, knowable, controllable option of being able to swipe and see compliant action. No dirt, no resistance, no effort. Without any slowness or battle. The Slip, as we know, is seductive, and it feels at times as if it is beating the harder working Grub back into the cave.

So, is making sculpture really becoming redundant? Should we persevere in making time to make. Or do we slide with the Slip and become more and more immersed in digital realities?

Or is there a clue in the Grub? The battle, the slowness, the stillness? The resistance?

We all know there is a shift to the appreciation of the moment. The breath. The moment of sanity and stillness – the space within the chaos. “Coming back to your body” is the wellbeing mantra aimed to ground us and make us real, physical again, rather than existing just in the maelstrom of our heads.

And there is the parallel. The clue is in the making. Working with your hands is like breathing – it plants you in the present and you are connected to something much bigger. The pressure of materials between your hands. The connection between senses. The seeing your thoughts and intentions made physical. Your mark, quite literally, on the world, proving to you that you exist. There is something so positive about being in the act of making, that we surely need to return to it – and rediscover it for the next generations.

So AI?

AI will do its stuff, and we’ll all get into a spin while it spins words, images and ideas. Some of its uses will be life-enhancing, and some of its uses will confuse and threaten us. But AI will not (yet) be able to sit at a table, handle a variety of materials, connect the head, hands and hearts and make something which uniquely captures a thought or emotion – no 3-D printer can do that. AI does not have the patience to be slow. AI does not have a body through which to process a reaction. AI doesn’t thrive in a world of physical resistance, where the battle is the very thing which informs the process and outcome. AI can’t even create hands, never mind have hands. And AI can’t benefit from all of the above – but we can.

Just like words can be used to capture and convey our emotions, so can the objects we make. We just need to allow ourselves the time to sit with the materials, and allow the connection to be made.

This isn’t a Luddites call. I embrace the digital – and AccessArt has been built on that. But I do think there’s something here to help keep us special and keep us sane. So perhaps the thing which I feared was going to make sculpture irrelevant and redundant, might actually be thing which brings about a rebirth of making. Let AI have its frenzy (we can’t do much else) and because we can’t possibly keep up with that, let’s go the other way and return to our body and the world around us. And perhaps this isn’t about us making sculpture after all, but instead about us remaining human, and embracing the fact that as humans, we have an ancient capacity to make and respond to objects.

What Does This Mean For You?

Teachers, Educators, SLT, Curriculum Makers: Make time for making. Please. Know that making can be frenzied, and it can be slow. But make sure you make time for pupils and students to build their relationship with the physical world.

Artists & Other Humans: Make time to sit (or stand) and hold materials without prior thoughts about what you will do with them. Rebuild your relationship with the materials of the world. And then go remake the world.

This is a sample of a resource created by UK Charity AccessArt. We have over 1500 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.

A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to using their whole bodies to respond to paintings.

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.

Dancing to Art by Tate Gallery

“Corali, a leader in dance created by artists with a learning disability, have worked with Tate since 1998 and are experts in creatively taking up space in our galleries. We invited Paul, Sherri, Bethan and Dj from Corali to design performances in response to four artworks at Tate Britain. We wanted to show what happens when people have the freedom to enjoy the gallery however they want, and how this can open up new ways of responding to art.” – Tate Youtube

Watch the video with the pupils, and look at the images below. Find out how you can respond to art through dance. 

Improvisation 35 (1914) painting by Wassily Kandinsky

Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1872) famous painting. Original from Wikimedia Commons.

Questions to Ask Children

What movement might you use to describe a windy day?

What movement would you use in response to the colour red? Blue? Green? Black?

Use your whole body to make a movement that represents an atmosphere or an emotion, such as gloomy, peaceful, excited…

How would you use your body to respond to a spikey / straight / curved line?

A collection of sources and imagery to explore Paddington Bear.

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 a part of AccessArt Membership.

Paddington Bear

Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children’s literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in the children’s book A Bear Called Paddington and has been featured in more than twenty books written by British author Michael Bond, and illustrated by Peggy Fortnum and other artists.

Paddington is also animated in stop motion. Paddington himself is a puppet in a three-dimensional environment, whilst other characters are paper cut-outs. The final television special used a slightly different technique using 2D drawn fully animated characters. Wikipedia

Watch the episode below and ask children some questions about what they can see.

Questions to Prompt Conversation with EYFS

What do you like about Paddington?

What kind of bear do you think Paddington is?

What can you see in the background? How is the background different from the way Paddington is?

What is Paddington wearing? What things does he have around him?

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A collection of sources and imagery to explore the question ‘What Is Form?’

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 Form?

Form can be placed into two categories: implied form and actual form.

Implied Form can be found in a 2D artwork that gives the illusion of form through perspective, shape, tone, line and colour.

Real form is a 3D object that exists in space and time, such as architecture or a sculpture.

All forms are either geometric and organic, whether they are real (3D) or implied (2D). Geometric forms are mathematical objects including cubes, pyramids and spheres. Geometric forms appear man made and can suggest something solid, balanced and permanent. Whereas organic forms look natural. They are irregular and may seem flowing and unpredictable. – BBC

Discuss the artwork below to explore the different types of form.

Implied Form

Power Station by Phil Dean

Homage to Morandi by Jason Line

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

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

Tumbling Blocks Original public domain image from Smithsonian

Untitled (Bars and Blocks) Original public domain image from Smithsonian

Questions to Ask Children

Which artworks are made of organic forms? How do you know?

Can you see artworks with geometric forms? How can you tell?

Do any of the images have a combination of geometric and organic forms? Which ones?

Which style of work do you prefer and why?

Does this artwork look heavy or light and why?

How have artists given the illusion of form in this artwork?

Real Form

Paper Polar Bear Set by Nathan Ward

Bronze horse, Greek, Corinthian, 8th century BCE, MET Museum

Under Water: paper and movement in G.F Smith’s White Space by Nathan Ward

Lets Dance by Faith Bebbington 4 Close Up Of Newspaper Clothing

Wembley Lion (Cardboard) by Faith Bebbington

Aglow Liz West Nemozena 2018-9

Questions to Ask Children

What can you see in the sculpture?

Does the sculpture look heavy or light and why?

How does the light and shadow impact the sculpture?

With your finger in the air, draw the shapes you can see in the sculpture…

Which sculptures have geometric forms and which are organic? Which do you prefer?

A collection of imagery and sources designed to stimulate conversation around the work of Saoirse Morgan.

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 a part of AccessArt Membership.

Saoirse Morgan

“My paintings explore my connection with familiar landscapes. The subject of my work is my home terrain of West Wales: the landscape, the coast, the ecology. I am inspired by local colour, plant life, atmosphere and weather. I spent my childhood on small islands, surrounded by swirling tide races and wild, wind-blown seas.  My terrestrial environment is maritime heath and lowland heath. It’s a warm, familiar colour palette, dominated by bracken, heather and gorse.” – Saoirse

Questions to Ask Children

How does Saoirse’s painting process connect to the sea?

How do the colours, shapes and textures evoke the atmosphere of the sea?

Questions To Ask Children

How does the painting, and process capture the essence of the sea?

What do you like / dislike about the painting?

How does the painting make you feel?

Questions to Ask Children

Are there any animals / insects / plants in your local area that has been suffering the consequences of climate change? How has your local landscape been affected?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

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

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Concertina Landscape

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the ancient tradition of drawing Kolam.

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.

‘Every morning at sunrise all across Southern India women practice the ancient art of drawing kolam on the thresholds of their properties. A physical form of prayer and symbol of protection, a daily exercise, and a moment of intense concentration and meditation, drawing kolam is an important household ritual that has a lot more to it than may first meet the eye.

Two very different women living in Chennai explain their shared passion for kolam, and their involvement in the local kolam competition.’ – BBC

Questions to Ask Children

What do you like/dislike about kolam drawings?

Do they remind you of anything?

What are some of the rituals do you take part in every morning?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Spirals

This is featured in the ‘Spirals’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the question ‘what is composition?’

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.

Composition is the arrangement of different elements in a piece of artwork.

As well as positioning, elements like shapes, lines and colours can have an impact on composition.

Composition addresses the relationship between these different elements. Some artists aim to create a balanced composition in their artwork whilst others may choose to bring things to the viewers attention by creating imbalance.

Why is Composition Important?

Whether it is a painting, drawing, photograph, print or even a piece of sculpture, the way the elements are arranged impact upon how we respond to the piece of art. The artist might be trying to convey an emotion, or communicate a message, and artists use tools they have through composition to help sell those “messages”. 

Throughout history, composition can be seen as an indication of the period or artistic movements that a piece of art has been created in. 

Focal Point

The focal point is the area of the artwork which your eye is drawn to. The artist might use placement to draw your eye to an object (i.e. where the object is on the page), or they might use colour or value to draw your eye in. 

How goes the artist draw your eye to a focal point in the illustration below?

Interior of the Temple of Aboo Simbel Nubia illustration by David Roberts (1796–1864)

What is the focal point for you in the paintings below? You might have a different focal point to your friends, or you might even have more than one? Where are your eyes drawn?

Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878) by Mary Cassatt.

Johannes Vermeer’s The Lacemaker (ca.1669–1671)

Balance / Imbalance

Sometimes the elements of an artwork lend to a sense of calm. This is usually because the artist has intentionally balanced colours, shapes and values. 

In other artwork the artist deliberately makes us feel uneasy by throwing us off balance, by creating a sense of chaos…

Improvisation 35 (1914)  Wassily Kandinsky

Rule of Thirds

Sometimes artists divide rectangles into a grid of 9 – 3 rows and 3 columns.

When working with landscape for example, artists might choose to place the horizon along one of the grid lines. 

Jalais Hill, Pontoise (1867) by Camille Pissarro.

Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio is a spiral and it can be found in nature and art. 

Can you spot how the Golden Ratio is used in the “Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave” above?

Classical Composition

Within the classic tradition, artists would create a sense of balance by arranging elements in geometric shapes such as triangular compositions.

Foxhound (1760) painting in high resolution by George Stubbs. Original from The Yale University Art Gallery. 

Questions to Ask Children

What can you see in the foreground/background of the painting?

How do the colours vary from the foreground to the background? Why do you think these choices were made by the artist?

Where is your eye drawn to in this painting? What do you see next?

Can you see any triangles in the composition? 

Symmetry 

Can you see how symmetry has been used in the still life below by by Camille Pissarro?

How does this image make you feel? 

Think about the colours AND the shapes, and where they are placed. 

Still Life with Apples and Pitcher (1872) by Camille Pissarro

Abstract Art

Art movements such as cubism and abstraction redefined the rules of composition.

Artists such as Jackson Pollock opted for ‘allover composition’ which considers using the whole canvas instead of top, bottom and centre.

Watch from moment 2:29 to find out how ‘allover’ painting differed to more classic painting styles. 

Questions to Ask Children

How does this vary to the classical way of painting?

Can you see a foreground or background?

Which part of the painting is your eye drawn to first? Where does it travel to after?

Which style of composition do you prefer and why?

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: Exploring Still Life

This is featured in the ‘Explore Still Life’ pathway

Show me what you see

See This Resource Used In Schools

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the sculptures of Thomas J Price.

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.

Thomas J Price

Thomas J Price is a sculptor who questions the types of people that have traditionally been made into a sculpture and displayed on a plinth. Price is interested in making sculptures of anonymous people – people who are no one and everyone at the same time. By doing this he asks us as viewers to question: What is the purpose of sculpture? How do my figures speak to you? 

Reaching Out

The Space In-Between 

Ordinary Men

Questions to Ask Children

What do you think that the artist is trying to say with the sculptures?

Do you like the sculptures?

How do you think the artist makes the sculptures?

Describe the different types of plinths that the artist uses.

Why do you think the artist has chosen different plinths for different sculptures?

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 sources and imagery to explore the ways in which 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.

Artists often draw parallels with other lives/beings to help us learn about ourselves. The resources below explore how artists take inspiration from birds, not so much visually but by drawing parallels between behaviour of birds and ourselves.

Conference for the Birds by Marcus Coates

Conference for the Birds celebrates the lives of the birds Thomas Bewick depicted in his wood engravings. His book ‘A History of British Birds’ first published in 1797 was a comprehensive guide to both the appearance and behaviour of birds.

The birds, played by wildlife experts, discuss topics from migration to predation, with each species speaking about the challenges they face day to day. By exploring the lives of the birds that Bewick studied and depicted, this artwork attempts to reveal how we, when speaking from the position of another animal like a bird, rely on subjective experience to relate across to this alien perspective. –  Kate Macgary

Marcus Coates, Conference of the Birds, 2019, (excerpt) Film by Kate MacGarry

Questions to Ask Children

What kinds of challenges might birds face?

How do you think it would feel to be sharing a space with the installation?

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

How do you think the artist made the heads?

Migrations: Open Hearts Open Borders

The Migrations project started when word was sent out to illustrators asking them to create an image for the front of a postcard (plus appropriate text on the reverse) on the theme of ‘migration’. The project’s aim was to ‘express support for and solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of human migrants who face immense difficulties and dangers in their struggle to find a better and safer place to live.’ When asking for postcards, the organisers stated ‘Do not be concerned about possible damage to the card that you will mail to us. The stamp, the journey of the mail and all it entails will reflect the fragility and the precarious nature of migration.’ – AOI

Questions to Ask Children

Why do you think that birds were used as a symbol in this project?

What do you like about this project?

Why do you think that they asked lots of illustrators across the world to join in with this project?

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

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

This is featured in the ‘Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

How can sharing your own experiences help you connect with people?

Pyer Moss is a fashion brand started by Kerby Jean-Raymond. The brand celebrates stories of culture and shared experiences, using clothing to show creativity, strength, and style, while also sharing messages about Black American history and community.

Take a look at the below images as well as videos and use the questions to form a discussion around Pyer Moss.

Please Note:

This page includes links and videos from external sites, verified at publication but subject to change.

Teachers should review all content for classroom suitability.

Report any issues, and check school firewall settings if videos don’t play.

Pyer Moss

Pyer Moss (pronounced ‘Pierre’) founder Kerby Jean-Raymond grew up in Brooklyn, the son of Haitian immigrants, and has been engaging with the fashion industry since his teenage years, interning at 14, starting a label at 15. Now in his 30s, Jean-Raymond has been at the helm of Pyer Moss since 2013, naming it for his mother. After a long-standing collaborative relationship with Reebok, Jean-Raymond was announced as the vice president of creative direction for the sportswear behemoth in late September 2020. 

See more collections on the Pyer Moss website.

Please be aware that the Pyer Moss website contains some inappropriate language for Primary ages so ensure that you check pages and content before showing the class.

Questions to Ask Children

What do you like/dislike about the garments in Pyer Moss’ collection?

Where might you wear these clothes?

How do these clothes differ from the other garments you’ve explored throughout this half term?

Would you like to wear these clothes?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Fashion Design

This is featured in the ‘Fashion Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

How can we mix old traditions with new ideas? 

Rahul Mishra is a fashion designer based in Delhi. His collections are heavily influenced by traditional Indian craftsmanship, demonstrated by saree-like draped silhouettes and hand-embroidered details that bring history and tradition into modern spaces.

Watch the below video and answer the following questions to begin a discussion around Mishra’s work. 

Please Note:

This page includes links and videos from external sites, verified at publication but subject to change.

Teachers should review all content for classroom suitability.

Report any issues, and check school firewall settings if videos don’t play.

Rahul Mishra

Rahul Mishra runs a sustainable couture brand that works with handmade techniques to empower the craftsmen in New Delhi.

Rahul Mishra is the first Indian designer to showcase at the Paris Haute Couture Week. 

Explore more garments on Mishra’s website.

Questions to Ask Children

How does this fashion film make you feel?

Why do you think that designers create fashions films?

Which outfit did you like in particular and why?

What kind of atmosphere does Mishra’s collection capture?

Did you see any details on the garments? What do these add to the overall garment?

What materials do you think Mishra has used in the collection?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Fashion Design

This is featured in the ‘Fashion Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

How can we use fashion to express ourselves?

Tatyana Antoun is a fashion designer from Beirut who responds to social landscapes to express her identity. Inspired by the structured silhouettes of 1980s power dressing and the DIY, over-the-top culture of the Club Kids, she explores how clothing can project confidence and power while celebrating individuality.

Watch the video below and answer the following questions to further explore Antoun’s work. 

Please Note:

This page includes links and videos from external sites, verified at publication but subject to change.

Teachers should review all content for classroom suitability.

Report any issues, and check school firewall settings if videos don’t play.

Tatyana Antoun

Tatyana’s collection ‘Vamata’ explores the impact of the social restrictions she experienced growing up in Lebanon and serves as an ‘antidote,’ using colourful panels and bold, unapologetic shapes to create new silhouettes that break free from the structure of the human form.

“It felt like I was welcoming people to finally get a glimpse of the thoughts that had never left the corners of my brain but were now somehow being assembled in reality by thread and needle.”

Find out more about Tatyana’s collection in her “Which Artists?” post. 

Questions to Ask Children

Which garment is your favourite? Why?

Why do you think that Tatyana Antoun selected the chosen fabrics for her garments?

What do you think about the shapes that have been created in the garments?

Would you wear any of these garments? Where might you wear them?

What atmosphere does the fashion video capture?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Fashion Design

This is featured in the ‘Fashion Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Introduce children to the work of artist Luba Lukova.

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.

Luba Lukova

Luba Lukova is a designer who communicates themes of injustice in the world through her work.

Explore images of Luba’s work with this Google Arts and Culture resource.

Explore Luba’s Website

Questions to Ask Children

Can you see any similarities between the posters? What are those similarities?

What is a visual metaphor? Can you spot any within the artist’s work? 

How do the posters make you feel?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Print & Activism

This is featured in the ‘Print & Activism’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

How can we use marks and materials to respond to the world around us as we experience it?

Kittie Jones is a plein-air artist who draws inspiration from the natural world. Working directly outdoors, she creates drawings that respond to the ever-changing environment, from shifting light and sounds to changes in the weather, capturing the atmosphere of her surroundings.

Watch the below video and answer the questions to discuss Kittie Jones’ work.

Please Note:

This page includes links and videos from external sites, verified at publication but subject to change.

Teachers should review all content for classroom suitability.

Report any issues, and check school firewall settings if videos don’t play.

Kittie Jones

Kittie Jones is a fine artist based in Edinburgh. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh University in 2008; she currently works from her studio at Coburg House Art Studios in Leith and regularly exhibits around the UK.

“My work is concerned with the experience of time spent looking and interpreting the natural world. I am drawn to places which have an abundance of nature – sea bird colonies, fertile coastlines and remote islands. On drawing trips I will settle in a promising spot and start to develop work from there. The energy in the work comes from the constantly changing elements of the natural world – birds moving in and out of vision and the shifting quality of weather and light. “ – Kittie Jones

Find a fantastic insight into Kittie’s creative process here on AccessArt.

Questions to Ask Children

What kind of atmosphere does Kittie capture in her work?

How does mark making add to the painting?

How do the paintings make you feel?

What other inputs do you think Kittie gets from painting outdoors? How do you think these impact her work?

Would you like to experience sitting and painting in the outdoors?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

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

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of landscape painter Vanessa Gardiner.

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.

Vanessa Gardiner

“As a landscape painter I am captivated both by the beauty of the places on which my work is based and by the processes involved during the making of the pictures. In a sense, for me, they go hand-in-hand: the immediacy of drawing directly from the seemingly haphazard natural subject matter, with the careful selection and ordering of the compositions back in the studio.” – Vanessa Gardiner

Questions to Ask Children

Do you like Gardiner’s linear approach to landscape painting?

What does the texture add to the painting?

Does this make you think about landscapes differently?

How do the paintings make you feel?

What kind of atmosphere(s) does Gardiner capture in the painting(s)?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

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

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see