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Explore our collection of resources Inspired by Artists for ages 5-11.
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Ages 5-11
Inspired by miro – collage and sculpture
Use the work of Joan Miro to explore colour, shape and composition.
painting inspired by Van Gogh
Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, this resource shares a method for painting on plaster using oil pastel, linseed oil and graphite.
quentin blake’s drawings as inspiration
Take Quentin Blake’s drawings as a starting point for three simple exercises.
colour composition and ben nicholson
Explore colour and composition inspired by Ben Nicholson.
Drawing toys inspired by gwen john’s
Create drawings of toys inspired by Gwen John.
inspired by the textiles of henry moore
Use simple exercises to create tonal washes inspired by Henry Moore.
Our river – inspired by Georges Seurat
Use Georges Seurat’s “Bathers at Asnières” (1884) as inspiration for a collaborative piece.
Where The Wild Things Are
A series of resources inspired by Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are”.
Da Vinci – Drawings of inventions
An exciting resource based on Da Vinci’s notebook drawings.
Drawing with scissors
Based around an exploration of a historic painting, Jan Miller presents three activities which develop drawing, collage and printing skills.
drawing feathers
A drawing of a feather by John Ruskin inspired this activity suitable for ages 7 upwards.
heavy/light mobile – drawing and making
A project making mobiles based on the Calder-inspired workshops.
drawing water
Juxtopose studies of water by Leonardo Da Vinci, and contemporary drawings by Rosie Leventon.
Pop-Up Puppets
Design puppets inspired by a painting.
drawing with wire inspired by calder
Create wire drawings inspired by the work of Alexander Calder.
drawing with mass
A fun session using the drawings of the sculptor Henry Moore to explore drawings with mass and volume.
Japanese ceramics
Use the work of contemporary Japanese ceramicist Usaka Koji to inspire vibrant paintings in a variety of materials.
11-16
still life drawing in a cubist style
This activity is a great way to explore Cubist ideas of drawing time and space or ‘temporal frames’, using carbon paper as a drawing material.
colour mixing
A colour mixing project inspired by the paintings of Winnifred Nicholson.
repetitive line drawing
Inspired by Henri Matisse, this workshop encourages students to challenge pre-conceived ideas of what a drawing should be.
Drawing to Feed Making
Three seascapes by J.M.W. Turner are used to provide a starting point for visual exploration.
Gothic revival – exploring glass painting
Tamsim Wimhurst puts four craft techniques: pouncing, tessellating, gilding and painting on glass, into a historical context.
monoprinting inspired by goya
Explore mono printing and expressive mark making on a large scale. This workshop could be easily adapted for teenagers.
Screenprinted campaign posters
Inspired by sewn Suffragette banners and Victorian large-scale printed notices, a group of teenagers worked together to create large scale campaign posters.
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Propaganda Art
This collection of resources share 3 sessions in which teenagers aged 12+ explored the art of Shepard Fairey.
exploring materials: clay and water
Antony Gormley’s installation ‘Field’ as well as other images of experimental claywork were used to inspire students.
Sculpture from Sculpture
A great resource for looking at 20th century sculpture and sculptural processes.
Kinetic mobile
In this workshop, students make kinetic wire sculptures based on the work of Alexander Calder.
all that glitters
Jan Miller shares a project based on the work of contemporary artist Andrew Logan.
Making Sculpture inspired by degas
This resource explores sculptures by French artist Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and shows how sculptural processes can be facilitated in a classroom setting.
graffiti
In this class we took inspiration from the motivations and methods of Graffiti artists.
drawings inspired by degas
This resource explores drawings by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and how they might inspire drawing in the classroom.
beginning with bones
Teenagers make observational drawings of a skeleton to understand the structure of the human body and look at work by Alberto Giacometti and Henri Matisse.
journeys inspired by kandinsky
Inspired by Kandinsky, whose colourful paintings hovered between abstract compositions and graphic maps.
For remembrance day
Work collaboratively to create a collaged frieze of paper soldiers in response to an artwork by John Singer Sargent and a war poem by Wilfred Owen.
monotypes inspired by degas
This resource shares how Edgar Degas (1834-1917), made his ‘inky drawings,’ or monotypes, and how the process of mono-printing can be further explored in the classroom.
Tall Skinny
Using thin wire to make works with a strong presence, looking at two contemporary artists, Phyllida Barlow and Rebecca Warren.
how to use thermoplastic moulding
