Putting Pupils in the Picture

Pupils from two Kettering schools recently enjoyed our two new art workshops for Key stage 2. One child was amazed by "drawing the pictures, it was fun" another said "I loved the drawings in the gallery". Both sessions are cross-curricular and use the permanent art collection as their focus. For further information or to book a free session please contact the museum on 01536 534219.

Looking at Landscapes meets National Curriculum objectives for Art & Design and Geography, as well as some of the National Literacy Strategy targets. The workshop leader uses visual literacy techniques to focus the pupils on the critical study of the paintings.

They consider and compare the representations of geographical features of local and contrasting localities. Two practical activities in the gallery and outside environment allow pupils to make their own landscapes using words from the discussion and sketches of the local area.

Putting You in the Picture  focuses on portraits and narrative paintings. It meets National Curriculum objectives for Art & Design, Drama, History and Citizenship. The workshop leader uses questioning and drama techniques to focus pupils on looking for clues. They consider features of the subject’s lives at the time they were painted including their status, costume, surroundings and emotion.

Pupils bring the artworks to life, using their knowledge and imagination to tell their own stories about them. For each artwork they draw upon ideas from the discussion to develop pieces of action including mime, freeze-framing, characterisation, hot seating, improvisation and role-play.