SOUTH LONDON GALLERY TEACHERS’ PACK
NIGEL COOKE
A PORTRAIT OF EVERYTHING
30 MARCH – 14 MAY 2006
Country Club, 2005/06
Oil on canvas, 220 x 370 cm
Courtesy Stuart Shave / Modern Art, London and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
SOUTH LONDON GALLERY 65 PECKHAM ROAD SE5 8UH
www.southlondongallery.org
School Visits: Monday 9am – 6pm Tuesday to Friday 9am – 12pm
Contact: Emma-Jayne Taylor Schools Officer
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 020 7703 6120
PLEASE CONTACT THE GALLERY FOR A LARGE PRINT
VERSION OF THIS TEACHERS’ PACK ON 020 77036120
Exhibition and education programme supported by
WELCOME TO THE SLG’S SCHOOLS’ AND EDUCATION PROGRAMME
TEACHERS are at the heart of our
planning, we encourage your feedback,
suggestions and ideas to enable SLG to offer
a first rate service for schools.
ARTIST-LED PROJECTS and events are
offered to local schools in conjunction with
our exhibition programme. Please contact
the gallery for further information.
SELF INITIATED VISITS are encouraged
on Mondays from 9am to 6pm and Tuesday
to Friday from 9am to 12pm. The gallery is closed to the public during these times to allow greater
access to exhibitions and dedicated SLG staff time.
TEACHERS’ PACKS like this one are produced for each exhibition (6-7 per year), to be used
either as an exhibition guide during your visit or as a starting point for delivering lessons in the
class room.
INSETS provide an opportunity for primary and secondary school teachers and art coordinators to
explore the exhibition with an artist and discuss National Curriculum links. This informal occasion can be
used to network with colleagues whilst viewing the exhibition and enjoying a glass of wine. Booking
required.
TEACHERS’ CONSULTATION GROUP meets once a term to discuss SLG’s forthcoming
exhibitions and accompanying Schools’ Programme. This is a chance to discuss ways in which SLG
can work more closely with schools and to look at the benefits of using contemporary art and
creativity as a cross curricular resource.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAYS can be hosted in our Education Space or Gallery Lounge.
Advance booking required.
FAMILY DAYS we work closely with Southwark schools to offer children and their parents/carers
opportunities to participate in our popular outings for families. Previous events have included visits
to the Natural History Museum and the Royal Observatory. Families work with an artist to develop
ideas based on the SLG’s current exhibition.
SCHOOLS MAILING LIST keeps you directly informed of our forthcoming Schools’
Programme and opportunities for teachers’.
CHILDRENS GUIDES are produced to accompany each SLG exhibition. The guides are full of fun
activities for both children and adults to enjoy whilst visiting the gallery.
USEFUL WEBSITES
www.southlondongallery.org
Downloadable resources for Teachers, including forthcoming events and workshops for Southwark
schools.
www.lonsas.org.uk
London Schools Arts Service assists schools in making greater use of cultural resources by building
sustainable partnerships between the arts and education sectors.
EXHIBITION – A PORTRAIT OF EVERYTHING
DATE: 30 MARCH – 14 MAY 2006
ARTIST: NIGEL COOKE
BORN: MANCHESTER 1973
LIVES/WORKS: KENT
STUDIED: GOLDSMITH’S
COLLEGE, LONDON
EXHIBITIONS: Art Now: Tate
Britain, Modern Art/Stuart Shave,
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Food, 2005/06
Oil on canvas, 183 x 274cm Courtesy Stuart Shave / Modern Art,
London and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
BACKGROUND
Combining painting conventions of the past with the illustrative styles of street art and children’s
books, Nigel Cooke has a growing reputation for his obsessively detailed fictional scenes set
against unsettling landscapes. Using large shifts of scale and a low horizon, Cooke presents a
view of the world that is familiar and alien, natural and urban, historical and mythical.
STORYBOOKS
An underlying theme in A Portrait of Everything is the tendency of the human imagination to
anthropomorphise objects. Inspired by the way in which inanimate objects come to life in
children’s stories. Cooke has made a selection of storybooks for our younger visitors; the
influence of Jayne Fisher’s Garden Gang is quite clear.
FANTASY AND IMAGINATION
This playful exchange of ideas, images and painting styles leaves us to ponder on whether Cooke’s
landscapes depict real space or are reproductions of epic murals on walls beyond patches of
wasteland. The rocks, trees, stones and ponds are highly detailed depictions, but the ghostly
figures that appear in the work challenge the reality of the landscapes they hover above. From the
large-scale canvases to the minute details they contain, Cooke’s paintings reveal truly unique
visions of the world that hover between reality and the imaginary.
LANDSCAPE
Looking in the SLG garden we found a section of walls that reminded us of Nigel Cooke’s
paintings. After visiting the exhibition why not take some photographs back at school, see if you
can find anything that reminds you of the paintings you’ve seen.
NIGEL COOKE
Fun, 2005/06
Oil on canvas, 220 x 370 cm
Courtesy Stuart Shave / Modern Art, London and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
CREATIVE WRITING
ENGLISH
KEY STAGES 1 and 2
English
Focus
Key Stage 1
En 1
Speaking and Listening
Group discussion and interaction
Telling stories, real and imagined
Adults giving detailed explanations presentations
Making plans and investigating
Speaking and Listening
Use character, action and narrative to convey
story, themes, emotions, ideas in plays they
devise and script
Writing
To imagine and explore feelings and ideas,
focusing on creative uses of language and how to interest the
reader
Key Stage 2
En1
Key Stage 2
En 3
National
Curriculum
3a, c, d, e
8a
9b
10a
4b
9b
ACTIVITY
Nigel Cooke is influenced by illustrated storybooks and has made a selection of his favourites for
SLG. Encourage the group to discuss their favourite titles and use this as a starting point for
exploring Cooke’s work.
Consider the narrative that exists in Cooke’s work, who are the figures and why are they crowded
around the barn? Record ideas in an illustrated short story.
EXPLORE
The barn is decorated with balloons and bunting, is there a celebration taking place? Make a
drawing of the inside of the barn. How many floors are there? Is there a staircase? Who lives in the
barn?
Can you spot any creatures in the painting? Look carefully at the foreground; make a list of what
you see.
CREATE
Is this really fun? Use the titles of the paintings to develop a series of short stories; will your
stories be comedy or tragedy? Pass the stories amongst the group; see how opinions differ.
NIGEL COOKE
Morning is Broken, 2004
Oil on canvas, 220 x 370 cm
Courtesy ARTIS / Francois Pinault, France
WEATHER REPORTS
GEOGRAPHY AND SCIENCE
KEY STAGE 1
Geography
Focus
Key Stage 1
En 1
Geographical Enquiry and Skills
Use geographical vocabulary
Knowledge and Understanding of Places
Identify and describe what places are like in terms of landscape,
weather etc.
Focus
Science
Key Stage 1
Sc1
Key Stage 1
Sc 4
Speaking and Listening
Collect evidence by making observations and
Measurements when trying to answer a question.
Investigative Skills: Planning, Obtaining and Presenting Evidence
Ask questions and decide how to find answers
Explore using the sense of sight; make and record direct
Observations and measurement
Breadth of Study
Use first-hand and second-hand data to carry out a range of
scientific investigations.
Use simple scientific language to communicate ideas; name and
National
Curriculum
2a
3a
National
Curriculum
1
2a
2f
1d
2a
ACTIVITY
Using the weather related vocabulary below, create your own weather report, describing the
atmospheres depicted in Nigel Cooke’s paintings. Be creative; use as many words as possible to
best describe your reactions to the painting.
VOCABULARY
Sunny Hazy Foggy Dreary Damp Cold Warm Hot Frozen Windy Stormy Frosty Wet Frozen Bleak
CREATE
Look closer. Many of Nigel Cooke’s paintings document the meeting point of wall and floor. When
back in the classroom or playground look for similar settings, use the inside of a cardboard box to
create your own 3D painting.
NIGEL COOKE
Beer and Wine, 2005
Oil on canvas, 17.2 x 23.2 cm
Courtesy David Brown, London
STILL LIFE
ART & DESIGN
KEY STAGE 1 and 2
Art & Design Focus
Key Stage 1
Key Stage 2
Exploring and Developing Ideas
Record from first-hand observation, experience and imagination.
Evaluate and Developing Work
Review what others have done, say what they think and feel about it.
Knowledge and Understanding
Understand visual and tactile elements, including colour, pattern
and texture, line and tone, form and shape.
Breadth of Study
Investigating different kinds of art, craft and design in the locality, in
Original and reproduction form, and visits to museums and galleries
Investigating and making art, craft and design
Investigate and combine visual and tactile qualities of materials and
processes and to match these qualities to the purpose of the work.
Use a variety of methods and approaches to communicate
observations, ideas and feelings, and to design and make images
and artefacts.
National
Curriculum
1a
3a
4a
5d
2a
2c
ACTIVITY
Beer and Wine involves a mixture of styles and approaches to painting. Consider the detail of the
foreground and its contrast to the background. List the objects found in Nigel Cooke’s work, see
how many of the objects you can collect. Using different mark making materials begin drawing the
objects individually, then cut out and bring the drawings together to create a still life composition.
EXPLORE
Is the style of painting in Beer and Wine familiar? Would you describe the background as graffiti?
Has this painting been created in the same way as the graffiti we see in the street? What type of
paint is Nigel Cooke using? Is oil paint applied in the same way as spray paint? Would we expect
to see oil painted graffiti?
CREATE
Collect a number of magazine images of everyday objects, work collaboratively to build a large
collage with a composition similar to one of Nigel Cooke’s paintings. Consider how Nigel Cooke’s
paintings are a mixture of styles, a mixture of cartoon and photorealism.
NIGEL COOKE
Studio Infinity, 2005/06
Oil on canvas, 183 x 274 cm
Courtesy Stuart Shave / Modern Art, London and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
POETRY
ENGLISH & CITIZENSHIP
KEY STAGE 1
English
Focus
National
Curriculum
Key Stage 1
En 1
Speaking & Listening
Choose words with precision.
Sustain concentration.
1b
2a
Key Stage 1
En 2
Reading Strategies
Understand how word order affects meaning.
Work out the sense of a sentence by re-reading.
1i
1k
Citizenship
Focus
Key Stage 1
Developing Good Relationships
Listen to other people, and play and work cooperatively.
Breadth of Opportunities
Develop relationships through work and play.
National
Curriculum
4b
5f
ACTIVITY
Gather around one of Nigel Cooke’s paintings. After considering the paintings for a few moments,
write down a word or phrase on a piece of paper that you feel captures the mood of the piece.
When everyone has finished writing, collect the papers and randomly join them together to form a
free verse poem about the painting. Now try the same exercise with simple drawings.
EXPLORE & CREATE
Brains, bottles, flowers, books, pumpkins, and vegetables…
Look at the infinity symbol on the back of the standing figure. Can you design your own symbol?
What does your symbol represent? What do some of the other objects in Cooke’s paintings
symbolise to you?
Hot seat the characters, either in small groups or as a whole class take turns to become a
character from Cooke’s paintings. With the character in the hot seat, the rest of the class can ask
them questions about who they are and what they do. ‘Why do you have a lemon for a head? Why
are the other people burying you? Is it a game or are they bullies?
Follow up this exercise by breaking into small groups. Carefully consider who the characters are
and what they are doing and then devise a short silent drama piece.
NIGEL COOKE
Country Club, 2005/06
Oil on canvas, 220 x 370 cm
Courtesy Stuart Shave / Modern Art, London and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
HAVE YOUR SAY
CITIZENSHIP
KEY STAGE 1 and 2
Citizenship
Focus
Key Stage 1
Developing Confidence and Responsibility
Recognise likes and dislikes; share opinions on things that matter
and explain personal views; recognise, name and deal with feelings
in a positive way.
Preparing to Play an Active Role as Citizens
Take part in discussions with one other person and the whole class;
take part in simple debates about topical issues.
Focus
Drama
Key Stage 2
National
Curriculum
1a, b, c
2a, b
National
Curriculum
To participate in a wide range of drama activities and to evaluate
their own and others’ contributions
create, adapt and sustain different roles, individually and in groups
Use character, action and narrative to convey story, themes and
emotions, ideas in plays they devise and script
Use dramatic technique to explore characters and issues
ACTIVITY
Imagine you have access to a time machine for just ten minutes. Quickly, choose Country Club as
your destination. Use the ten minutes to describe to other members of the group who the cloaked
figures are, why they have paint on their cloaks and what they know about the blue moon crescent
that has fallen from the sky. Remember you only have ten minutes to complete this exercise.
Back at school you could make props to illustrate your stories.
EXPLORE
The large pink skyscraper was a familiar view from Nigel Cooke’s bedroom window. Can you draw
from memory the view from your bedroom window? Pick up a copy of our Children’s Guide for
more ideas.
Look closely at the different styles of architecture in this painting. What is the name of this town?
What does the rest of this curious town looks like. Are there more palaces and skyscrapers? Is
there a forest? Why are the flowers so unhappy? Could you design a postcard to encourage your
friends and family to visit?
SCHOOL VISITS
Giant Fuzzy Felt, Storybooks and Embroidery Kits
Nursery and Primary groups are invited to create their own fuzzy felt picture inspired by Nigel
Cooke’s paintings or enjoy a selection of story books selected by the artist.
SLG will also be providing special embroidery kits for children to interpret Nigel Cooke’s paintings
into colourful compositions.
FURTHER READING
Nigel Cooke and the SLG education team have selected the following titles for younger visitors to
enjoy in our Education Space:
The Rabbits
John Marsden and Shaun Tan
Mr. Bump and Mr. Grumpy Roger Hargreaves
The Garden Gang Stories
Jayne Fisher
Miffy at the Gallery
Dick Bruna
War and Peas
Michael Foreman
In the Night Kitchen
Maurice Sendak
The Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle
Secondary and College Groups are invited to visit the exhibition. We are happy to arrange informal
talks by the SLG curator and workshops designed to link to specific subject areas. Advance
booking required.
NEXT EXHIBITION
AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS
Images: Yinka Shonibare, Stills from Un Ballo in Maschera, 2004
TEACHERS PREVIEW Wednesday 24 May
Presented simultaneously across two major London arts institutions Around the World in Eighty
Days takes Jules Verne’s popular novel as a starting point. The exhibition aims to consider art,
history, and the social construction of places, spaces and identities from both a global and local
perspective.
SLG will be hosting a very special Teachers’ Preview involving a coach trip from the gallery to the
Institute of Contemporary Art. On board entertainment will be provided by artists Nobel & Silver.