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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Theme One: Looking and Talking about Art
Curriculum links:
This theme is designed to engage with artworks through asking questions
and developing critical skills. It can be used as a stand-alone project and can
be a useful foundation for the other themes in this pack, which involve
looking at and questioning artworks.
ART & DESIGN
KS3: 1.1a-c 1.2ab 1.3b 1.4a-d 2.1 a-c 2.2abde 3cd 4adeg
DESIGN &
TECHNOLOGY
KS3: 1.1b 1.3bc 2a-egh 4bdg
Considering Context
ENGLISH
KS3: 1.1acde 1.2 a-d 1.4a-d 2.1a-cefg 2.3a-s 4.1a-cefi 4.2c 4.3fgl
KS4: 1.1a-e 1.2bcd 1.3c 1.4abd 2.1abce 2.3a-eijkl 4.1a-cf 4.3bcfh
CITIZENSHIP
KS3: 1.3ac 3i 4cij
KS4: 1.3ac 3i 4cij
Artworks do not have fixed meanings and can mean different things to
different people. The meaning of an artwork often changes depending on
when and where it is seen and by whom.
How to look, ask questions and interpret artworks
Asking questions and discussing the meaning of
an artwork
Planning and making sculpture
Researching and writing interpretation of an
artwork
Creative writing
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It is useful to think about the ‘context’ of an artwork – when and where it
was made and for what purpose. Materials and how they have been used,
the ideas communicated through the artwork and who is considered an
‘artist’ are contingent on time and place.
When looking at artworks consider:
G When and where was it made?
G What was happening at that time? (culturally, politically, socially)
G What purpose did the artwork serve?
G How is the original context of the artwork different from that of
our own time or culture?
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Interpreting Artworks
Void Stone (1990) by Anish Kapoor
Analyse ‘what you can see’ and how an artwork is made – it’s formal
qualities.
‘I am interested in the ‘non-object’ or the ‘non-material’. I have made
objects in which things are not what they at first seem to be. A stone
may lose its weight or a mirrored object may so camouflage itself in
its surroundings as to appear like a hole in space.’
G Think about…
Colour
Scale
Line
Composition
Shape
Texture
Sound
Movement
Structure
Form
Marks
Materials
Tone
Light
Presentation
Subject matter
G Consider…
Why it is a particular art form, i.e. a book rather than a sculpture?
How has it been presented and then displayed?
G Looking deeply
Interpreting an artwork often begins with understanding its formal
qualities, its subject and content. Asking questions which start from the
objective and move towards the more subjective is useful for looking deeply
and forming opinions or interpretations. Ask:
G What can be seen?
G How has it been made and why?
G What is it about?
G How does it relate to where and when it was made?
G How does it make me feel?
G Does it remind me of anything?
Artworks generate many different ideas and have a range of interpretations.
They rely on the viewer to bring their own associations and personal
responses. Artworks elicit as many questions as answers.
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Anish Kapoor
This sculpture is made of
quarried sandstone and has
a hole-like slot in the top.
Inside is a large interior space
coloured by blue pigment. The
interior space seems limitless
and empty, contradicting the
solidity of the stone in which
it is held. This contradiction of
opposites and the experience
of looking into the void
generates something which
defies natural laws. Anish
Kapoor’s work brings together
opposites; hard and soft, solid
and empty, the seen and
unseen, exposure and
Void Stone by Anish Kapoor (1990)
concealment. His aim is to
© Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery) UK/
evoke a sense of spirit, or
The Bridgeman Art Library
magic, through his
understanding of materials and their properties.
Anish Kapoor was born in Bombay, India in 1954. He originally trained as an
engineer before moving to London in the early 1970s to study art. He now
lives and works in Britain.
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Void Stone is used here as a model of ‘looking’, one which can be applied to
any other artwork. In most cases there are no wrong and right answers – it is
about what can be gleaned from looking closely.
What can be seen?
Pre-visit Activities
Void Stone (1990)
What story can be told?
Discuss experiences of contemporary art and how students have
engaged with it. Using an unfamiliar contemporary artwork,
explore how to interpret it? What is it about? Examine articles
from magazines or art journals about the artwork. How do the
interpretations compare? Use this activity as a starting point to
discuss the validity of different viewpoints, the notion of ‘expertise’
and how we can invest an artwork with meaning by looking
rather than studying from other sources.
How does it feel looking into the stone? How was it originally displayed and
where? Why is it called Void Stone? What does it remind you of?
Consider what means ‘void’ and what a ‘void stone’ could be and
look like.
How does it relate to when and where it was made?
Explore at how symbols and colours are used to communicate
spiritual or metaphysical meanings, perhaps investigating Buddhist
or Islamic belief systems.
What shape is the stone? Is it unusual? What is inside? How is it displayed?
What materials have been used and why?
What kind of rock is it? What is its surface texture like? How has the rock
has been hollowed? What material has been used inside? How does this
compare with the rock? What different qualities do they have?
What other artworks has Anish Kapoor made? What was going on in the
world in 1990? Does Void Stone relate to Indian culture or belief? How is it
different or similar to other sculptures or artwork from different cultures?
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Follow-up Activities
Art-Critical Studies/Media Studies/English:
Art:
Students analyse an artwork or exhibition based on the model of
questioning used in the Gallery. To inform their understanding they can
refer to secondary sources, such as art journals, text books, interviews
with the artist. Students produce an interpretation considering the
audience they want to target and how this will effect the writing style
and layout. For example, they could produce:
Make a sculpture which incorporates at least two opposite
qualities. For example:
G hard and soft
G big and small
G a sculpture that has both delicate and robust qualities
Other artists to look at in the Gallery: Claus Oldenburg, Andy Goldsworthy
Other artists to research: Rachel Whiteread, Meret Oppenheim, Jessica
Stockholder
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G An article for a weekend magazine
G A review in a specialist art magazine
G A gallery guide for general visitors to an art gallery
G A worksheet for children
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Theme Two: Young Curators
Curriculum links:
ART & DESIGN
KS3: 1.1a-c 1.2ab 1.3ab 1.4a-d 2.1a-c 2.2a-f 3cd 4bdeg
ENGLISH
KS3: 1.1acde 1.2abd 1.4a-d 2.1a-g 2.3a-s 4.1a-cefl 4.3fgl
KS4: 1.1a-e 1.2bcd 1.3c 1.4abd 2.1abcej 2.3a-fjkl 4.1a-cfl 4.3bcfh
DESIGN &
TECHNOLOGY
KS3: 1.1b 1.3bc 2a-egh 4bdg
But is it Art?
Art galleries help to define what is or what is not ‘Art’. By displaying and
purchasing some objects as opposed to others, art galleries validate and
increase the status of particular artists and ways of working. An art gallery in
a different continent or from a different time will reflect different cultural
values and consequently present different types of artwork.
Ask questions and discuss connections between
artworks
Some artists challenge the role of the art gallery by making artworks from
materials, or in such a way, that doesn’t last and can’t be collected. Some of
Andy Goldworthy’s sculptures, made of leaves or ice, exist in nature, outside
of a gallery. Other artists carry out ‘performances’ or ‘happenings’ which
exist only for a few hours. Artists, such as Sarah Lucas or Banksy, question
the status of artworks by using everyday or low-value materials, or by creating
art ‘interventions’ in the street. The internet is another context where art is
made and exhibited without validation from an art establishment.
Curate an art exhibition
The Art of Curating
To understand how art exhibitions and collections
can tell a story
Developing interpretation and publicity material
By placing artworks next to each other, connections are made between
different images and a ‘story’ or meaning suggested. When looking around
Leeds Art Gallery, consider the similarities and differences between artworks
placed next to each other or brought together in one room.
G Do they have a similar subject or theme?
G Were they made at a similar time in history or from a similar place?
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
G Are the artworks similar in scale or style? Are they connected through
colour or composition?
G Are they made in a similar way?
By placing artworks next to each other, the Curator highlights aspects of the
work which would otherwise be overlooked. Consider these connections as
you go through the different galleries.
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Gallery Activities
It is useful to compare two artworks which have the same subject but which
treat the subject in different ways. In bringing them together, much as a
Curator does, the content of the artworks can be explored more easily. For
example, look at Negative (1988) by Lesley Sanderson and Five (1991) by
Lubaina Himid. Both of these works explore ideas around identity.
Five (1991) by Lubaina Himid
Pre-visit Activities
Discuss the idea of a gallery collection and how Curators buy
artworks which are perceived to be of value. Discuss artworks
which are ephemeral, temporary or ‘subvert’ the gallery space.
Artists at Leeds Art Gallery: Claus Oldenberg, Andy Goldsworthy, Anya
Gallacio, Helen Chadwick
Other artists to research: Banksy, Angela Bulloch, Christo
In groups, students plan an artwork which is ‘uncollectable’. This
can be an artwork which:
G Doesn’t last
G Doesn’t fit in an art gallery
G Doesn’t actually exist, i.e. a performance
Consider scale, materials, shape and form, location and how it is
displayed. Groups make a presentation to the rest of the class.
The painting, Five, depicts two black women in conversation, sitting opposite
each other across a table. Their body language is telling as one hand gesture
indicates ‘stop’, while another points towards the food on the table, which
represents the outline of Africa. On the blue bowl there is a dotted line,
suggestive of a journey on a map. The blue of the bowl could be interpreted
as the sea. The journey line moves to a plate, with possibly bacon and beans,
which create a pattern similar to the stars and stripes of the American flag.
On the table there is a vase containing papyrus grass, connected to Egypt
which, on a map, would sit at
the top of the African continent.
The painting is of two women in
conversation yet the imagery can
have different symbolic meanings.
Maybe the two women are
arguing over a journey from
Africa to America. The blue bowl
could be a sugar bowl and be
symbolic of the trade in sugar
and ultimately the slave trade.
The ‘stop’ hand gesture could
be a sign of resistance.
Five by Lubaina Himid (1991)
Lubaina Himid was born in Zanzibar but now lives in Lancashire. Much of her
work explores issues around black history and identity.
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Negative (1988) by Lesley Sanderson
G What in the painting indicate what the two women are talking about?
Lesley Sanderson is an artist of
Malaysian cultural heritage who
lives in Yorkshire. Negative is
made of a number of different
self-portraits. It is a triptych;
made of three parts. Each panel
is divided into four frames,
some of which contain photocopied self-portraits. Other
frames contain drawings of
parts of the artist’s body. The
artwork explores identity – how
we can be seen by others and
how we want others to see us.
The individual images are
reminiscent of passport photos.
The artist’s name, in Chinese
character, has been stamped on
the portraits in red ink, like an
Negative by Lesley Sanderson (1988)
official validation. ‘Negative’
could refer to the negatives in photography, or be a reference to the
perceptions of others.
G What does the painting say about the women’s history or background?
Questions relating to Five
G What is the relationship between the two women in the painting? Are
they chatting? Discussing? Disagreeing?
G What is their cultural heritage or ethnicity? How can you tell?
G Maps and journeys are represented in the painting. Which clues or
‘symbols’ in the artwork describe a journey?
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Questions relating to Negative
G How many portraits can you see? Is this one artwork or many?
G Are the portraits all the same or different?
G Who is depicted? What nationality is she?
G What do the multiple portraits and the red stamps bring to mind?
G What does the title ‘Negative’ mean?
Although each artist has explored the idea of identity, both artworks are very
different in form and content. Bringing them together shows where issues
overlap and where they differ. Negative is about personal identity whereas in
Five, the women’s individuality is not defined and instead reference is made
to the importance of history and politics in shaping our identities.
Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Follow-up Activities
Art, English, ICT:
Choose a theme for an exhibition during your Gallery visit. Direct
pupils to study artworks from the collection which connect with
this theme.
Organise an ‘open submission’ show where students can submit a piece
of artwork which relates to this theme.
Organise a small group of students to be curators who select work to
be displayed from the submissions. Using a display area in school, the
curatorial team should decide which artworks go where, how they are
grouped and displayed. The curators agree on an exhibition title.
Another group, interpreters, write labels and text panels to provide
more information about the artworks and artists. This may involve
interviewing some of the artists. They might produce a gallery guide for
visitors.
Another group are publicists who produce all the marketing materials
such as a flyer, an exhibition poster and a preview invitation that invites
guests to an opening celebration.
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Name:
Title:
Date:
Materials
Owned by:
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Theme Three: Lens-based Media as Contemporary Art
Curriculum links:
ART & DESIGN
KS3: 1.1a-c 1.2ab 1.3b 1.4bc 2.1ae 2.2a-cef 4abdeg
ENGLISH
KS3: 1.1acde 1.2a-c 2.2abefg 2.3bcfg 4.1a-cfl 4.3cgl
KS4: 1.1acde 1.2a-c 1.4a 2.1abe 2.3 a-cfgji 4.1a-cfl 4.3ce
CITIZENSHIP
KS3: 1.3b 2.1a 3i 4acj
KS4: 1.3a 2.1a 3l 4acj
To interpret film or photography as contemporary
art and explore how it relates to contemporary life
Use contemporary artwork as a starting point
for lens-based work and creative writing
This theme introduces and explores lens-based media as an art form. It is
particularly relevant to students studying visual media and can be used to
explore issues relevant to Citizenship.
Looking at Contemporary Art
Contemporary art is produced in the ‘here and now’. Contemporary artists
might use materials which are still relatively new to us or exploring ideas
which are unfamiliar. In art which we haven’t seen before, it is sometimes
difficult to know how to interpret it or decide its value.
Contemporary art relates to contemporary experience in what it is made out of,
how it is made and what it is about. Much contemporary art practice draws
on the language of photography, film, the internet and television; media which
we are so familiar with in everyday life. This theme focuses on one artwork
which uses lens-based media and explores ideas relevant to contemporary life.
Big V (2004) by Georgina Starr
Georgina Starr was born in Leeds in 1968. Big V is a film installation, comprising
four DVDs showing different but connected narratives and scenes, projected
onto four large screens in a gallery space. There is no real beginning or end to
the film sequences. Big V explores the experience of being a teenager. Teenage
girls talk to camera about growing up, relationships and their early sexual
experiences. The images of the young girls are juxtaposed against religious
imagery and club scenes to evidence the confusion of growing up and deciding
what is appropriate and what is important. The music soundtrack reinforces
this and includes Velvet Underground’s ‘Candy Says’ and Shirley Temple’s
‘Good Ship Lollipop’.
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Georgina Starr was a pupil at Corpus Christi High School in Halton Moor and
went back to her old school to make this artwork. Starr says:
‘The Virgin Mary is the invisible icon of the prepubescent Catholic girl.
Alongside the posters of pop bands and teen pin-ups there stands Mary with
her heart exposed…Our perception of virginity dominated our teenage
conversations: who was a virgin, who wasn’t; who was pretending to be or
not be one, and who would be one forever. Whether it was to condemn or
condone our religion, we Catholic girls could never really escape the Big V.’
Georgina Starr’s Big V deals explicitly with teenage views on sex and religion.
It is filmed in a documentary style, but using young people from drama
school as actors.
Pre-visit Activities
Introduce the following vocabulary, in relation to film or other
lens-based media:
Narrative
Style
Structure
Character
Plot
Context
Frame
Scene
Edit
Point-of-View shot
Light Source
Composition
Close-up
Reality
Constructed
Sound track
To introduce Big V, discuss:
G Student beliefs. How do people express their beliefs? What personal
objects at home or which are worn, say something about their beliefs?
G Explore conflicts between students’ beliefs and ways of behaving.
Explore the relationship between personal experience and media
representation:
G Introduce different photo-mediums: films (documentary, feature
films, television, internet films), photography (magazine and
newspaper images, advertising, packaging).
G To what extent do these media reflect, distort and influence our own
realities?
G How does the ‘context’ in which we see images affect how we
respond to them? Compare images on billboards, on television, in
the cinema and in art galleries.
Big V by Georgina Starr (2004)
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Students create collaborative ‘mind maps’, adding associated
words from the starting point ‘film’, ‘photography’ or ‘lens-based
media’ at the centre of the map.
G Provide students with different images from magazines, advertising,
newspapers, television, feature films and internet sites. Students
make two collages, one which they feel depicts ‘reality’ of their
experience, and one which they feel influences it. Use the collages
for discussion.
G Students watch extracts from different types of films, i.e. Hollywood
feature films, documentary, art film, television. Students look at stills
photography from a range of sources, i.e. photo-journalism,
glamour photography, advertising. Compare the style and narratives
of the images.
G Bring all the activities together and explore what the effect of using
the properties of photography, whether moving or still, in an artwork.
Particularly think about how it looks and feels like ‘real’ life.
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Follow-up Activities
English:
Students develop a short story based on the writing activity on the
Activity Sheet (using dialogue and objects as a starting point).
Art:
Working in small groups, students select and develop one of the
lens-based ideas that have been sketched out on the visit activity
sheets.
Students could sketch out scenes using a storyboard format in such a
way that it becomes an artwork in its own right. Students could take
photographs on ‘location’, using each other as ‘actors’ and combine
photography, drawing and collage to depict a scene. Students could pay
attention to a narrative and produce an image or images using computer
software. Students could subvert a well known everyday image using
collage techniques.
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Theme Four: Abstract Painting
Curriculum links:
ART & DESIGN
KS3: 1.1a-c 1.2ab 1.3b 1.4a-d 2.1a-c 2.2adf
ENGLISH
KS3: 1.1ade 1.2ad 1.4a-c 2bceh 2.2ao 4.1bec
KS4: 1.1abde 1.2ad 1.4a-c 2.1a-ceh 2.2a 4.1a-df
This theme encourages students to look carefully at abstract painting and
discuss their own values in assessing artwork, particularly the notions of skill,
craftsmanship, ideas and innovation.
Pre-visit Activities
Introduce the following vocabulary:
Understand approaches to abstract art
Explore and develop ideas, commenting on other
people’s work and putting it into context
Collect ideas to use in personal artwork
Abstract
Semi-abstract
Figurative
Representational
Painterly
Expression
Gesture
Texture
Factile
Process
Abstraction
Abstract Drawing
1. Experiment by engaging students in quick, fun and experimental
drawing activities, such as:
G Draw blind-folded, using just the sense of touch or having a partner
describe an object
G Draw with pencils/crayons attached to long sticks
G Draw music
G Draw emotions or sound words, i.e. sizzle, bang
Explore what is produced. Are the drawings abstract? Are they about
the ‘process’ rather than a ‘subject’? Do they express feelings or
experience rather than describe an object?
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
2. Give each student an object which they have to draw without
making it obvious what it is. Draw a detail, distort the shapes or make
the object geometric. At the end of the activity, students should match
drawings to the objects.
Collect all drawings from the activities together. Photocopy onto acetate
and project using an overhead projector. What new lines, shapes and
images have been created?
Gallery Activities
The Activity Sheet provides a ‘trail’ for students with ‘scaffolding’ questions
which can be applied to all the artworks. The trail focuses on a variety of
abstract artworks. Encourage students to discuss the four areas of
questioning, as they encounter the different artworks.
Due to the changing displays of the permanent collection, some of the
artworks used in the trail may not be on display when you visit. Please contact
the Learning and Access team for recommendations of alternative artworks
if needed.
The trail provided is used as an example. Group leaders are welcome to
devise their own trail, with support from the Learning and Access team if
required. The Art Library, accessible from the First Floor, is a useful resource.
Students could devise their own trail, or suggest alternative artworks. By
incorporating this into the trail as an activity, students will be using research
and enquiry skills.
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Follow-up Activities
Students collect images from magazines of landscapes. The images
should be quite different in subject, scale and colour. Collage the
images together to create one landscape. The collage should
inevitably be disjointed or abstracted in some way. Students
abstract the image even further by painting a detail of it or by
further simplifying the shapes. The final image could be completely
abstract or semi-abstract, with only a suggestion of the original
source materials.
A ‘figurative’ title refers to something real, suggests the artist’s
starting point or makes connections between the abstract image
and the real world.
Create abstract drawings for these ‘figurative’ titles. The drawings
should ‘suggest’ the title but could easily be something
completely different!
G A rainy day in Leeds
G Tree-climbing
G The Eve of the Wedding
G Night Drive
Share the drawings with the whole class without revealing the
titles. Then match them to the titles? Give them alternative titles?
Consider what this says about how we interpret images?
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Theme Five: Natural and Human Form in Sculpture
Curriculum links:
ART & DESIGN
KS3: 1.1a-c 1.2ab 1.3b 1.4a-d 2.1a-e 2.2a-cef 4abd
ENGLISH
KS3: 1.1ade 1.2ad 1.4a-c 2.1bceh 2.2ao 4.1bel
KS4: 1.1abde 1.2ad 1.4a-c 2.1a-ceh 2.2ao 4.1a-df
DESIGN &
TECHNOLOGY
KS3: 1.1b 1.3be 2a-egh 4bdg
Develop starting points for producing artworks on
the theme of natural and human forms in Sculpture
Understand and interpret Sculpture and the
environment in which it is seen
Explore and develop ideas, critiquing personal
artwork and that of others
Draw and use sketchbooks as part of creative
development
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This theme refers to historical and contemporary sculpture in the Gallery’s
collections, focusing on those which depict or represent natural or human
form.
Pre-visit Activities
Introduce students to land and environmental art. Artists such as
Andy Goldsworthy, Peter Randall-Page and Richard Long all use
nature as both material and context for their artwork. Consider
the placing of artworks in a natural environment rather than in an
art gallery and the effect this has on how it is experienced.
Look at artists that have used the ‘body’ in sculpture, either by
depicting the human form through carving or moulding or using
the body as the subject through body casting. Introduce these
different techniques. Artists to look at: Henry Moore, Barbara
Hepworth, August Rodin, Anthony Gormley.
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Gallery Activities
The activity sheet provides a ‘trail’ for students and uses ‘scaffolding’
questions which can be applied to all the artworks. Encourage students to
discuss the four areas of questioning as they encounter different artworks.
Due to the changing displays of the permanent collection, some of the
artworks used in the trail may not be on display when you visit. Please contact
the Learning and Access team for recommendations of alternative artworks
if needed.
The trail provided is used as an example. Group leaders are welcome to
devise their own trail, with support from the Learning and Access team if
required. The Art Library, accessible from the First Floor, is a useful resource.
Students could devise their own trail, or suggest alternative artworks. By
incorporating the Art Library into the trail as an activity, students will be
using research and enquiry skills.
Follow-up Activities
New Nature
Students find three natural objects, i.e. a leaf, a shell, a seedpod.
Analyse the form through careful observational drawing, thinking
about form, scale and surface textures. Take photographs of the
object from various angles and in close-up so the object becomes
unfamiliar and is seen in a unique way.
From these studies, students imagine and draw an object which
combines the features of the original three objects but is completely
unique. Students make studies of the new, invented object as if
seen from different angles, giving an indication of scale, surface,
weight etc using a variety of drawing materials.
Body Casting and Installation
Using cling film and mod roc, take plaster casts of students’ hands,
feet, shins or arms to create a large collection of body casts.
Consider as a group how the body casts can be displayed as an
installation so they become one artwork. Students work as a team
in deciding how they want their installation to look and work
through the practical problems of constructing it.
Look at Catholic wax body parts or religious relics which are used
in prayer or healing. Do the body casts have the same sense of
the spiritual or macabre? How do students react to these items?
What do they say about the individual? What does it say about
the ‘collective’ group? Are we all the same or different?
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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towering
vital
curved
pitted
simple
complicated
realistic
worn
temporary
fine
calm
shiny
smooth
edge
sensitive
hollow
line
inner
soft
mortal
narrative
mysterious
fragile
pattern
universal
harmonious
permanent
infinite
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Theme Six: Art across the Curriculum
This theme focuses on critical and creative thinking, linking ideas across subjects, and embracing wider aspects of learning. Art can be used to explore and
discuss different subjects, issues and ideas which touch on all areas of our lives. This theme has a cross-curricular focus and can be used by different subject
teachers or group leaders to unify areas of learning or to provide a focus for work within and between subjects.
Curriculum area
Curriculum links
History
Areas of Study:
Poverty & Social Class
KS3: 1,1ab 1.2a 1.3a 2.1ab
2.2ab 4ace
Learning Outcomes:
G To understand history through a wide
range of sources
G To use historical sources critically in their
historical context
G To develop an understanding of how the
past has been represented and interpreted
English Literature
& Language
Areas of Study:
Listening & Speaking, Writing
KS3: 1.1abde 1.2a-c 1.4a-c
2.1ad 2.2abhi 2.3a-gijkq
4.1a-cf 4.2c 4.3cdfgli
KS4: 1.1a-e 1.2a-d 1.4a-d
2.1ac 2.2a-ceg 2.3abgjl
4.1a-cf 4.2f 4.3cdfh
Learning Outcomes:
L E E D S
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G To relate texts to their social, cultural and
historical contexts and literary traditions
G Speaking and group discussion skills,
interaction and drama
Curriculum area
Curriculum links
G Writing to inform and describe, persuade
and argue, analyse and review
PHSE & Citizenship
Learning Outcomes:
PHSE
KS3: 1.2c 1.4abe 1.5ab 2.1a
2.3d 3jlm 4cde
KS4: 1.2c 1.4a-c 1.5ab 2.1a
2.3de 3ag 4bde
Citizenship
KS3: 1.3a 2.1ab 2.2bcd
3adi 4aj
KS4: 1.3a 2.1ab 2.2abd 3afl 4j
G To empathise with people different from
ourselves
G To learn about the role and feelings of
parents and carers and the value of family
life
G To use their imagination to consider other
people’s experiences and be able to think
about, express and explain views that are
not their own
G To communicate confidently with their
peers and adults
G To obtain and use different kinds of
information, including the media, to form
and express an opinion
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
History
Artworks are social and historical documents, telling us something of the
time they were produced, why they were made and for whom.
Artworks referred to are:
G The Village Funeral (1872) by Frank Holl
G The Doppelganger (1984) Stephen Willats
The artworks can be used to discuss issues around poverty and social class in
both rural and urban Britain from two different historical periods.
The activity sheets can be used for pair discussion in the Gallery and relate to
the theme; Poverty & Social Class. Spaces are provided in the worksheets
for note-taking.
Pre-visit Activities
Artworks as historical sources
Investigate with students the difference between ‘primary’ and
‘secondary’ historical sources. How reliable are artworks as sources
of historical evidence? Discuss how artworks are intended for a
specific audience and are a product of the time and place in
which they are made. In depicting a particular event or historical
subject, the artist is offering a partial view, which may be
romantic, politicised or skewed by the artists’ own cultural or
personal experience.
Students brainstorm the type of historical information which can
be retrieved from:
G A family photograph
G A newspaper photograph
G A painting of a historical event or scene
What are the dangers of relying on such source material for historical
evidence? Students consider the reliability of each and present their
argument to each other.
The Artworks
Provide some historical context for The Village Funeral, focusing on the
late 19th century:
G Work and rural life
G Health and life expectancy
G Marriage and family life
I am the Resurrection and the Life or The Village Funeral
by Frank Holl (1872)
© Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery) UK/The Bridgeman Art Library
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Doppelganger was made in 1984 in England. The artwork says
something about that time and place, not only in the subject and ideas
the artist presents but also the materials used and the style of its
production. Doppelganger is: ‘an apparition or double of a person’
(Chambers Concise Dictionary). The artist presents two versions of one
person’s experience of living Britain in the 1980s. It shows something of
social life and expectations of the time in which it was made.
Visual Context
Students research history books for information about lifestyles, fashions,
politics and cultural events relating to each artwork:
G Rural life circa 1872
G City life circa 1984
Follow-up Activities
Poverty & Social Class:
Compare the paintings as ‘social documents’ to other historical
sources. What different stories do they tell? Which seems most
truthful and why?
Using found objects, students create two images which represent
the experience of two individuals from a different class, area or
community in contemporary Britain.
Write a diary entry of one of the characters in The Village Funeral
leading up to the day of the funeral. What historical research
needs to be done to make it plausible?
Students create a visual ‘research board’ comprising images and
information they’ve sourced which say something about the ‘context’
for each of these paintings.
How effective is an artwork at communicating an historical
moment?
Using contemporary sources of information, produce a collage
combining words and images to show the experiences of being
‘a teenager’.
Think about what you do, where you go, and what interests you.
Compare the collages, what ideas are similar? How do these
similarities tell us about social life and expectations of our time?
Which ideas will be seen as an indicator of our time in the future?
Why?
The Doppleganger by Stephen Willats (1984)
© Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery) UK/The Bridgeman Art Library
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
English Literature & Language
Paintings can be used as stimulus for
storytelling and language work as well
as developing speaking and writing
skills. Many paintings at the Gallery
have been inspired by or are related to
poems or novels. The pre-Raphaelite
painters, such as J W Waterhouse or
Holman Hunt, used Victorian poems or
historical stories as subjects for their
paintings.
This theme focuses on the painting
The Lady of Shallot (1894) by
J W Waterhouse.
The student activity sheets include
questions based on this artwork.
These can be used for pair or group
discussion work in the Gallery.
The Lady of Shalott by John William
Waterhouse (1894)
© Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery)
UK/The Bridgeman Art Library
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Pre-visit Activities
Introduce the term ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ painters, maybe showing
students artworks and discussing what might have inspired them.
Explore Tennyson’s poem The Lady of Shallot and the summary of
the story on activity sheet 6.5.
Follow-up Activities
The Pre-Raphaelite painters were influenced by writers, particularly the
Romantic poets. Some artworks referred to mythologies or religious
stories.
Prepare a spoken presentation comparing the story of the Lady of
Shallot to other tragic love stories of unrequited love, i.e. Romeo
and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, Keats or contemporary fiction.
Develop a piece of writing from the point of view of the Lady of
Shallot, starting from the scene depicted in the painting. The
piece could be satirical, humorous, modern or in keeping with
Tennyson’s poetic style but from a female point of view.
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
PSHE & Citizenship
Whisper, The Waves, The Wind (1984) by Suzanne Lacy with Sharon
Allen and Mother Courage (1989) by Val Robinson are two very different
artworks produced at a time when equality of opportunity was discussed
publicly and energetically and, for the first time, directly used as a subject for
artworks. They both touch on human experience, particularly ideas about
female experience, family bonds and growing old.
These questions will open up discussion and there are no right or wrong
answers. Students should be encouraged to put forward their point of view and
listen to those of others as they respond to the artworks and the questions.
Pre-visit Activities
Discuss visiting an art gallery and what students expect to find
there. Introduce the idea of artists using photography, sound and
performance as part of their work and art being a means of
sharing ideas about social issues.
Look at the role of older women. What relationship do students
have with their own grandparents? Does this differ across
cultures? Students can investigate this within their own families or
as a wider research project. Collecting images from magazines or
from home and carrying out interviews will be useful in the
forming of ideas and opinions. If appropriate, share stories in
small groups.
How would students imagine themselves when they’re sixty or
when they’re grandparents? What would be their situation? What
would they have liked to have achieved or done?
Whisper, The Waves, The Wind by Suzanne Lacy with
Sharon Allen (1984)
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Mother Courage
by Val Robinson (1989)
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Teachers’ Information Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Follow-up Activities
These activities can be developed back in the classroom.
Women have always contributed to major events (political and
historical). Their role, however, has not been well documented.
Introduce important women who may not be as well known as
their male counterparts. Students choose one to research and
make a presentation to the class as to why they made a difference.
What are students’ thoughts on growing old? What do they
expect being old will be like? Students visit and interview elderly
people in their community and prepare a poster which shows the
experience of ageing.
Write a feature for a magazine on the importance of grandparents.
Take into account the view of parents and children in order to get
different viewpoints and make sure to include different types of
families. Also consider whether grandparents have different roles
in different cultures.
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
L E E D S
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
Summary of the story of The Lady of Shallot
A mythical character of Arthurian legend, the Lady of Shallott
lives a cursed ife. She is forbidden to look out of her window
and is only allowed to view the world reflected in a mirror.
Locked in her castle, she sings a sad song and weaves her
tapestry. One day, she falls in love with the reflection of Sir
Lancelot riding by and looks directly out of the window at
him. Her mirror shatters and the curse takes hold. The Lady
leaves her castle and is drawn toward the river. She dies in a
boat floating down to Camelot.
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
y of Shallot
Extract from Tennyson’s poem The Lad
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow’d
e
On burnish’d hooves his war-horse trod
From underneath his helmet flow’d
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flashed into the crystal mirror.
‘Tirra lirra,’ by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot
She left the web, she left the loom,
,
She made three paces through the room
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look’d down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
‘The curse is come upon me,’ cried
The Lady of Shallot.
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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Activity Sheet Key Stage 3 & 4
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