Teacher and Group Leaders’ Resource
Grayson Perry:
Provincial Punk
23 May - 13 of September
A Resource for Teachers and Group Leaders
Resource Contents
1.
Grayson Perry, Map of Nowhere|2008
Etching from five plates on one sheet
(GP 269)
Courtesy the Artist, Paragon Press and Victoria Miro, London
© Grayson Perry
Introduction to Grayson Perry: Provincial Punk
3.
Planning your visit
6.
Looking at the work
7.
Craft, materials and technique
11.
Key works
19.
Further reading and sources of information
Introduction to Grayson Perry: Provincial Punk
Provincial Punk is an exhibition of work by British, Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry. This
is Perry’s first significant survey exhibition in the UK since 2002 and will only be shown at Turner
Contemporary, Margate.
Described as ‘a great chronicler of contemporary life’, Grayson Perry is well known for his
compelling and beautifully crafted artworks that combine autobiographical reference with wry
social commentary on themes ranging from class, taste, consumerism and war, to art versus
craft. Provincial Punk explores Perry’s uniquely subversive practice, from a young artist forging
his own artistic language in the 1980s Britain to his status today as arguably one of the most
prominent and incisive commentators on contemporary society and culture.
Provincial Punk explores the idea of an anti-elitist and playful spirit of creativity that still
drives his work to this day. When Perry first moved to London in the early 80s, he was part of
a fashionable post-punk scene whilst simultaneously causing a furore in the pottery classes
he attended because of the provocative and rebellious work he was creating. His native rural
Essex was central to his visual imagination and he was also part of the Neo-Naturists, whose
performances were an anarchic mix of body painting, alchemic cooking demonstrations, rural
traditions and 1960s hippie culture. For Perry “Provincial Punk is a very creative force. It is a
willingness to turn things over, to not accept the fashion and to have a bit of fun.”
Perry’s in-depth engagement with mark-making, craft and technique, and his testing of the
boundaries between art and craft is a core emphasis of the exhibition, explored through a
wide range of media, from ceramics, drawings and film to tapestries and prints. Central to the
exhibition will be an extensive display of Perry’s ceramic pots, from his earliest works to the
present day. Perry’s hand-made, richly glazed pots are visually seductive, covered in drawings,
handwritten texts and collaged elements. Consciously seeking to subvert ceramics’ apparent
second-class status as ‘craft’ within the world of fine art, their traditional, decorative form
belies their content, touching on themes such as religion, childhood trauma and environmental
disaster.
From the 1980s the exhibition includes intricately collaged sketchbooks that mix confessional
diary with artwork, and which Perry still returns to for inspiration. These are shown alongside
nostalgic super-8 films set against a backdrop of Thatcherite Britain.
Also included in the exhibition are a number of recent tapestries, such as The Walthamstow
Tapestry (2009), which depicts a journey from birth to death told through consumer brands,
alongside etchings including Map of an Englishman (2004) and Print for a Politician (2005). For
Perry his work has not changed, the traits that now define his work exist in the earliest pieces;
“they have just become more sophisticated and technically skilled.”
Schools, Colleges and Groups Welcome!
We encourage school and group visits, and we love seeing your pupils learning in the gallery
space. We often receive feedback from our visitors about how inspiring it is to see children and
young people engaging with our exhibitions. These visits contribute greatly to the atmosphere
in the galleries, and have helped us grow an international reputation for excellence, not only in
the arts, but in Learning and Visitor Experience. Our team thrives on seeing children and young
people talking, debating and drawing (with pencils only!) in the gallery spaces. During your visit,
please don’t hesitate to talk to the Gallery Assistants about the exhibitions, or if you need any
information and support.
Inspire your pupils across the curriculum
The exhibition Grayson Perry: Provincial Punk supports teaching and learning at all Key Stages,
and offers huge opportunities to inspire pupils across subject areas. We have included a few
links below, but there are many more possibilities and we would be happy to discuss your ideas,
and how we can support your visit.
How to use this resource
This resource is designed for use by teachers and group leaders to support and enrich your group
visit to the Grayson Perry: Provincial Punk exhibition. As well as providing further information on
a selection of the works with Perry’s own words, the resource explores the work through a range
of different themes inspired by the work, offering ideas for educational projects and activities.
The works provide particularly rich inspiration for learning in art, design, geography, literacy,
citizenship and SMSC.
The activity suggestions target a range of Key Stages and can be adapted for older and younger
pupils. They may form part of a project before, during or after a visit to see the exhibition. Ideas
are informed by National Curriculum requirements.
North Gallery
Planning your visit
We advise teachers and group leaders to come and visit the exhibition before bringing a group.
Some of the works in the exhibition you may find to be inappropriate for your group’s age/level
with some of the works containing explicit content, sexual imagery and swear words. However
these works are easily avoidable.
Please find a map of the exhibition highlighting the works included in this resource and other
works great for discussion and inspiration.
Shop
Works in the resource
Key works
Irene Willett Gallery
Comfort
Blanket
Ikea
Walthamstow
Tapestry
Map of Truths
and Beliefs
Nokia
West Gallery
South Gallery
Fantasy Village
Self Portrait with
Eyes Poked Out
Butterflies
on Wheels
Meaningless
Symbols
Ultimate Consumer
Durable
Print for
a Politician
Mad Kid’s
Bedroom Wall
I Love Beauty
Queen’s
Bitter
Football Stands
for Everything
I Hate
Model Jet
Plane X92
Map of
Nowhere
Map of Days
Looking at the work
Grayson Perry’s works are often intricate and rich in detail. When looking at the work in the
gallery, you may find these suggestions to engage pupils to look at the work closely, and for
general discussion.
Discussion and activity ideas
• Ask pupils to begin a sentence with ‘I can see...’ to encourage close observation of different
aspects of the work. Challenge pupils to keep discovering more and more detail.
• Ask pupils to begin a sentence with ‘I feel...’ to encourage the expression and sharing of their
emotional responses to the work.
• Ask pupils to begin a sentence with ‘I think...’ to encourage the expression and sharing of
their opinions and ideas about the works, using their imagination to answer why and how they were made.
• Ask pupils to begin a sentence with ‘I wonder...’ to encourage pupils to ask questions about the works, be curious and further research. Question words may also be used such as ‘How...’
‘Why...’ ‘When...’ ‘Where...’ ‘Who...’ ‘What...’
• Ask pupils to respond to the objects and environments in the artworks.
- What interests or appeals to you? Discuss and share thoughts as a group and find out how different artworks mean different things to different people.
- What words would you use to describe the world depicted in the artwork chosen?
- Which world depicted in the artworks would you like to inhabit and why? What would you enjoy and not enjoy about living there?
- How do artists depict the real world in their work? Does this help us understand the world around us? Discuss where Perry is exaggerating, distorting or imagining the real world.
Pupils may record and analyse their thoughts discussions using sketchbooks and pencils whilst
in the gallery.
Grayson Perry, Early English Motorcycle Helmet | 1981
Aluminium
(GP 337)
Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London
© Grayson Perry
Craft, Materials and Techniques
Tapestry
Tapestry is a woven piece of cloth and consists of a warp and a weft. The warp are threads which
run vertically from top to the bottom and the weft are threads which run horizontally and often
continue from one side of the piece to the other edge. The threads fill areas of colour to create
images or pictures.
The tapestry making tradition can be followed back to as early as the Ancient Greek times and
has been found in many different cultures across the world. The technique of tapestry weaving
has developed overtime from hand weaving like in the Bayeux Tapestry to the invention of the
mechanical Jacquard loom in the early 19th Century operated by punch cards, an early evolution
of the computer. For Grayson Perry’s tapestries the images were derived from scanned sections
of Perry’s drawings which were then coloured and manipulated using Adobe Photoshop. Using
textile software, the digital tapestry was then woven using a Jacquard Loom.
Discussion and activity ideas:
• What textiles can you see around you, are they woven? What other methods are used to
construct textiles?
• Research the history of tapestry in different periods and cultures. Find out what the function
of tapestry was, what images were used, who made them and what processes they used.
• Using squared paper, design your own tapestry by filling in blocks of colour. Take this a step
further and cut a piece of embroidery canvas to the same size as your design and cross-stitch
the design.
• Using plastic or wire mesh design and create your own tapestry experimenting with different
found materials to weave with such as plastic bags, paper or twigs.
• Experiment with combining different coloured threads to create new colours like Perry does
for his tapestries. Using watercolour create an image and try to match the colours with different
thread combinations.
See also:
See how a jacquard loom works at:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/videos/j/video-jacquard-weaving/
Examples of different tapestries can be found in the V&A’s online collection at:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/
Ceramics
Ceramics are objects made of clay mixed with water which has been fired in a kiln. There are
3 types of ceramics, all of which can be found in the exhibition; stoneware, earthenware and
porcelain. The type of ceramic is determined by which clay is used and the temperature and
method of firing.
There are many different techniques used to make ceramics including Throwing with a Potter’s
Wheel; shaping the clay by hand as it spins, Slip casting used for mass manufacturing; pouring slip
into a plaster cast and Hand-Building which is Grayson Perry’s favoured technique; constructing
using coils of pottery.
Ceramics are used to make many things including bowls, plates and vases and because of their
hard and high melting temperature properties some are even used for advanced engineering
applications such as surgical knives or car brake disks. The material has been around for many
years and the oldest found pottery pieces were human and animal figurines that date back to
around 24 000 BC.
Ceramics are also famous for their decorative function, a large focus in Grayson Perry’s work,
where traditionally pottery includes scenes and motifs influenced by the period, location and
maker’s style. Today, mass-produced pottery is styled in response to the fashion and demands
of a worldwide market. Pottery can be decorated using a wide range of colours and textures
of paint and glazes. Grayson Perry also uses transfer-printing to apply whole images onto the
pottery and Sgraffito, a technique of scratching patterns into the clay before firing.
Discussion and activity ideas:
• Research the history of pottery in different periods and cultures. What kind of ceramics were
used and what are the differences between stoneware, earthenware and porcelain.
• Can you identify the type of ceramic, type of clay and decorative technique used to create the
pots in the exhibition?
• Using the hand-building technique like Grayson Perry create your own pot. Experiment with
different sizes and designs of pot and thickness of coil and how to shape it so it doesn’t fall
over.
• Try building your own character, animal or object model out of clay like the ones found in
the exhibition. Bring the models together as a group and create an imaginary scene taking
photographs of the models in different situations to create a storyboard.
• Using the Sgraffitto method try scratching a pattern, text or drawing into a piece of clay.
See also:
Film of Grasyon Perry hand-building can be found at:
www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/z9yqxnb
Examples of different ceramics can be found in the V&A’s online collection at:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/
Grayson Perry: Provincial Punk, installation view at Turner Contemporary
Photo: Stephen White
Key Works
Walthamstow Tapestry | 2009
Wool and cotton tapestry, 300 x 1500
‘This was my first really large-scale work. The subject is a take on the journey of life, but seen
through shopping. The title references the famous Bayeux Tapestry, which is about the invasion
of the Normans. My one is about the invasion of marketing into our heads. It shows the journey
from birth to death via the seven ages of man. Along the way are the brands, like gods, that shape
our lives today. I think of it as the Guernica of the credit crunch. Walthamstow is where my studio
is. It’s also where William Morris was born the great champion of things like tapestry, though
as handcraft, He would have been horrified by this! Superficially it has the decorativeness of a
Morris design, though the composition and style were inspired by Sumatran batiks.’
Curriculum Links:
art, history, geography, literacy and citizenship
Key Words:
place, community, industry, locality, journey
Discussion and activity ideas:
• In the Walthamstow Tapestry, Perry shows a journey of life seen through shopping.
- Can you describe, draw or collage your journey to school? How do you get there? What do you see on your way? How do you feel on your journey?
- Can you describe, draw or collage your perfect journey to school? What mode of transport would you use? Which places would you see on your way?
• Discuss what kind of place you think the tapestry depicts. What issues characterise the area
and what changes have taken place and why. You may want to think about the focus on shops
in the area or changes in modes of transport.
• Discuss what your local area is famous for. What are its particular associations? What major
changes have taken place in the area’s history? What people or groups is their area known for?
What might be included in a tapestry depicting your local area?
• In groups research and make a collaborative textile piece depicting and celebrating your local
area. This could include yourselves, landmarks, buildings, people, attractions or something of
the local history.
Grayson Perry, The Walthamstow Tapestry | 2009
wool and cotton tapestry
(GP 276)
Courtesy the Artist, Paragon Press and Victoria Miro, London
© Grayson Perry
• Perry references 4 elements that inspired him to create the Walthamstow Tapestry, can you
research and identify the similarities and differences between his tapestry and
- The Bayeux Tapestry
- Picasso’s Guernica
- William Morris designs - Sumatran Batiks
Ultimate Consumer Durable | 2005
‘It looks like a storage jar that would have held spices or expensive oil, the sort of thing once
traded there. Now, international brands that you can buy everywhere are all that’s sold in Venice.
I went through a book of traditional animal motifs from different periods and cultures, and I
assigned each creature an international brand, so there’s an Aztec Sony and a medieval Chanel,
for example. Of course, art above all, is the ultimate consumer durable and pots are my own
brand, so it’s a double edged thing: I’m admitting that I’m a brand aswell.’
Glazed ceramic, 65 x 45
Curriculum Links: art, design technology, geography, literacy, history
Key Words:
consumerism, brands, identity, symbols
See also: Walthamstow Tapestry | 2009, Nokia | 2005, Ikea | 2005
Discussion and activity ideas:
• Looking at Ultimate Consumer Durable and the Walthamstow Tapestry discuss which shops/
brand names that feature in the works are familiar to you and what they mean to you.
• What images are they associated with and why do you think Perry chose to represent the name
with that image? For example in the Walthamstow Tapestry why is the BBC an old woman with
a shopping bag and walking stick? And why is Sony represented as aztec in Ultimate Consumer
Durable?
• Can you choose a shop/brand name from the work and design an image to represent it? For
example what would Disney/Nike/McDonalds be like if it was
- A person. What would they look like? What would they be wearing? What would they be doing?
- An animal. Like the animals found on Ultimate Consumer Durable would it be a real or imaginary animal?
- A building. What would it look like? What would it be made from? What would be inside it? What would it be for?
- A plate of food. Which foods would you include? What would it taste like? What would it smell like?
• Research the motifs and symbols of historical/ancient cultures like the Aztecs and find out
why they were used and what they meant. Can you redesign the motifs for our current culture?
Butterflies on Wheels | 2001
Glazed ceramic, 43 x 32
‘Ceramic vases are usually objects of quiet contemplation and veneration. This piece is based
on a Japanese Edo jar from the seventeenth century, using the same colour scheme and cherrytree imagery, but its subject is skateboarding, the very opposite of gentle reflection. It’s about
action and destruction, getting ’stoked’ and being ‘gnarly’, a skateboarding word that suggests
an aggressive, devil-may-care attitude. Instead of placid flowers, it shows cartoon explosions,
reminiscent of the violent movement of skateboarders.’
Curriculum Links: art, citizenship, geography, literacy, PSHE
Key Words:
oxymoron, contradiction, tribes, fashion, taste, class
See also:
Comfort Blanket Print for a Politician | 2005
Discussion and activity ideas:
1.) Look at Butterflies on Wheels and the title of the exhibition Provincial Punk and discuss the
idea of oxymoron and how Perry demonstrates the idea.
For younger groups you could look at ‘opposites’ as an alternative to oxymoron.
- Research other artists and writers that use oxymorons and consider the purpose of the
oxymoron in their work.
-In groups create your own oxymorons combining words such as ‘dark light’ ‘bitter sweet’ and
‘living dead’ and depict the oxymoron using drawing, painting, collage or making a 3D model.
2.) Perry often examines the different tribes to which we may belong and how our choice in dress
and belongings give us a sense of allegiance, kinship or belonging, for example skateboarders
or the groups found in Print for a Politician.
- Discuss the choices you make in terms of the clothes and objects you surround yourself
with. What objects do you cherish that say something about who you are? Who influences your
choices, is it your friends, family or a celebrity?
- Discuss and share your thoughts on what you consider fashionable or bad taste and how you
think you have come to hold these views? Do you respect difference or hold a prejudiced view
about other peoples’ taste and why?
3.) Research the culture and traditions of a specific country including contemporary and ancient
practices. How do people across the world denote their sense of belonging?
Print for a Politician | 2001
Etching from three plates, 67 x 249.5
‘This large etching had a number of starting points. One was traditional Chinese scrolls, which
account for the style of the mountains in the background. Another was Henry Darger’s paintings
of a similar proportion and shape. This etching is what I would call a playscape, the sort of
imaginative universe you spread out in front of you as a child, like a model-railway set. Car
windscreens and movie screens have the same shape, that sort of slot vision onto the world.
Here, everyone is at war. There are sides but they’re pretty indistinct. I made a long list of groups
and then added each group to the drawing at random. Everyone can probably identify with at
least one group on here, if not several; it might make them think about who they are and which
side they fall on.’
Curriculum Links: art, literacy, ICT, design technology, geography
Key Words:
imagination, island, narrative, story
See also: Map of Nowhere | 2008, Map of Days | 2013
Discussion and activity ideas
1. Can you write a story based on the Print for a Politician or based on his other tapestries
and prints? Can you create a storyboard that shows the scenes before and after the moment
captured in the print?
2. In pairs one student write a short story and the other tell a story in a series of 4 drawings,
paintings or collages of an imaginary place. Students then swap work and one tells the other’s
written story through drawing, painting or collaging and the other write a story based on the
other’s art work.
3. Create a drawing or 3D model of an imaginary island you would like to inhabit. What will the
climate and topography of your island be like? What services and amenities will you need or
want on your island? How will you defend your island from attack? How does your imaginary
island reflect your character and interests? As ruler of your island, what laws will you impose?
Like Perry can you use words to add detail and explanation to the scenes depicted.
4. Like the artist Henry Darger, can you find other artworks that depict real, imaginary or
distorted worlds? Pretend you are looking out of a car into your imaginary world, perhaps using
a car windscreen for a frame, create your own altered version of the world using ICT or collage.
This could be a vision of your world in the future, or how you would like to make changes to
your environment. Like Perry can you use words to add detail and explanation to the scenes
depicted?
Further reading and sources of information
Books
Grayson Perry, Jacky Klein, Thames and Hudson 2009
Grayson Perry - My Life as a Young Girl, Wendy Jones, Vintage 2007
The Vanity of Small Differences Education Information Pack, Southbank Centre
Websites
Further information on Grayson Perry can be found on the Victoria Miro Gallery website at
http://www.victoria-miro.com/artist_12/
Grayson Perry can be heard on Reith Lectures: 2013 at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/reith
The Channel 4 programmes ‘Grayson Perry: Who Are You?’ that document the research, design
and making of some of the works in the exhibition are available at
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grayson-perry-who-are-you
Further information and examples of ceramics and tapestries can be found on the V&A’s online
collection at:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/