Gallery and Artist Studio Visits

Description:

Artist Studio Visits: Bow Arts manages over 300 artist studios – professional workspaces for practicing artists. Our studio visits allow pupils a unique insight behind closed doors to see artists’ working environments and creative processes first-hand. Artist studio visits can be tailored to your learners’ needs to explore one or more of the following:

• A specific theme –  e.g. People and Places; Pattern and Colour; Local History
• A medium – e.g. drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography
• The business of being a professional artist and career pathways in the creative industries

Pupils are given a tour of our studio complexes before meeting one or more of the artists. They will have the opportunity to hear about the artist’s practice, ask questions, sketch and take photographs. This can be followed up by a practical taster session in response to the artist’s work. Studio visits can take place at any of our property sites including Bow Road (E3), Stratford (E15), IceHouse Court (IG11), RAW Studios (E16) and Old Manor Park Library (E12), Leegate Studios (SE12), Canada Street Studios (SE16), Catford Dek Studios (SE6), Lakeside Centre Thamesmead (SE2) and P1 Studios (E3).

Nunnery Gallery – Bow Arts’ contemporary art gallery in Bow (E3). A gallery visit enables pupils to see and experience an exhibition first hand. Pupils will meet artists or curators to help them understand and explore the exhibition. Our exhibition programme showcases both archive collections and artwork by contemporary artists.

All gallery or studio visits can be combined with a follow up artist-led project in your school.

School Improvement:

Curriculum Programmes 

• Inspiration visits - to launch a project, unit of work, or arts week
• Support arts projects in school
• Evaluate and analyse creative works
• Learning about artists and their work

The Arts:

Skills Development | Arts Enrichment

• Enrich curriculum provision
• Skills development - drawing, painting, sculpture, photography etc
• Contribute to Arts Award qualifications - finding out about artists

Aims:

• To learn about artists and their work, the creative industries and potential career pathways
• To develop pupils’ visual literacy – their ability to explore, interpret and discuss visual material
• To enhance and enrich existing curriculum provision
• To further pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills in the arts

Illustrative Outputs:

• Artist studio or Gallery visit
• Artist talks and Question & Answer sessions
• Artist-led practical workshop sessions

Outcomes and Impact (taken from an artist studio and gallery visit):

• 100% of participants learnt new skills
• 100% of participants said they were inspired by the visit
• Participants were able to communicate their ideas about artists and artwork with their peers 
• Participants used techniques and processes from their visit in their own work

Testimonies:

"All of the pupils were totally engaged by the artists they met and were able to interact with them with informed and meaningful questions."  Teacher

“We have several children who do not usually enjoy art, or find it difficult. The hands on art experimentation freed these children up to develop their own styles, and the idea of a narrative attached to a painting – either for the viewer or the painter – really engaged them when it came to producing their own final pieces.”  Year 5 Teacher

“Contact with the artists brought the artwork to life.”  Year 5 Teacher

“Art can be hard sometimes, but if you keep trying you get the hang of it.”   Year 4 pupil

“The studio visit helped the pupils to understand opportunities in art. Many of the pupils were inspired by the artist’s techniques and went on to try these out in their own work."  Lead Artist

Project Costs:

Costs vary dependent on the number of class groups or sessions
From £210 + materials (based on half day @ £135 + planning @ £75)