For and Against: Debating Ideas and Concepts around art!

A case study around developing a new cross-curricular secondary school programme piloted with Year 12 History students from Pukekohe High School.

The moment of truth! The students were now asked to use the content they had been given to debate the moot ‘The influence of the Renaissance is obvious in art from today’... The debate was a roaring success – both groups were lively and engaged, and were keen to discuss their interpretations and ideas... I'd facilitated many debates in the Gallery prior to this one, but immediately this stood out as more successful.

The analysis and discussion of works of art can offer rich learning opportunities appropriate for a broad range of subject areas. Motivated by this thinking, we wanted to develop a programme that gave secondary students from a range of subject areas the opportunity to build relevant content and contextual knowledge around works of art, to explore the big ideas these generate, and to then apply this knowledge through a facilitated group debate designed to encourage high level critical thinking.

We developed a focused tour and debate programme (For and Against: Debating Ideas and Concepts around Art), combining the strengths of two of the Gallery’s teams. The first part of the session is led by one of our Gallery Volunteers, who work with the public to deliver daily tours and have an comprehensive understanding of the Gallery and its collection. The second part of the session is led by one of our Gallery Educators, who work with schools and community groups and specialize in facilitating sessions where students use critical and creative thinking to analyze artworks.

We trialed this new programme with a class of Year 12 History students from Pukekohe High School. They had been studying the Renaissance, and were preparing for an internal standard for which they needed to write an essay on the art of the Renaissance and its effect on art in the present.

We introduced their debate topic: ‘The influence of the Renaissance is obvious in art from today’. When they discovered they wouldn't know which side of the debate they would argue from until the second part of the session there were groans and slight looks of panic on several faces, so we assured them the debate would not be a test, but rather a fun and lively way to apply their knowledge, share their thoughts and hear the thoughts of others!

Part 1: Volunteer Guide-led tour 

Juan de Juanes, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 16th century

We started in Little Miracles, an exhibition of 16th century Renaissance paintings and then spent time discussing several works in-depth. Students also had opportunities to share their own knowledge and interpretations, and she encouraged them to link what they were hearing now back to what they had learnt in the classroom.

Tony Fomison, My Personal Christ (St Anthony) 1976

We then viewed examples of ‘art from today’. The challenge was to identify or relate the characteristics of the Renaissance works we had discussed to these contemporary New Zealand works. The students were supported through this process through discussion and were encouraged to look at the notes they had taken in Little Miracles to compare and contrast the works.

Part 2: Educator-facilitated debate 

The moment of truth! The students were now asked to use the content they had been given to debate the moot ‘The influence of the Renaissance is obvious in art from today’. Their teacher, Liz, and I stepped back at this point, and gave the students space to voice their opinions, use the notes they had taken in Liz’s session, and to use their prior knowledge. Where needed, we would step in to further fuel a discussion or push them further with their thinking.

Colin McCahon, Takaka: Night and Day 1948

The debate was a roaring success – both groups were lively and engaged, and were keen to discuss their interpretations and ideas. An atmosphere of playful competition kept them on their toes, as both sides wanted to 'win'. I'd facilitated many debates in the Gallery prior to this one, but immediately this stood out as more successful. Giving the students access to content and then allowing them the time to digest it and manipulate it made a huge difference. Challenges we’ve since thought through – sticking to our timing – they could have kept debating much longer, and trying to keep all of the students engaged during the debate, not just the ones who are really comfortable talking in public. The arguments from both sides were well measured, supported with evidence and convincing. For example, the 'for' group argued that the influence of the Renaissance was clearly visible in McCahon's Takaka: Night and Day. They thought his dramatic use of light and dark tones referenced the chiaroscuro technique used by Renaissance artists.

Successes: 

• Students said they found arguing a given point of view challenging, but useful. This is a skill they need for essay writing in several subjects, not just History. They also liked hearing different perspectives from their peers during the debate, and having the opportunity to learn from each other in that way. 
• The flexibility of this programme allows the Gallery to respond to a teacher's needs, or to a specific topic of study. Liz was able to introduce lots of content, which secondary students need. Their teacher was engaged and encouraging throughout the entire session. Her enthusiasm helped students maintain interest. 
• Liz’s past experience with secondary groups had seen her solely as a ‘guide’, her role purely to share content. She has found in this environment students are often reluctant to ask questions or participate in discussion. Alternatively she found the For and Against programme created an atmosphere that allowed students space to show curiosity or share their knowledge, making it a more rewarding experience for them and for her. 

Going forward:

• Taking into account the challenges in the pilot, we are now offering this programme on a regular basis along with the rest of our Secondary Learning programming: 
• I love working with this age group, and really enjoyed the opportunity to hear them voice their opinions and share their knowledge in such an enthusiastic way. 
• Bring your students in and let us know what you think! 

– Gallery Educator Vivien Masters and Volunteer Guide Elizabeth Buchanan

Image credits: 

Juan de Juanes
Saint Catherine of Alexandria 16th century
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Sir George Grey, 1887

Tony Fomison
My personal Christ 1975-1976
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1976

Colin McCahon
Takaka: night and day 1948
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of the Rutland Group, 1958

Family drop-ins: Make art in the Gallery!

Family Drop-ins

Saturdays 1-3pm

North Atrium

Free

Sessions are designed for visitors aged four and up - but all are welcome!

When materials meet busy hands and lively imaginations, an excited buzz can be heard on the family drop-in mat. Family drop-ins have become an integral part of Saturdays at the Gallery, with many families now regular visitors. You don’t need to book or bring anything with you – just your enthusiasm for making and sharing!

These free art-making sessions appeal to families (but children are not a pre-requisite, and our interpretation of 'family' is rather lateral) but are suitable for all ages. They provide a chance for active parent-child engagement and making art together.


Print your pet: Dry print making inspired by Andy Warhol's iconic work in Degas to Dalí

We suggest you turn up by 2.30pm as most activities require around 30 minutes to make an artwork. Often we encourage visitors to create an individual artwork which can for a short time between 1-3pm, become a larger collaborative work.



Miniature dioramas were inspired by Graham Fletcher's Lounge Room Tribalism series (2010), featured in the exhibition Home AKL. Before visitors took their creation home they were encouraged to place their 'room' next to others, creating a collaborative cardboard city.

Each week the motivation for artmaking is linked to the Gallery's collection and current exhibition programme. Here’s a montage of creations from past family drop-ins that celebrate everything from collection-based exhibitions such as Toi Aotearoa to special exhibitions such as Degas to Dalí.


Art inspired by exhibitions on display in the Gallery, including Reuben Patterson's Gazillion Swirl! (top left), a wide variety of NZ artists from Toi Aotearoa and the hugely popular touring exhibition Degas to Dalí

Mini lampshades inspired by Niki Hastings-Mcfall's Home Is the Sailor, Home from the Sea, 2012, from the exhibition Home AKL.

Art-making sessions are designed to provide enough direction for participants without being too structured or restrictive in how materials can be used (although we find constricting materials often produces surprising results!)


These magnificent 3-D paper sculptures were inspired by Max Ernst's mysterious work La Forêt (The Forest),  1927-28, from Degas to Dalí.

Sessions are facilitated by Gallery educators, who encourage visitors to share their innovations. Come along and spend a Saturday afternoon with us, we'd love to see you!

– Robbie Butterworth, Senior Gallery Educator and Viven Masters, Gallery educator

Gallery Explorers – no adults allowed!

This summer the gallery launched an exciting new holiday programme for 6-8 year-olds – Gallery Explorers!

GET CURIOUS:  The intrepid explorers head off into the depths of the Gallery.

Our sell-out holiday workshops have traditionally been studio-based, and focused around the creation and development of artworks. A key aim in the creation of the new Gallery Explorers programme was to actively engage our younger audience within the walls of the Gallery itself, providing opportunities for them to create meaningful connections between themselves and the original artworks on display.

An excited group of children (led by excitable gallery educators) spent the morning traversing the lengths of the gallery, proudly sporting their official ‘Gallery Explorer’ badges. Original artworks served as starting points for close observation, discussion, game playing and art making. The drama and mystery of Edmund Blair Leighton’s InTime of Peril inspired drawings that imagined ‘what happens next’ in the story. Ideas ranged from the happy (escape, and the consumption of cheese and Marmite sandwiches), to the not so happy (the consumption of the baby via a dragon)...

GET THINKING: Based on what we can see in this painting, what do you think happens next? Why?

Jacques Carabain’s Queen Street, Auckland transported the explorers back to 1889, a time before iPads, cell phones and Xboxes - the horror! Gallery educators facilitated a deep exploration of the work, then used children’s responses to create a ‘soundscape’. Children and educators alike filled the gallery with the aural clutter of horses trotting, dogs barking, wind howling, people chatting, sellers selling, and bells chiming! This really brought the painting to life for the children (and for the other visitors who happened to be in the room at the time…Haha).

GET SHARING: Under Carabain's historic work children shared what they knew about life in the 1800s, and imagined  themselves as Victorian children.

GET TALKING: Brett Graham's Te Hokioi, 2008, is named after NZ's extinct giant eagle... A predator so large it lived on moa! Now THAT'S a pair of drumsticks!

GET MAKING: With no photographic record of this feathery beast, it was up to the children to imagine what one may have looked like. (Disclaimer: Several of the drawings created featured younger siblings being carried away in the beak of the eagle. The Gallery bears no responsibility.)

When it was high time for a wriggle and a giggle the explorers took to the sculpture terrace to play the ‘connections’ game on Jeppe Hein’s Long Modified Bench... Auckland’s future contortionists?

GET LAUGHING: Play 'connections' on Hein's sculpture - a leader calls out 3 or more specific parts of the body (e.g. right ear, left elbow, right knee). The players have to connect all said body parts to the sculpture as quickly as possible. Hilarity ensues.

At the end of the programme the explorers gathered up all the drawings they had created and bound them into a book to take home. They promised to bring their books back to the Gallery and add to them each time they came to visit. Explorers for life!

Bring on the next school holidays- we can’t wait! Keep an eye on the website for details of upcoming Gallery Explorers sessions.

-Vivien Masters, Gallery Educator

Two Sunflowers and a Rainbow, Watching TV Together Outside

Auckland Art Gallery staff member and artist Vivien Masters discusses her latest project, making art with critically ill children in a New York Hospital

It’s 38 degrees outside, the sun is beating down, and I’m covered in paint. I write to you from New York, where I’m collaborating with a Hospital in Brooklyn for a special art project. Earlier this year I founded the Dreamscape Project, a non-profit collaborative art project that engages critically ill and disabled young people in art. The project has brought me to NY for June and July of 2012, to create art with paediatric patients at Brookdale Hospital.

Together with Brookdale’s Child Life Department I’m creating three large-scale artworks with the children, all of which will be donated to Brookdale Hospital upon completion. Two of the works will be auctioned off, with 100% of the proceeds going towards the Child Life Dpt. of the Hospital, who survive on grants.

One of the Brookdale artworks, before the children started painting! Waterproof ink on canvas.

Detail of the squirrel Doctors and patients in the 'Tree Hospital'

To create the three artworks I took a collaborative approach. Earlier in the year I asked Child Life Specialist Janis Atty to start gathering ideas from her patients. What would they like to see in the artworks? Suggestions flooded in, some sweet, some funny, some bizarre. ‘Balloons’, ‘a princess’, ‘a tiger that thinks it’s a dog and barks at cats’, ‘no clowns’, ‘a dragon’ and my favourite: ‘two sunflowers and a rainbow watching TV together outside’. I collected their ideas and transformed them into three large-scale ink drawings on canvas. I’m now working with the children to paint the works.

The children involved in this project are receiving long-term treatment for life-threatening illnesses. In the context of a Hospital, art-making takes on a new importance. Opportunities for young patients to experiment, play with and manipulate materials are crucial. Art becomes an outlet of expression that aids coping and healing. It can open a unique channel of non-verbal communication in younger patients, who may struggle to verbalise their thoughts and feelings. It lowers stress and anxiety, and can distract from pain. Positive arts experiences have the power to transform the hospital experience for a child, which can be confusing, frightening and lonely.

To raise the funds needed to make this project a success, I turned to crowd-funding website Indiegogo. I would like to thank all of the Gallery staff members who contributed to the project and helped it to not only reach but surpass its funding goal.

In September I’ll return to NZ (and the Gallery!) to continue work on the project with CanTeen and Ronald McDonald House Trust, Auckland. For my collaboration with Ronald McDonald House I’ll be teaming up with the fantabulous Auckland Art Gallery art tutor Andrea Gaskin! Andrea works as an art tutor for the children and their families who stay at Ronald McDonald House, as well as delivering the Gallery’s fabulous art programmes for children.

You can follow my progress on www.thedreamscapeproject.org, or check out the Dreamscape Project on Facebook.

The CEO of the Hospital suggested that we move from the playroom, to the lobby of the Hospital. Right by the public front entrance. With children. And paint. I think I got my first grey hair.

The fine art of mixing colours!

12News came in and interviewed us on one of the days we were painting in the lobby! That's me with the amazing Janis Atty, Child Life Specialist at Brookdale :)

Me with the three artworks I made for Brookdale, using ideas from patients!