Thursday 16 February

‘Museums inspire powerful and identity-building learning in children, young people and community members’ (DCMS, 2004).

Kelvingrove Art Museum is one of many places in Scotland where it would be beneficial to take children in order to learn about expressive arts. This is mainly due to the wide diversity of artwork which is demonstrated throughout the museum.

We as a group came up with a few reasons as to why it would be beneficial to take a class to a place such as Kelvingrove Art Museum, this list included things such as: it allows them to see different kinds of art which they wouldn’t usually see in class such as the floating heads exhibition shown in the picture below; it allows them to experience outdoor learning which Robertson (2014) describes as beneficial as it allows the development of children’s creative capacities; it also lets them see different artwork from different perspectives and also enables them to learn about the Scottish artwork which is present throughout the museum.

When looking at the famous painting ‘Windows in the West’ as shown below, it allowed us to look at it in great detail as the scale which it is in person is much bigger than what children could see should they look at it within a classroom.

‘The experience of public art and environmental change offers a useful focus for exploring notions of creativity and collaboration in community settings’ (Adams, 2008, p.131). Activities can be derived from an inspiration such as this, for example, whilst at the museum we were asked to come up with a scenario as to why there was a party going on within the second floor of this building. This would be a great activity for children to do as it allowed them to interpret drama into an art lesson and use and build upon their creativity skills in order to complete this task.

References

• ›Robertson, J (2014) Dirty Teaching. Carmarthen: Independent Thinking Press
• Adams, E. (2008) Art and Design Education and the Built Environment. In Coutts, G. & Jokela, T. (Eds) Art, Community and Environment: Educational Perspectives. Bristol: Intellect
• DCMS, (2004). Inspiration, Identity, Learning: The Value of Museums. 1st ed. London: RCMG.