Manchester Art Gallery - Journey through Buildings
This project took place over eight sessions between January and April 2008 at St Peters Children's Centre and Manchester Art Gallery. Three out of the eight sessions were with staff only to ensure we had plenty of time to plan and review progress. During the first exploratory visit the glass bridge linking the old part of the gallery with the new extension fascinated the children. We developed this theme of bridges and the sea in the sessions that followed creating bridges from lights and translucent fabrics and developing games and role-play.
One of the most successful elements in the project was the discovery of the ‘boat' - an orange carpet that the children sailed through the gallery to look at works of art. The boat created a sense of belonging and attached the children to an ongoing theme and journey. They guided their boat to traditional paintings by Turner and contemporary art in Jun Nguyen- Hatsushiba's video piece The Ground, the Root, and the Air: The Passing of the Bodhi Tree and responded by creating soundscapes, collage, drawings, role play and new ways of looking at art works.
Read the full case study here.