National Portrait Gallery | Education | Schools | Primary

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Art Observation forms the basis of all our artwork. Our approach is to tackle skills, knowledge and understanding simultaneously, making links between our collection and the children's own artwork. Many sessions in all subject areas involve practical artwork, some deliberately more directed than others. All art materials are provided free. The sessions listed here last 11/2 hours and can take place whenever the necessary rooms and staff are available. The following are 'ready made' art sessions; we will design an art workshop relating to the permanent collection specifically to meet your requirements in a room of your choice. Pupils will gain more from their visit if it is part of a sequence of work in school on portraiture. All will benefit from having drawn portraits before they come, and should follow their visit by working from a live model, to experience translating 3D into 2D.









	Art at Key Stage 1 Children and Families After discussing children in portraits, the pupils use fabric crayons; back at school, their drawings are ironed on to fabric provided by the Gallery. For Nursery, Reception and Year 1 children we use one picture and include some dressing up and posing.

Art at Key Stage 2 Years 3 to 6 The Faces of Elizabeth I After discussing the Elizabethan idea of beauty, children draw the Queen using a Tudor method of copying portraits, called 'pouncing'. The Landing of Princess Alexandra at Gravesend (1863) Using a full-size sketch, cut into individual sections, of this large picture, the children choose from around the NPG different people to greet Princess Alexandra and complete their version co-operatively. Getting the Message Using elegant paintings by Reynolds, Gainsborough and their contemporaries, this session discusses how a portrait can convey messages about the sitter through pose, composition, background and objects placed in the picture. The session involves some simple drama exercises as well as drawing. The session will stimulate children to develop their own portraiture, as well as learning to look at paintings. We recommend this session for classes that are working on the QCA Study Unit 3A "Portraying Relationships". Styles of Painting This session aims to make children aware of the wide range of different styles used by artists in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and available to them in their own artwork. Each child chooses a portrait and works in that particular style.
Please contact the Education Department to apply for these sessions: Contact and Booking Information Education Programme 2008-09 - Primary (PDF file)

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National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London WC2H 0HE. Tel: 020 7306 0055