Wednesday 20 February 2013
Andrea Gaskin
We had a great time piloting our new programme for 9-13 year olds, Art Lab, during the summer holidays. In this new format children come along for an extended art-making workshop over four and a half hours, allowing them the time and creative freedom to really explore and experiment with art ideas and techniques. Children, parents and educators unanimously declared it a great success!
In Art Lab: Merchandise we began by exploring the Who Shot Rock & Rollexhibition and gift shop, which inspired the children in the creation of their own Art Star/Rock Star brand. After thinking about brand development and design ideas, we spent the rest of the day experimenting with etching and collograph printing, silkscreen printing and badge making. The children created an incredible collection of merchandise to promote and publicise their Star identity.
The children worked excitedly all day experimenting with materials and processes to create multiple posters, postcards and badges that had a real authenticity to them. The Gallery staff were so impressed, feeling convinced that these fictional bands would be amazing. Sold out shows all round! The focus on repetition and the multiple meant that the children were all swapping badges with each other at the end of the day, leaving happy and covered in merchandise.
The new format of Art Lab was hugely popular with parents and children alike. It meant that the children could benefit from the extra time for idea-generation and had more opportunity for exploration and experimentation in the studio. We will be continuing with this new format, and will have two Art Labs running during term time as well.
Bookings are now open for our next Art Lab: Project Print which will run on Sunday 10 March. In this one day Art Lab we will take inspiration from artists John Reynolds, Shane Cotton and Richard Killeen as we experiment with everything from silkscreen printing to etching and monoprinting. Find out more and make your booking here.