Deaf and autistic GCSE art students from two London schools recently took part in creative workshops at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), as part of an outreach project linked to the gallery’s current exhibition on the 20th-century Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti.
Four students from Drumbeat School for children and young people with autistic spectrum disorder in Brockley, and seven from Oak Lodge School for students with hearing, speech, language and communication needs in Wandsworth, took part in the project. They attended sessions led by artists Chloe Cooper and Jasleen Kaur, where they created work expected to form part of their examination portfolios.
Rosie Burley, the access and community manager at the NPG, said that students from each school had attended one workshop in the gallery’s learning studio, when they also visited the gallery’s current Giacometti exhibition. This was followed by three weekly workshops at the schools. The resulting work will shown at a private view event at the NPG in the New Year.
Burley said that this kind of project was only possible with additional funding, in this instance received from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Normally we wouldn’t be able to deliver an in-depth project like this with special educational needs schools,” she said.
She added that it benefited the students to work alongside practicing artists and to be introduced to different media, like performance art, that they wouldn’t have otherwise experienced at GCSE level.
The Giacometti: Pure Presence exhibition opened on 15 October and runs until 10 January 2016. It features over 60 paintings, sculptures and drawings by the artist.
Four students from Drumbeat School for children and young people with autistic spectrum disorder in Brockley, and seven from Oak Lodge School for students with hearing, speech, language and communication needs in Wandsworth, took part in the project. They attended sessions led by artists Chloe Cooper and Jasleen Kaur, where they created work expected to form part of their examination portfolios.
Rosie Burley, the access and community manager at the NPG, said that students from each school had attended one workshop in the gallery’s learning studio, when they also visited the gallery’s current Giacometti exhibition. This was followed by three weekly workshops at the schools. The resulting work will shown at a private view event at the NPG in the New Year.
Burley said that this kind of project was only possible with additional funding, in this instance received from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Normally we wouldn’t be able to deliver an in-depth project like this with special educational needs schools,” she said.
She added that it benefited the students to work alongside practicing artists and to be introduced to different media, like performance art, that they wouldn’t have otherwise experienced at GCSE level.
The Giacometti: Pure Presence exhibition opened on 15 October and runs until 10 January 2016. It features over 60 paintings, sculptures and drawings by the artist.