How museums support Art and Design

The National Curriculum for Art and Design emphasises that pupils should:

  • learn to investigate and make art, craft and design through exploring, developing and evaluating their own ideas
  • explore different starting points and others work. This can include the stimulus of a museum visit

At Key Stage 3 students focus on:

  • creativity
  • competence
  • cultural understanding
  • critical understanding

What can museums do?

  • Join the Museums Art and Design Network (MADNet) on Google groups and read the conference notes.
  • If your museum has a collection of art and/or crafts it would be worth consulting teachers from local schools to investigate how they might use your collection.
  • Schools will need encouragement to use your collections if the link isn’t obvious and even if it is, they may be less likely to come out of school solely for art. The exception to this is Key Stage 4 and beyond, where students are specialising.
  • With primary schools especially, look at ways of linking in with other subjects or providing the opportunity for messy, skilled or large-scale activities which are hard to do in schools e.g. clay or large sculptural pieces. Many schools are integrating art and design into other subject areas, although some still follow the QCA units.
  • Art and Design is optional at Key Stage 4, but very  popular. You can support secondary schools by holding art exhibitions of student’s work (Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery do this annually). GCSE and A level exam boards issue set themes each year. Talk to local schools about whether you could support their art work through visits or by loaning objects as a stimulus. GCSE and A level Photography students may also be interested in using museums in this way.
  • Schools sometimes have after-school art, craft or photography clubs that may be interested in events or projects.
  • If you have a collection which features artists and craftspeople from other cultures and time periods this too could have a role to play.
  • You do not even have to have an obvious art and design related collection for young artists to gain inspiration. Your site and collections could act as an inspirational source.

Downloads:

MADNet Conferences: Brighton, Feb 2009

MADNet Conferences: Oxford, July 2009

MADNet Conference: March 2010

Websites:

  • Sign in or apply for membership of MADNet on Google groups.
  • Artefact a website inspired by the Oxford University Museums’ collections.
  • The Pitt Rivers Museum has produced a comprehensive Art Handbook for secondary students and teachers  on how to use the Museum as an art resource.