Inspire 2020: Teachers

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and AccessArt bring you Inspire 2020 celebrating and supporting the creative journeys and processes of both children and their teachers developed throughout the project in 2019.

Artworks created by children will be seen in an exciting exhibition of children’s art curated by The Fitzwilliam Museum in 2020; Inspire 2020!

Find out everything about Inspire 2020 here.

Introduction

The Story of Cupid and Psyche Sellaio, Jacopo del; painter; Italian artist, 1441/2-1493
The Story of Cupid and Psyche Sellaio, Jacopo del; painter; Italian artist, 1441/2-1493

Modelled on the National Gallery, London’s, Take One Picture, Inspire 2020, will take a deeper look at one painting from the Fitzwilliam Museum Collection, and from there encourage individual interpretations, discoveries and  journeys to be made.

This post is based on CPD (Continued Professional Development) sessions in February and March 2019, hosted and delivered by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge in collaboration with AccessArt, for Cambridgeshire teachers participating in Inspire 2020 Project.

“It was amazing!!! Inspirational ladies leading the course and fantastic resources. Possibly the best CPD I have participated in 20 years of teaching. Thank you SO much!!” Participating Teacher, Inspire 2020 session, 6th February 2019


Studio Introduction

The day started in the studio with Kate Noble introducing the Inspire 2020 project, its aims and objectives and revealing our focus object –  The Story of Cupid and Psyche by Jacopo del Sellaio, an Italian painter who trained with Sandro Botticelli in Florence, Italy in the 1400s.

Kate set the scene by putting Sellaio’s painting into historical and cultural context, describing how it was made and why and then beautifully telling the story it depicts.

Jacopo del Sellaio's Cupid and Psyche painting at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and a gilded 'Cassone' or wedding chest and panel
Jacopo del Sellaio’s Cupid and Psyche painting in situ at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge with a gilded ‘Cassone’ or wedding chest

Although the painting now hangs on a wall in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cupid and Psyche is a panel from a wedding chest, painted in egg tempera on a wooden panel. The colourful panel is from a spalliera, a decorated back board that would either be mounted on the wall as a headboard or attached to a cassone marriage chest. The project team were excited to chose this object as a focus for the Inspire 2020 project because as well as being a beautiful, lyrical painting it also held a functional purpose as a built object, a piece of furniture from a Renaissance home. We hoped that this would allow for infinite possibilities, interpretations and starting points back in the classroom.

Find out more about the Story of Cupid and Psyche by Jacopo del Sellaio with “Talking Points: the Story of Cupid and Psyche“.

Kate’s introduction was followed by a drawing warm up led by Sheila Ceccarelli from AccessArt.

Teachers are transported to the Mediterranean with the scents of Italian herbs on a guided drawing exercise
Teachers are transported to the Mediterranean with the scents of Italian herbs on a guided drawing exercise

Participants used drawing prompts to take them on a sensory drawing journey aiming to boost confidence in drawing and using drawing as a tool for looking and being in the here and now.

Sensory guided drawing
Sensory guided drawing

 

Guided drawing - AccessArt
Guided drawing and mark making up close

 

Using AccessArt drawing prompts to draw
Using AccessArt drawing prompts to draw

 

Rosemary
Rosemary – Using AccessArt Drawing Prompts

 

You can download AccessArt Drawing Prompts here.

The Gallery Floor

Looking and Discussing

Armed with sketchbooks and pencils and knowledge about the focus painting, teachers then made their way up to the gallery to see the panel in situ.

Kate guided teachers in their looking with an opening question: ‘Does the panel look different in the real? Is it how you expected it to look?’

Kate sharing Cupid and Psyche with teachers
Kate asks participants ‘What do you see?’

Fitzwilliam Museum Looking at Cupid and Psyche
Fitzwilliam Museum Looking at Cupid and Psyche

Participants were then invited to share ideas that had come to mind of how the painting might link to different areas of the curriculum.

Many interesting themes emerged; from study of classical Greek myths and classical architecture to themes around nature and growing, trees, weather, landscape, colour, materials, design, geographical settings, proportion, shapes, symmetry, story telling, perspective, pattern, textiles, the human figure, the role of women in home and marriage, angels, wings, wind, to name but a few.

Looking at Cupid and Psyche by Sellaio in The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge
Looking at Cupid and Psyche by Jacapo del Sellaio in The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge

Collecting Thoughts and Ideas in Sketchbooks

Collage

Looking at the painting, we then used collage as a way of further exploring the panel.

Teachers tore coloured sugar paper into shapes to reflect on composition, elements of interest, perspective and general shapes seen in front of them. They then played with placement and composition on their sketchbook pages. The colours of the paper were selected to echo the soft, pastel colours within Sellaio’s panel.

Using collage to 'look' at Cupid and Psyche - Fitz
Using collage to ‘look’ at Cupid and Psyche

 

Tearing paper in response to looking and seeing Cupid and Psyche at the Fitzwilliam
Tearing paper in response to looking and seeing Cupid and Psyche at the Fitzwilliam

 

Tearing paper in response to Cupid and Psyche at the Fitzwilliam
Tearing paper in response to Cupid and Psyche at the Fitzwilliam

 

Starting a composition in response to looking at Cupid and Psyche at the Fitzwilliam
Starting a composition in response to looking at Cupid and Psyche at the Fitzwilliam

 

Collaged response - Cupid and Psyche - Fitz
Collaged response – Cupid and Psyche

 

A finished collage composition - Fitz
A finished collage composition

 

Making a more 3D response and 'leaving' the paper - Fitz
Making a more 3D response and ‘leaving’ the paper

Making Notes and Annotating

All the time that teachers were on the gallery floor they were encouraged to be taking their own notes and take notice of their own ideas and connections that they were making in their own minds.

They were introduced to the idea of a sketchbook as a place to log, record, connect, imagine, write, draw and dream.

Using sketchbooks in the Fitz to take notes and record (visually)
Using sketchbooks in the Fitz to take notes and record (visually)

Drawing

Teachers were also encouraged to make visual notes and sketches.

Sketching in the Fitz - Sketchbooks
Sketching in the Fitz

Deep Looking and Using the Rest of the Museum to Find Your Theme

Kate guides teachers on a 'Deep Looking' exercise to support looking and to explore beyond the surface of a painting and develop an imaginative, multi-sensory response. Teachers are encouraged to use their sketchbooks to make notes and sketches and to let their minds wonder.
Kate guides teachers on a ‘Deep Looking’

Using the French Impressionist painter, Claude Monet’s (1840–1926), Springtime, (1886), Kate took teachers on a journey of ‘Deep Looking’ to demonstrate how a playful and meditative exploration of a painting can allow the mind to wander deeply into the canvas. This process brings the painting to life – allowing time and space for looking to happen and ideas to emerge.

Monet-Springtime-PD.2-1953_LRG_0
Claude Monet’s (1840–1926), Springtime (1886) © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Sheila reminded teachers to continue to take notes and sketches of ideas that might have emerged from the exercise.

Teachers were then invited to explore the museum to find paintings, objects, architectural elements or sculptures which might support themes, ideas and subjects which had emerged in their own minds during the morning’s session.

Studio

Explorations

Using all the information, recordings and ideas gathered during the morning session, as a starting point, teachers were invited to explore materials and processes in the studio. It was hoped that these explorations would both stimulate their own curiosity and creativity but also support the development of art skills which they could take back into their classroom.

The studio was set up in three distinct areas.

Drawing and Collage

Here teachers were encouraged to expand on the ideas and drawings that they’d collected in their sketchbooks during the gallery session.

The tables were set up with a variety of  different papers and drawing materials from chunky graphite sticks to Posca pens. Teachers were encouraged to be experimental and work in big A3 sketchbooks or bigger and to move ideas forward.

Studio - Collage - Fitzwilliam Cupid and Psyche
Studio – Collage – Fitzwilliam Cupid and Psyche

 

Experimenting with collage in large sketchbooks - Fitz
Experimenting with collage and drawing in large sketchbooks

 

Developing ideas on a bigger scale in collage and drawing - Cupid and Psyche Fitz
Developing ideas on a bigger scale in collage and drawing – Cupid and Psyche Fitz

 

Exploring drawing - Fitz
Exploring drawing in A3 sketchbooks

 

Themes - Temples and architecture - Fitz
Themes – Temples and Architecture

 

Themes - Triangles and Cornices - Fitz
Themes – Triangles and Cornices

 

Themes - Wind and Weather - Fitz
Themes – Wind and Weather

 

Themes: Trees and Nature - Fitz
Themes: Trees and Nature

Colour

A ‘colour table’ was set up with a variety of different painting mediums and primed wooden pieces for teachers to experiment on.

We were very fortunate to be joined by Ali a studio artist who works at the Fitzwilliam, who was able to share her knowledge of egg tempera and painting on a wooden panel.

Ali prepared powder paints and an egg yolk for teachers to play with mock-‘egg tempera’, as well as gouache colours, inks, Brusho and more. She also provided a variety of different surfaces on which to work from paper to papyrus and wood.

Studio - Colour - Fitzwilliam Cupid and Psyche
Studio – Colour – Fitzwilliam Cupid and Psyche

 

Painting on wood with mock egg tempura
Painting on wood with mock egg tempera

 

Exploring colour at the Fitz - Gouache
Exploring colour at the Fitz – Gouache

 

Exploring colour at the Fitz - Ink and Brusho
Exploring colour at the Fitz – Ink and Brusho

 

Exploring colour at the Fitz - wax and natural materials
Exploring colour at the Fitzwilliam Museum – wax and natural materials on wood

Making

A making table was set up with a variety of materials, mainly from the Cambridge Community Scrap Store and all ubiquitous and easily sourced including: fabric, wire, cardboard, mesh, film, clay, Modroc, hessian, foil, sticks, wooden rods, plasticine and more.

Teachers were encouraged to make playful explorations of the materials and explore how they might construct their own interpretations of ideas gathered from the morning’s session on the gallery floor.

Making at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Making at the Fitzwilliam Museum

 

Making at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Making at the Fitzwilliam Museum – Temple

 

Making at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Making at the Fitzwilliam Museum – Wings

 

Making at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Making at the Fitzwilliam Museum – Treasured Objects

 

Looking at Talking

The session ended with a chance for all the teachers to see each other’s work and share their experiences of being in the studio.

Conclusions - Cupid and Psyche - Fitzwilliam
Conclusions – Cupid and Psyche – Fitzwilliam

Threading conversations back in to how ideas and processes might be taken back into the classroom and what scope there was for the bigger task at hand: facilitating meaningful creative experiences for the children.

Looking at work - Fitz
Looking at work – Inspire 2020

Many thanks to the wonderful teachers who came to this CPD session for sharing their ideas and processes with AccessArt.

Many thanks to Alison Ayres, the Fitzwilliam Museum’s studio artist, for her support in the studio and sharing her knowledge and Holly Morrison for her consultation and in preparing materials for Inspire 2020 Project.

This post was written by Sheila Ceccarelli and edited by Kate Noble. Photos were taken by Paula Briggs and Sheila Ceccarelli.

Fitzwilliam logo

UK Charity AccessArt created this resource in collaboration with the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

AccessArt has over 850 resources to help develop and inspire your creative thinking, practice and teaching.

AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.

We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.


Drawing in the Dark: Developing a Visual Language


Taking on the Inktober Challenge


Colour Wheel for Infants and Juniors

Exploring Primary Colours and Progressing from Powder Paint to Gouache and Acrylic

By Sheila Ceccarelli

By Sheila Ceccarelli


Composite Still Life Studies in Candlelight


Making an Ink and Wax Village with Pupils in Mansfield


Sketchbooks Made with Screenprinted Papers


A “Wallpaper” Sketchbook – Enabling Drawing by Getting Rid of the White page


Using Sketchbooks to Take Ownership of Ideas


“Heart-Work” an Arts and Wellbeing Project for Young People

Arts and Minds: Time to Introduce Ourselves – A Sculpture Challenge

Arts and Minds - Week 1 - SC

Arts and Minds: A ‘Heart-Work’ Conversation

Arts and Minds - Cambourne VC - Week Two - SC

Arts and Minds: Asemic Writing and Invented Text

Arts and Minds - Asemic Writing - week three -SC

Feeling Through Drawing

Arts and Minds Cambourne Village College - Week four

Drawing for Mindfulness

Arts and Minds - Cambourne - week five - SC

Arts and Minds: Expressive Monoprinting on a Big Scale

Arts and Minds - Cambourne - week six - monoprinting - SC

Constructing the World with Collage

Collage - Cambourne VC - SC

Building to the Limit

Building - Cambourne - week eight - SC

Manipulating Clay with Water

Clay - Cambourne - week nine- SC


Making Elastic Band Sketchbooks with Pupils at Philip Southcote School


Mayan Tabletop Eraser Printing Project


“Heart-Work” – A series of ‘Arts on Prescription’ style workshops for young people at Cambourne Village College with Arts and Minds; Led by Sheila Ceccarelli (Artist) and Yael Pilowsky Bankirer (Psychotherapist)

Arts and Minds: Time to Introduce Ourselves – A Sculpture Challenge

We kicked off the programme with a quick making challenge which would act as an ice-breaker and introduce students to an array of materials. We kicked off the programme with a quick making challenge which would act as an ice-breaker and introduce students to an array of materials.

Arts and Minds: Asemic Writing and Invented Text

Students were given the opportunity to further explore expressive mark making as a tool for self-expression and a vehicle for communication. Students were given the opportunity to further explore expressive mark making as a tool for self-expression and a vehicle for communication.

Arts and Minds: Expressive Monoprinting on a Big Scale

Students enjoyed monoprinting on a large scale by rolling printing ink and acrylic paint directly onto the table and experimenting with ways to take prints. Students enjoyed monoprinting on a large scale by rolling printing ink and acrylic paint directly onto the table and experimenting with ways to take prints.

Constructing the World with Collage

Students were invited to use their previously created monoprints to construct large scale collages inspired by the landscape surrounding the college. Students were invited to use their previously created monoprints to construct large scale collages inspired by the landscape surrounding the college.

Manipulating Clay with Water

In this session teenagers had an abundance of clay and the freedom to play and manipulate form. In this session teenagers had an abundance of clay and the freedom to play and manipulate form.

With Special Thanks To:

And to Pink Pig sketchbooks for their continued support of AccessArt and providing young people with beautiful books for this project.

 

 

Building to the Limit

In this session students were given the challenge of making building blocks out of mixed media and using them to build a sculpture. They were encouraged to experiment with balancing different elements together and setting themselves the challenge of seeing how far they could build before their constructions collapsed. In this session students were given the challenge of making building blocks out of mixed media and using them to build a sculpture. They were encouraged to experiment with balancing different elements together and setting themselves the challenge of seeing how far they could build before their constructions collapsed.

Drawing for Mindfulness

Students were guided on drawing exercises designed to explore drawing as a tool for seeing and being in the here and now. Students were guided on drawing exercises designed to explore drawing as a tool for seeing and being in the here and now.

Feeling Through Drawing

Students were led on a guided drawing experience of drawing through touch. Students were led on a guided drawing experience of drawing through touch.

Arts and Minds: A ‘Heart-Work’ Conversation

Teenagers were introduced to graphite, charcoal, masking tape and acrylic paint as mediums for communal expressive mark making. A collective drawing was produced, whereby students were encouraged to work in collaboration and in response to each other. Teenagers were introduced to graphite, charcoal, masking tape and acrylic paint as mediums for communal expressive mark making. A collective drawing was produced, whereby students were encouraged to work in collaboration and in response to each other.

UK Charity AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.

We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.

Join AccessArt from only £3.50 per month and enjoy full access to hundreds more resources!


Landscape Painting: A Collection of Resources by Hester Berry

Introduction to Landscape by Hester Berry

This introduction to landscape painting is an exercise in looking and discovering, browsing and daydreaming.

This introduction to landscape painting is an exercise in looking and discovering, browsing and daydreaming.

Landscape Painting: Tone in the Landscape

In this post Hester Berry explores tone as a crucial aspect of landscape drawing and painting. 

In this post Hester Berry explores tone as a crucial aspect of landscape drawing and painting. 

Landscape Painting: Plein Air Painting

Plein Air painting is the practice of painting outside, normally in front of one’s subject.

Plein Air painting is the practice of painting outside, normally in front of one’s subject.

Landscape Painting: Colour in the Landscape

Hester Berry shows how working with colour can be broken down, simplified and approached in a pragmatic way.

Hester Berry shows how working with colour can be broken down, simplified and approached in a pragmatic way.

landscape Painting: Expressive mark Making

Practice and hone technical skills, use of tone and colour, observation and time spent in the landscape.

Practice and hone technical skills, use of tone and colour, observation and time spent in the landscape.


Arts and Minds: Drawing for Mindfulness


Arts and Minds: Feeling Through Drawing


Arts and Minds: Asemic Writing and Invented Text


Sketchbook Exercise: Drawing Brushes with Charcoal


Filling a Sketchbook: Sketchbook Exercises

What is a Canvas?

Making drawings which compete with the background

Making drawings which compete with the background

Making a Charcoal Animation

Inspired by the animations of William Kentridge

Inspired by the animations of William Kentridge

Making Ruler Drawings

Using 2 grades of pencil and only straight lines

Using 2 grades of pencil and only straight lines

Drawing Brushes with Charcoal

Using varied marks to capture the qualities of brushes

Using varied marks to capture the qualities of brushes

Many thanks to Pink Pig International for the sketchbooks


Using Drawing to Get Closer to 18th Century Portraits at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

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