Colour: contemporary art for kids(15 March − 9 June 2003)

Colour facts• featured contemporary art from

all areas of the Gallery’scollection

• aimed to engage children withcolour meanings, culturalassociations, feelings andoptical effects (colour facts)

• designed as a ‘colour house’–rooms were colour focused

• interactives to experience thesensory properties of specificcolours

Colour findingsChildren:

• showed enjoyment ininterpreting the abstract,contemporary works

• found the art to be interestingto look at – especially art thatwas strange, scary, familiar,funny, amazing and/or different

• provided all sorts of interestingand creative interpretations

Children and contemporary art What enabled meaningful engagement?

• high attracting andholding power of theworks

• opportunities forthinking and discussion:how was it made?

• hands-on exploration todiscover somethingnew about colour

Drawing by Aiden, Year 4

Lionel BAWDEN – UntitledDiscoveries: familiar objectused in an interesting way:- Look, they’re pencils!- That’s mad!

Asking questions:- How deep would the pencils

be inside?- How many days would it take

to do?

Commenting and theorising:- They’re cut and stuck together.- I think it would take forever to

make.

Insights : contemporary art

- This is art how you feel.

- Different from what you’d see in your house.

- It’s different. You usually think paintings, notcouches with spikes.

Colour findingsMany children reported learning something new as a result oftheir experience in the Colour exhibition.

• most common response: how colours feel (temperature)

• colours can be mixed to make new colours

• colours have meaning

The interactives enhanced children’s experiences in Colour.

• teachers stated that interactive components added an importantsensory dimension to the experience

Since Colour …Children are interested inall art forms

• interesting textures

• which use technology(film / computer)

• have an interactiveelement (sound / light)

• scale – small / large

Activity books /child-friendly informationlabels

• promotes child-adultinteraction (sharedencounters)

• provide interesting facts

• questions and activitiesencourage children to buildconnections between their ownlives and the art on display

Artist-child interaction

• mutually beneficial –learn from each other

• share ideas and provideinspiration

The Silver Factory:Andy Warhol for Kids

• engage with processes andideas that Andy Warhol wasinterested in

• appreciation for HOW andWHY the artist made the typeof art that he did

• thrill of seeing yourself = thereaction is immediate

‘15 seconds of fame’

Picasso & his collection