Education
To book lessons, arrange tours or simply find out what the Gallery can offer your school, contact our educator:
Bianca van Leeuwen
(+ 64 3) 941 7373
schools@christchurchartgallery.org.nz
We run art education for schools. Let us help your class discover art with hands on learning experiences based on our exhibitions and works in our collection.
Our art education programmes offer students first-hand experience with real works of art whilst developing their creative and critical thinking skills. We make links to the English, social science and arts curriculum as well as providing students with great opportunities to develop key competencies in a social context. Discussions and activities can be adapted to suit all levels.
Gallery tours and visits are free.
Art lessons take 90 minutes, involve a hands-on activity and cost $2 per student.
Bookings are essential. Our programmes are popular and we can only teach one class at a time. So get in early. To book lessons, arrange tours or simply find out what the Gallery can offer your school, contact our educator, Bianca van Leeuwen:
(+64 3) 941 7373
schools@christchurchartgallery.org.nz
Installation view of Povi Christkeke by Michel Tuffery 1999
PROGRAMME
Select a programme for more information on our art lessons.
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 35 students
Available 6 April – 4 August
Years 3 and up
$4
Become photography superstars! Your class will explore American artist William Wegman’s photography in a guided tour of his exhibition Being Human. His photos of Weimaraners have made his beloved pet dogs, May Ray and Fay Ray, famous. In the Education Centre, your students will work in pairs or small groups. Using props and costumes they will create photos that tell a story in a single image. The photographs the students make will be printed off at the end of class or posted to school after the visit.
William Wegman Leg Ladder 2004. Colour Polaroid photograph. Courtesy the artist. © William Wegman
This exhibition has been produced by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis/New York/Paris/Lausanne, in collaboration with the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Lesson time: 90 Minute
Class Limit: 35 students
Available from 20 May
Your class will tour the exhibition Wheriko – Brilliant! and discover how artist from New Zealand and around the world create works of art using light. They will look at how artists use cut out shapes, shadow and colour to create striking effects. In the classroom they students will use different colours and textures to create a glowing lantern of their own.
Anila Quayyum Agha Shimmering Mirage 2016 Lacquered steel. Courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 35 students
Available in Term 3
All levels
Come along on a space odyssey and tour the galleries to discover how artists have interpreted the stars, space and the sky above. In the Education Centre, students will create their own colourful drawing of a sparkling night sky. An ideal lesson for preschools and junior classes.
Hannah Beehre Orion 2018. Swarovski ® crystals, acrylic and dye on silk velvet. Courtesy of the artist, Canterbury Museum and SCAPE Public Arts Trust
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 35 students
Available from 3 August
Year 3 and up
Your class will take a guided tour and hear the stories and myths surrounding various works around the Gallery. The class will also visit Bill Hammond’s exhibition Playing the Drums and discuss the iconic half-man half-bird creatures in his paintings. In the Education Centre, your class will design their own surreal mythical monster or hero. A great lesson to support creative writing back at school.
Bill Hammond Waiting for Buller. Bar 1995. Acrylic on canvas. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Purchased 1996
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 35 students
Available in Term 3
Years 3 and up
Students will look at and discuss a selection of landscape paintings from the Gallery’s collection. During the tour, students will consider how the artists have used colour and mark-making in their work. The tour is supported by a practical lesson in the Education Centre, where students will create their own replica of a historic New Zealand landscape to take back to school. They will be given painting tips and tricks and will learn about colour mixing and how to create different painting effects.
Edmund Gouldsmith Pool Near Adelaide c.1883-86. Oil on canvas. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, presented to the Gallery by the Canterbury Society of Arts, 1932
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 35 students
Available from 3 August
Years 3 and up
Let your class discover the works of the renowned New Zealand artist Bill Hammond. On a guided tour through his exhibition Playing the Drums, students will discuss and learn about the ideas and themes in Hammond’s work. In the Education Centre, your class will collage, draw, drip and stencil to make their own multi-layered mythical world.
Bill Hammond The Fall of Icarus 1995. Acrylic on canvas. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Purchased 1996
Lesson time: 90 Minutes
Class Limit: 35 students
Available from 20 May
How can you bend a beam of light and make it into art? Your class will explore the exhibition Wheriko – Brilliant! and discover how artist play with light, shadow and colour to make sculptures, photography and paintings. In the classroom they will create a brilliantly colourful, light-activated sun catcher. A fun lesson for young and old.
Student creating a sun Medallion.