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: 36 students
Your class will tour the exhibition Wheriko – Brilliant! and discover how artists from Aotearoa 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 Education Centre, 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: 36 students
Come along on a space odyssey as we tour the Gallery to discover how artists have interpreted space, the stars 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: 36 students
Let your class discover the works of the renowned New Zealand artist Bill Hammond. On a guided tour through his exhibition Bill Hammond: Playing the Drums, students will learn about and discuss the ideas and themes in the artist’s work. In the Education Centre, your class will collage, draw, drip and stencil to create 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: 36 students
Your class will take a guided tour through Bill Hammond’s exhibition Playing the Drums and discuss the iconic half-man half-bird creatures in his paintings. In the Education Centre, students 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: 36 students
How can you bend a beam of light and make it into art? Your class will explore the exhibition Wheriko – Brilliant! and discover how artists 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.
Gemma Smith Boulder #5 (Radiant) 2010. Acrylic. Private Collection, Sydney
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 36 students
Explore the work of a number of Māori artists on a guided tour of the exhibition Māori Moving Image. In the Gallery students will discuss whakapapa, land, identity and how you represent yourself in art. The tour is supported by a practical lesson in the Education Centre, where students will create a multi-layered sticker that represents who they are.
Lisa Reihana (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāi Tū), Native Portraits n.19897 (1997). Eleven-channel video waharoa. Courtesy of Te Papa Tongarewa
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 36 students
Journey through crisp autumns, icy winters, blossom-filled springs and scorching summers on a tour of our exhibition Turn, Turn, Turn and see how different artists have represented the seasons. In the Education Centre, students will be given painting tips and tricks, learn about colour mixing and create their own seasonal painting to keep.
Ethel Spowers Wet Afternoon 1930. Linocut. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, presented by Mr Rex Nan Kivell, 1953
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 36 students
Students will learn about the legends and beliefs associated with pounamu and take a tour around the Gallery to explore the ways different artists have used the stone in their work. In the Education Centre, students will sculpt their own taonga (treasure) to keep.
Joe Sheehan Menlo Mana 2005 South west coast pounamu (Haast region), light bulb, brass fitting, electric cord. Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2005
Lesson time: 90 minutes
Class Limit: 36 students
Students will look at and discuss a selection of landscape paintings from the Gallery’s collection. During the tour, students will consider how each work has been composed and explore how artists use colour and mark-making in their work. In the Education Centre, students will create their own layered collograph print of a landscape to take back to school.
Doris Lusk Summer Storm near Wanaka 1962. Oil on canvas board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, transferred from the Christchurch Town Hall, 2010