Why Should Children Visit Art Galleries?

   Picture courtesy of Robert Wallace via Flickr 

I just love a visit to see an art gallery or an exhibition so on Saturday I went up to the Platform Gallery in Clitheroe to view a felt exhibition, Black Sheep:The Darker Side of Felt. It's not the first exhibition of felt work I've seen, in fact it was seeing and viewing felt art in the flesh that inspired me to learn felt making in the first place. 

It was by far the most 'alternative' felt work I've seen; from needle felted skeletons to felt interpretations of the 7 deadly sins, it was definitley a thought provoking body of work. As with any exhibition, there were pieces I loved, in particular an enormous wall hanging that reminded me of jelly fish. 

One aspect of the exhibition I particularly liked were the handling tables piled high with felted objects to pick up and feel - a fabulous idea as felt is a particularly tactile art form that I find I just want to touch and feel and I could see how children would be straight in there feeling everything (because that's exactly what I did!)

It got me thinking about taking children to art galleries to view exhibitions. Last year, artist Jake Chapman was quoted as saying that taking children to galleries was a 'total waste if time' (you can read the article from the BBC here). Is he right? No - I strongly believe he is not! 

One of his arguments is that children can't understand the art as well as adults. Really? There's a lot of artwork I'm not sure I understand BUT I can experience it, appreciate it and maybe even be inspired by it without understanding it and so to can children. 

As a teacher, I regularly share images of artists work with children. Back in March, I delivered a half day felt workshop inspired by Lowry to a Year 4 class. We began by looking at images of Lowry's work on the whiteboard and  identifying what we could see, what we liked, what we didn't like, how it made us feel and the children's responses were, at times,mind blowing. Their insights were fascinating and, after 10 years of teaching and delivering art lessons, I can tell you this is not a rare occurrence.  What would have made my session better would be if I'd been able to actually take the children to view Lowry's original work at The Lowry in Salford - imagine their insights if they could see it up close and personal and truly appreciate the work that had gone into it. For one, on the internet you really can't appreciate the size or texture created in a piece.

Taking children to view art work in the flesh is, I feel, an extremely important tool in art education in allowing children to experience & feel art and, most importantly, be inspired by it.