Linked to the exciting Exhibition Road development to create a new entrance and courtyard for the Museum which is due to open later this year, the V&A’s Learning Department has received funding for the next three years from John Lyon’s Charity to support its programme for Primary Schools and Families. The grant funds ‘Door to Design’ a learning programme working with three local schools and their families.
Since February, the three participating schools for Door to Design Year 1 have visited us regularly to learn about architecture, heritage and engineering. Each school has been working alongside an architect, artist or designer to explore how the new entrance will welcome visitors and to inspire their own architectural designs and projects.
The sessions will culminate in a Family Celebration Day on Saturday8 July 2017 in the John Lyon’s Community Gallery based in the V&A’s Sackler Centre showcasing the students work. The aim of the Family Celebration Day is to bridge the children’s lives at school with their lives at home, raise aspirations and enable a broader range of people to engage with heritage and design.
St Mary’s Ca
tholic Primary School has been working with Bethan Durie, a visual artist focused on illustration, textile design and printmaking. Year 4 students had the opportunity to discover the V&A through observational drawing, photography, collage and to create their own artist sketchbook. On their second visit, students created wire structures inspired by their drawings.
Holy Trinity CE Primary School is working alongside YOU&ME, a multi-disciplinary architecture platform established by architects Alicja Borkowska and Iris Papadatou. Their expertise lies in retail and commercial interiors, exhibitio
n design, public realm installations and high street regeneration projects.
Year 3 & 4 students went on a creative ‘treasure hunt’ around the V&A to discover how the building has evolved over time. Pretending to be architects, students looked for unexpected details, measuring galleries, taking photos and drawing their own ideas for new galleries and displays. On their second visit, they met with Hailee Kukura, Exhibition Road Project Coordinator to discover all about the new development opening later this year. Inspired by the tiles and patterns in the museum’s new entrance, students designed a section of the floor using collage materials and pictures they took on their first visit.
Barlby Primary School and Kaleidoworks, an art collective established by Lydia CS and Betsy Dadd working with film, animation and drawing.
Kaleidoworks in collaboration with the students from Year 4, have explored the past and present of the V&A building through collage, drawing and collecting rubbings around the different galleries. They photographed all their work at the end of the session to create an animated GIF. On their second visit, students learnt about tiles and how they are made and they created their own ones using clay inspired by the new courtyard. They also explored the sound the tiles produce when touched or tapped to create a ceramic orchestra.
These three schools will keep visiting the V&A on a regular basis in the upcoming months to work together with the artists towards the exhibition display for the Family Celebration Day.
We cannot wait to see it!
