Key Stage

KS1 (ENG), KS2 (ENG), FD (NI), KS1 (NI), KS2 (NI), CfE L1 (SCO), CfE L2 (SCO), PS2 (WAL), PS3 (WAL)
Art term

Visual literacy
Created by

The Superpower of Looking
Topics

Children, Streets and squares, Gardens and green spaces

Take part in The Superpower of Looking's Art Adventure

The Superpower of Looking's Art Adventure – the ultimate school trip – took place on the afternoon of Wednesday 2nd October 2024. Hundreds of schools across the country took part in this event during Art UK's Visual Literacy Week celebrations, but you can still use the Art Adventure resources any time you like!

How to take part

Watch the Art Adventure film above with your class: artist Sarah Graham will lead you on a virtual visit to discover artworks in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, and The New Art Gallery Walsall. Pause points offer a chance to stop the film for class discussion at 02:40 and 05:07.
Explore the artworks using zoomable images and prompt questions provided to support students in making their own observations and sharing their own ideas.
Create collages to celebrate the place where you live, taking inspiration from the artworks you have discovered.
Use our sensory 'everyone learning' activity suggestions if you'd like to explore the artworks in different ways, supporting a variety of learning needs.

This set of activities is expected to take 1.5 hours, not including the option to complete an Arts Award Discover.

Download teachers' notes here to support your delivery in the classroom.

Contextual background for teachers

This information on both artworks is provided to support you in exploring the artworks with your students. You may wish to share some of this information with your students after they have had chance to explore the artworks for themselves.

Two Children (1963)
Joan Eardley (1921–1963)

Medium: oil & collage on canvas
Dimensions: H 134.7 x W 134.7 cm

The children who played on the streets of Glasgow became popular subject matter for Joan Eardley, whose studio was in the city's East End. Her neighbours and favourite models, two girls from the Samson family, are the focus of this work. Eardley makes use of collage within this oil painting, adding foil sweet wrappers and scraps of newspaper to the canvas – found items you might expect to encounter on the city streets. Stencilled letters give the impression of a city environment, suggesting the signs of local businesses such as the 'metal scrap store'.

Rhodroponicum (2005)
Melanie Carvalho (b.1969)

Medium: mixed media on paper
Dimensions: H 152 x W 122 cm

As inspiration for this work, Melanie Carvalho explored the west coast of Scotland in search of non-indigenous plant species. Plants such as rhododendrons and palm trees, which feature prominently in this artwork, are not native to Scotland but have found a home there. The work explores our global society and questions what (or whom) we expect to encounter in the Scottish countryside, which is seen through a window in the centre. The title, Rhodroponicum, is a composite word: a collage, perhaps, of 'rhododendron' and 'hydroponicum' – an enclosed growing system, like the fantasy greenhouse Carvalho depicts here.

What do you see?

Activity time: 15–20 minutes.

Now it's your turn to use your Superpower of Looking. You might wish to explore both images or to focus on the artwork of your choice.

Open the zoomable image of Two Children in a new window.

Display the image on your whiteboard to explore the details of the artwork as a class. Or, students could explore the artwork independently on electronic tablets.

Use the questions provided below to encourage close-looking and class discussion.

What do you notice about the girls in the artwork?
Can you find any clues that this is a city environment?
Can you spot any words in the artwork? Why do you think the artist has included these?
What might you be able to smell and hear if you were transported into the artwork?

Open the zoomable image of Rhodroponicum in a new window.

Again, use the zoom feature and prompt questions to explore the details of the artwork.

Did you spot anything in the artwork which Sarah didn't?
Where are your eyes drawn first? Why?
How many people can you spot? How many animals?
Imagine you could step into the artwork. Where would you want to explore? What would you want to do?

Image credit: Helen Jones

Create your own collage

Activity time: 30–60 minutes.

We invite you to create your own collage, inspired by the works of Joan Eardley and Melanie Carvahlo. Both artists created their collages based on particular places, so your challenge is to create a collage about the town, city or village where you live.

You might want to collect things such as sweet wrappers and found images from newspapers and magazines. Or you might want to go for a local walk to collect fallen treasures – such as plants and flowers – and to photograph the things you find. You could include people and animals in your collages too.

We invite you to bring all your completed collages together and compose them into one, large class collage. Why not display your collected artworks in your school to celebrate the place where you live?

We'd love to see your students' artworks! Photograph your class collage and share your photos with us on social media using the hashtags #ArtAdventure and #VisualLiteracyWeek. Don’t forget to tag us using our social media handles:

Instagram: @thesuperpoweroflooking
X: @SuperpowerLook
Facebook: @The Superpower of Looking

Materials

You will need:

1 piece of white card per student
collage materials such as newspapers, magazines, photographs, plants, flowers
pencils for sketching ideas
pastels, paint, coloured pencils or crayons
scissors
glue

Everyone learning

You may like to explore the artworks in different ways with your students. These sensory activities encourage students to apply their learning and can suit a variety of learning needs. You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking SEND/ASD/ALN/ASN approach on the Superpower homepage.

Experience

Gather objects related to one of the artworks and explore them with all your senses. Here are some of our suggestions:
- Rhodroponicum: fallen treasures from a garden or park such as leaves, twigs, flowers and pebbles; scented flowers like lilies; something bendy like a slinky toy; a string of pearls or beads; a viewfinder (card with a square cut out of it) to create a window looking out onto your surroundings.
- Two Children: foil and sweet wrappers, torn pieces of different papers including newspaper, scraps of fabric of different textures and patterns, stencils with paper and pencils.
Tell the story of one of the artworks using only sounds. Use your voice, the rest of your body or the objects around you to create sounds.

Make

Rhodroponicum: create a tactile map of an imaginary journey through the artwork. Draw or use string to plot your journey. Place sensory objects (e.g. flowers and leaves) and create sounds along your route to show what you might see, smell, hear or feel on the way.
Two Children: create a tactile portrait of yourself and a friend, using tissue paper and PVA glue on a sheet of thick cartridge paper. Use your hands to shape the paper into faces, bodies and clothing. You could roll up pieces of paper to make buttons, or twist it to make hair. How many different shapes can you make with this single material?

Communicate

Choose your favourite colour in one of the artworks and make up a new name for it.
Use Makaton signs to communicate about key objects you discover in the artworks.

Arts Award Discover

Art Adventure activities have been designed to support children in achieving an Arts Award Discover – Arts Award's introductory level which develops knowledge and understanding of the arts and boosts children's creativity and communication skills. Arts Award-trained teachers may wish Art Adventure activities to contribute to students completing this award.

Our Arts Award Discover resource makes it easy for children to record their learning and evidence the activities they have taken part in. You can download the resource here.

To deliver an Arts Award with your class, you first need to train as an Arts Award adviser. Find out more about Arts Award adviser training and the costs of entering students for the Arts Award, including receiving a certificate.

Thank you for taking part in The Superpower of Looking's Art Adventure!

We hope you enjoy taking part in the Art Adventure alongside schools across the UK.

Don't forget to share your students' artworks with us on social media using the hashtags #ArtAdventure and #VisualLiteracyWeek and our handles:

Instagram: @thesuperpoweroflooking
X: @SuperpowerLook
Facebook: @The Superpower of Looking

There are plenty more resources to explore from The Superpower of Looking. To continue using your Superpower of Looking in the classroom, browse further resources online.