Gallery Activity 1: Closer-Look Scavenger Hunt
Begin this activity by talking about how sometimes it's hard to see the big picture and how sometimes an image only tells us part of a story. Have the kids get into teams of two, three or four, whichever you prefer. Pass out copies of the “Closer-Look Scavenger Hunt” handout. Explain only that they are very close-up pictures of things in the room, and show them what you mean by comparing your sample photo to the actual object. Now send them off to find the other objects in teams. Each time they find one, have them write it on the sheet of paper next to the photo. When everyone has finished, have the kids reconvene.
Gallery Activity 2: The Artists’ Point of View
Ask the students to draw a picture of one particular place they all know. It could be the place they visited on their last field trip, the local park, or the front of the school, the gym or football stadium. When they are finished, exhibit the pictures and discuss the different approaches the students took to describe one particular, shared place.
Gallery Activity 3: Write-it-Out
Ask the students to choose a work in the gallery to focus on for a mini-creative writing project. Try to encourage an even distribution of students around the room (no more than 3 per photograph). Using their individual visual prompts, ask them to imagine themselves inside of the photograph. Have them write a paragraph about what it feels like, smells like, sounds like or what happens to a person in that setting. When they are finished, have the students read their paragraphs aloud and discuss the different approaches they used to tell about their experiences “inside the frame.”
Gallery in the Classroom
Curate your own class collection at school. Using a disposable camera, as well as the lessons on perspective, distance, angling and framing learned at the gallery, give each student the opportunity to design and take their own picture. Try to focus the students’ subjects on either the same room/space/area or theme. After developing the film, arrange the photographs in one area of the room. As a group, discuss the different approaches the students took to visually describe and record one particular place or theme.
