On Thursday 17th October our Year 10 GCSE Art students had the opportunity to The Barber Institute of Fine Arts on the University of Birmingham campus.
We were privileged to have an informative guided tour around the galleries. Our guide firstly taught us how to read an artwork and how we should give artworks time to fully understand them. We were told some facts about the history of oil painting such as how natural ultramarine pigment was made from ground lapis lazuli. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was the most expensive pigment available (gold being second) and was often reserved for depicting the robes of Angels and there are many examples of this at the gallery.
We were also lucky enough to see the new exhibition ‘Scent and the Art of the Pre Raphaelites’ which combined famous artworks with fragrances. All students enjoyed the sensory interactive experience.
Students enjoyed some independent study time so they could look in more depth at artwork of their choice. We take our photographs, sketches and ideas back to the classroom, they will help the students to develop their own ideas. All students behaved impeccably, contributed to discussions and asked lots of questions and we hope to have more art trips in 2025.
L. Walton
