Projects
Gainsborough's Landscapes
February - June 2012
We set up a Flickr site to accompany our Gainsborough's Landscapes schools programme.
See the students work and leave comments.
Kineton High Youth Forum
Summer 2011
We worked with students from Kineton High to devise our summer family activities. Read their blog here.
Make Your Own Paper Boat
In our family activity to accompany our Alfred Wallis and Ben Nicholson exhibition, we're challenging people to make their own paper boat.
Download instructions here or watch a video.
After Schools Club
2010
Year 9 students from Kineton High School took part in after schools clubs held at Compton Verney, organised in partnership with Warwickshire Extended Services.
The students worked with artist Dinny Jones and explored our Folk Art collection. They learnt a variety of printing techniques, including stenciling, poly-printing and lino-cut, working towards a Bronze Arts Award (equivalent to half a GCSE). A selection of the students’ work was exhibited in Compton Verney’s public space between March – July 2010.
This project has been made possible through Museum Network funding and the work of Compton Verney's learning team.
Francis Bacon: In Camera Performance Project
2010
60 Key Stage 3 students from five different schools took part in free one-day schools programmes linked to the temporary exhibition Francis Bacon: In Camera.
Compton Verney and Motionhouse Dance invited students to participate in an exciting and innovative cross-discipline arts experience. Over the course of the day students explored the life and art of Francis Bacon, the human figure in motion, the photographic work of Eadweard Muybridge and figurative paintings of Francis Bacon, followed by an experiential dance workshop. As a result the students learnt new skills and created their own dance material.
This project was made possible through Museum Network funding and the work of Compton Verney's learning team.
Naples Performance Project
January and February 2010
Compton Verney invited 10 Key Stage 3 and 4 students from partner Cardinal Newman Roman Catholic School in Coventry to take part in a free five-day workshop.
Over the five days the students participated in an exciting and innovative cross-discipline arts experience. They explored the Naples Collection and took the theme of the power of nature as a starting point. Working with Louise Richards, Executive Director of Motionhouse Dance the students took part in experiential dance workshops and responded to the artworks through choreographing their own movements and dances.
The workshop culminated in an evening showcase where parents were invited to the school to watch the student’s final choreographed dance.
This project was made possible through Museums Network funding and the work of Compton Verney’s learning team.
Then and Now
July 2009
Then and Now was a collaborative project between Compton Verney and the Pound Lane Centre, a pupil re-integration unit based in Leamington Spa. The aim of the project was to engage eight young people with their local community through art and history.
Working with local artist Beccy Roberts and community historian Jennifer Cranfield, the students were given the opportunity to develop new skills and techniques including screen printing, clay sculpture, ceramic glazing, interviewing and collecting oral histories.
The young people then passed on these new found skills to four elderly people from Galanos House, a Royal British Legion care home. This project has been made possible through Awards for All Lottery funding and the work of Compton Verney's learning team.
Sketch
January 2009
Compton Verney, The Arvon Foundation and Publishing House Me took 16 Gifted and Talented Young People from across the West Midlands and gave them the opportunity to combine visual arts and writing in the exciting project Sketch. They took part in a week's residential based at Compton Verney and The Hurst Centre in Shropshire, exploring the links between the sketchbook and the notebook. The young people worked with artist Mary Riley and writer James Friel exploring and creating work in response to the landscape.
Throughout the week the 16 young people worked towards their Bronze Arts Award with all successfully achieving a national qualification.
An exhibition of the students work will be on display at Compton Verney in the summer.
Sketch was made possible by a grant from the Arts Council West Midlands and the West Midlands Gifted and Talented partnership.
Explore
November 2007 - June 2008
The Explore project has given eight galleries in England and Wales the chance to focus on disabled and deaf people as audiences, participants and artists. Galleries in the West Midlands, London and Wales were chosen by SHAPE and engage to participate in this national pilot programme.
The project took place over six months, and culminated in the production of a video piece Struggling with the Edges. The piece was created by nine participants from Warwickshire Association for the Blind in collaboration with Compton Verney, artist Pamela Wells and audio describer Anne Hornsby. It explores the group's experience of artworks and art galleries and took inspiration from the James Coleman exhibition shown at Compton Verney between March - June 2008.
As a result of the project, Compton Verney's staff are now trained audio describers for the visually impaired, if you would like to find out more or take part in an audio described tour of the collection please contact us.
"Struggling with the Edges" was produced as part of the Explore Project, supported by SHAPE and engage, made possible by a grant from The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust through The Ann Rylands Special Project.
52 views, 52 schools
March - June 2007
52 Views, 52 Schools was an e-learning project for schools which accompanied the exhibition Opulence & Anxiety: Landscape paintings from the Royal Academy of Arts at Compton Verney in spring 2007.
Young curators project
May 2007
Year 10 students from Chenderit School in Northamptonshire became Young Curators at Compton Verney as part of the Arts Award. The students worked with a member of the Compton Verney Learning Team on a number of projects linked to our the exhibition Opulence & Anxiety, including writing a review of the show. Their final challenge was to lead a guided tour of the exhibition for a group of 30 of their peers, an intimidating experience for even the most experienced curator!
The Arts Award is a national qualification conceived in the West Midlands which is managed by the Arts Council England and Trinity Hall. It is the first project of its kind that recognises young people's development through the arts. To find out more visit www.artsaward.org.uk
Outreach projects archive
Little books for little people
In 2004 children and parents from three local toddler groups (Southam Primary School, Kineton Parents and Toddler Group and Tysoe Pre-School) came to Compton Verney. They explored the grounds, lake and wildlife and recorded their observations on digital cameras. They produced three books: 'The Monster of the Compton Verney Lake'; 'Compton Verney Through a Child's Eye' and 'Tysoe Goes Fishing in the Snow'. The books are now displayed in the Resource Area. These groups returned in the summer for the 'Big Picnic', a fabulous day of activities in the grounds of Compton Verney and the British Folk Art Gallery.
Projects for young people
Food Glorious Food involved young people creating posters which advocate healthy eating, using the still life paintings from the Naples Collection as inspiration.
Mondrian Inspired Designs was a project that used Compton Verney's exhibition Only Make-Believe and focused on a painting by the Belgian artist Mondrian. Young people designed and painted wall hangings and furniture to improve and imprint their own stamp on their youth centre space.
These projects gave young people the opportunity to work with artists, use various techniques and materials, and experiment with digital photography.
Playtime memories
A partnership project between Compton Verney and Heritage Education (Warwick). Inspired by Compton Verney's exhibition Only Make-Believe, which was curated by Marina Warner, this reminiscence project involved a group of active elderly people from Morton Morrell, who discussed their memories of play using toys and games from the past. The responses of the group were collated in 'Reminiscence Boxes' which will be used in the future and offer links to Compton Verney's British Folk Art Collection and the doll and toy collections at Warwickshire Museums.
Coming...Ready or not!
The aim of 'Coming...Ready or not!' was to work closely with children, parents and grandparents from the same family living in the same village (Harbury) in the rural area around Compton Verney. Using a handling collection as a stimulus, they discussed their memories of play, games and toys. During the project, family members found their favourite toys and games and shared their memories about them. The aim of the project was for participants to engage with the collections at Compton Verney, most noteably the exhibition Only Make-Believe: Ways of Playing.
This project would not have been a success without the help of Nigel Chapman, Deputy Headteacher of Harbury Primary School and the following family members: Alexandra, Deborah, Henry and Michael Steele; Liz and Brian Cooke; Emily, Jill, Lucy, Robin and Samuel Davis; Sheila Carr; Alison, Hannah, Pauline, Rodney and Tim Baldwin; Tako Houtzager; Abi, Alison, Andrew, Jacob, Joseph and Karyn Hunt.
Textile sandwich at Walford Lodge
'I feel like an artist', Becky, workshop participant with baby Hayden.
This project brought artist Anne Marie Cadman, Gina Dréano (Education and Outreach Officer for Compton Verney) and Cathryn Ravenhall (Community Arts Officer for Warwickshire) to Walford Lodge, Leamington, to run a series of textile workshops for young parents. Participants created their own 'textile sandwich' incorporating a range of mediums including fabrics, personal objects, keepsakes and photographs. They also produced laminated textile pieces for mobiles and window panels. The aim of the project was to enable young parents to work with a practicing artist. A complimentary trip to Compton Verney was offered to all participants.