FREE Activity guide for families and schools
RED
L O O K
Use this guide to help you think about how you look at the artworks in the exhibition.
PICK AN ART WORK
If you are close, you can see detail. Further away you might see the overall pattern.
TA K E A S T E P B A C K
Even
further
away
and
you
see
the
context.
DOESITLOOKDIFFERENT
Think
about
the
physical
act
of
moving
and
looking.
TA K E A N O T H E R S T E P
HASTHEARTWORKCHANGED
T A K E A N O T H E R
A
N
D
A
N
O
T
H
E
R
W H A T I S H A P P E N I N G
D O E S T H E A R T W O R K
L
N
O
O
O
W
Y
K
O
C
U
A
O
R
M
E
A
P
T
L
T
H
E
E
T
O
T
E
H
L
E
Y
R
S
D
I
D
I
E
F
O
F
F
T
E
H
R
E
R
E
O
N
O
T
M
?
This guide can be used on its own or in conjunction with the BLUE Guide.
The Blue Guide will be available from April 2016
KALEIDOSCOPE
Modern Art Oxford is 50 years old this year. To celebrate we have
organised five exhibitions which will take place throughout the
year. Together they are called Kaleidoscope. Each exhibition will
include art works which have been shown at the gallery before,
alongside work by artists that will be showing their art here for
the first time. By bringing these artworks together we want to
think about our own history and how time can affect the way we
see things. Do we see an object or a picture differently because
it’s from the past? Why should that be? What happens when
you look at something old next to something new? This Activity
Guide can be used with all the exhibitions this year to help you
think about different ways of seeing, and how you can change
your view of the world.
e
u
l
B
d
e
R
Red
Blue
ultra-violet
violet
blue
green
yellow
orange
red
infra-red
Red and blue are at either end of the light spectrum. We
have different reactions to different colours and to different
artworks. This guide has been created to make you think
about how we physically see the world around us. Light
bounces off the things you are looking at, when that light
hits the back of your eyes it becomes an electrical signal
inside your brain. Your brain interprets these signals in
different ways. This guide will focus on how the eye works
physically and by becoming more aware of how we see how
that might affect the way we look at art.
At the back of this guide there is a Mini-Guide. You
can cut this out and make it into a small booklet.
The Kaleidoscope exhibitions will keep changing
over the year, to help keep track of this you can
bring this Mini-Guide back with you and add to it
each time. You could even combine the Red
Mini-Guide with the Blue one.
This guide is
printed by mixing
four main colours.
Count how many
works you can see
that use mainly one
colour.
cyan
yellow
magenta
black
Draw the artwork that you have spent the longest looking at.
Draw w
hat
it m
ak
es
yo
u
k
in
th
ab
out.
Your
brain
starts to
make links
with other things
that you have seen
and what you know.
Object
Light
Eyes
Brain
Ideas
W hen you
ge
th
o
When the light hits the
back of your eye it forms
an image upside
down. This only
gets turned
the right
way
around
by
your
brain.
m
e
it from memo
aw
r y.
r
d
w
ra
or k upside
ar tw
do
w
the
n.
th
e
.
Dr
aw
n
am
ap of the room a
k
ar
m
d
Seeing
is part of
how we know
where we are in
relationship to the rest of the world.
Draw
ad
et
ai
l
of
th
lo
ca
tio
no
f th
e ar twor k.
D
e
a
k
or
w
rt
Only after the signals
get towards the back of
your brain do we begin to
interpret the details of what
we are looking at.
Track how your eye moves...
Choose an artwork that has a lot happening in it, map how your eye moves around the surface area.
Start with where you look at first then draw a line to show how your eye moves to look at the next.
...around the gallery.
Stand in the corner of the gallery and map how your eye moves around the gallery. Start with where you
look first then draw a line to show where your eye moves to next, then where you are drawn back to.
Change how you see.
cut or rip
Imagine you are a fly.
Fly eye view:
Flies see the world very differently to us. Imagine you are fly on the wall in the gallery.
Poke lots of small holes in the red areas with a sharp pencil or a pin. Then try looking through lots of holes at
once with both eyes open. You are getting a fly eye view. Do a fly eye drawing, draw what you can see in the
hexagons.
Change the way your
camera sees.
Try taking pictures or a film
through the fly eye page.
Photograph through a rolled
up page of the guide
Put a piece of fabric infront
of the camera lens (a sleeve
or a scarf).
fold
Take pictures with your
camera upside down on the
floor.
Draw the front cover
MINI-GUIDE
cut
Go to your favourite spot!
Instructions.
Stand in your favourite spot in MAO, what can you
see? Make an observational drawing from that
position.
Each time you return go back to your favourite spot,
can you see anything new or something you hadn’t
noticed before and add it to your drawing?
Give yourself instructions. This could be to do with
how long you spend in front of an artwork and what
you might think about on your next visits:
Second visit instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
...........................................
Task completed
yes
no
Third visit instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
...........................................
Task completed
yes
no
Fourth visit instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
...........................................
Task completed
yes
no
Fifth visit instruction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
..........................................
Task completed
yes
no
Do a fly eye drawing
cut
Draw a self portrait: Use these eyes as a starting point. On one side draw a positive drawing on the
fold
reverse side draw a negative. For the negative side shade it dark where you see something light and where
you see something dark leave it white.
Schools
Schools and
and Groups
Groups Activities.
Activities.
3D Drawing
Design your own glasses, cut the frames out of card. Use red
acetate for one lens and blue for the other. Glue them in place. Tape
a red and blue pen together so their nibs are close and both touch
the paper when you draw. Make a blue and red line drawing on
graph paper. Put your glasses on and see how it looks. Make a large
version of your drawings or work as a group to make a drawing
over the floor or walls of your classroom using red and blue electrical tape. Experience your tape drawing by standing or sitting inside
it with your glasses on. Search for anaglyphs online and use your
glasses.
Periscope
Make a periscope by following these instructions: make
a tube out of cardboard that is the same width as 2 small
mirrors. Angle both mirrors at 45 degrees and secure the
mirrors with tape. Make sure your mirrors are angled so
that the top mirror is reflecting down the tube and an
image can be seen in the bottom mirror. Cut some flaps
opposite the mirrors and close off the ends.
Make some drawings through your periscope without
looking at your paper. Can you use your periscope to view
places or get a better view of places you wouldn’t usually
see? Try over a wall, around a corner, through the
classroom window or around the door. What about up a
tree? Try and photograph or film through your periscope.
Camera Hacking
Taking the idea of a ‘fly on the wall’, make a device to
adapt the regular view of your camera. Take inspiration
from how different animals and insects see. In groups
you could make a device that widens your field of vision,
creates a fly eye multiple view or allows you to view odd
places we don’t usually see close up like under the
table or a ceiling corner. You could use a long tube, film
through a colander, or a distorting lens. Now create a film
using your alternative view and play it back to the rest of
the group. How does it feel watching it back? Films could
also be projected onto different areas of the room or over
objects.
Kaleidoscope
Twitter: @mao_gallery
Instagram: @mao_gallery
Facebook: ModArtOxford
Free Admission
Donations Welcome
Free artist led workshops, for schools and other groups, are
available during each exhibition.
Opening Hours
11am – 6pm Tuesday – Saturday
12pm – 5pm
Sunday
Closed Monday
Workshops last approx. 2.5hrs and can be tailored to group
sizes and year groups. Please note that groups should be no
larger than 20 and that we cannot offer a dedicated lunch
space.
Modern Art Oxford is a fully accessible venue.
To book a workshop, discuss dates, times or any specific
needs you have, please contact:
Ben Roberts, Curator of Education and Public Programmes
ben.roberts@modernartoxford.org.uk
If you have any questions, please ask one of our Visitor
Assistants who will be happy to help.
Museum of Modern Art Oxford Ltd is a Registered Charity no 313035
This activity guide has been designed by Georgie Manly & Judith Brocklehurst for Modern Art Oxford
© Modern Art Oxford, 2016
Printed by Newspaper Club newspaperclub@newspaperclub.com
Modern Art Oxford is supported by:
The current programme is generously supported by: