How to create your own Writing Through Art project
Art can be an inspiration for talking and writing in the classroom. Every year a
collaborative of schools in the London Borough of Islington (see case study) take
part in the Writing through Art course where KS2 pupils (usually Year 4) study 5
paintings and use these to inspire shared or individual writing.
Below we offer a step by step guide to creating similar resources.
Step 1
Select the Paintings
When choosing your paintings, a key point to consider is whether or not it
encourages your pupils to “read” it. Does it inspire questions?
You may wish to include famous pieces of art to help develop your pupils’
knowledge of artists but also you may wish to include a piece of art because it may
prove an inspiration for writing. Generally pieces of art with figures (particularly
children), will draw pupils in and hook them into the painting.
Step 2
Encourage speculation or prediction
Don’t rush into analysing the pieces of art or
providing background information. Let the pupils
form their own viewpoint or questions about the
painting first and then help them to build this as a
class.
One way to encourage pupils to form their own
interpretation is to use a slow reveal approach.
Select a small aspect of the painting and crop it
from the original. For example , in 2013, when
studying The Waterseller of Seville by Velazquez in
Apsley House pupils were first presented with
the cropped image below and speculated on the
figures: age, feelings, lifestyle and location before
seeing the whole paintings. This sets up
expectations for the pupils which they have to
reconsider when they see the whole painting. It
may also help to focus pupils’ initial attention
which may be unfocused if asked to focus on the
whole painting from the start.
A different approach is to remove certain details
from the main painting and ask pupils to speculate on
what might be missing. The example below from the
2011 project at Kenwood House, extracts the figure
of the three main characters from the painting Mrs
Tollemache as Miranda by Joshua Reynolds and asks
pupils to speculate on what we might be able to
deduce about them from their size and space in the
painting.
Through these discussions pupils start to form
stories which help them understand and attain an
initial standpoint and engagement with the paintings.
Step 3
Talk
Once the pupils are hooked it’s important they have opportunities to talk and
discuss their ideas with one another. At this stage the focus will be on the painting as
a whole but we still refrain from providing any background knowledge or our own
interpretation to them. Ask open questions which might encourage a number of
different responses rather than a set right or wrong response.
Example questions could be:
- How do you feel the artist felt at the time when creating this painting?
- Why do you think the artist chose to paint this scene?
Another approach is to withhold key information regarding the painting. While
studying Mrs Tollemache as Miranda pupils were not informed of the paintings title
and were asked to propose and explain possible titles for the painting.
An alternative option is to provide each group with a different focus. In the 2012
course at Kenwood, while studying Old London Bridge by De Johnge each group was
give a different section of the bridge below: the wealthy city of London on the left or
the poor Southwark district on the right and had to construct a persuasive argument
as to why someone should visit their side of the bridge.
Step 4
Background Detail
By this stage many pupils will have already formed a number of questions they’d like
answered regarding the painting. You may want to provide time for building up a list
of questions they’d like answered while suggesting it may not be possible to receive a
definitive answer to all of them.
Provide a brief summary of the painting and artist for pupils. Be sensitive to pupils’
pre formed interpretations. Providing a date is important but perhaps some
historical context too. Offer opportunities for pupils to undertake further research
on the painting and to share this with the class.
Step 5
Writing Task
Pupils are now ready for the writing task. Try to provide imaginative ways for pupils
to respond to the paintings studies. Recounts, letter writing and creative writing all
have their place but pupils also respond well to new forms of writing. For example a
popular activity in the 2012 course was to create a Top Trump card celebrating the
attributes of the Duke of Wellington after study the Sir Thomas Lawrence portrait.
Another approach is to match the writing task to the artist’s intention in the original
painting. In the 2012 course pupils studied Hogarth’s satirical painting A Taste of the
High Life and were invited to create a satirical play script to accompany the scene.
Despite the perceived difficulty of the task pupils greatly enjoyed it and created some
fantastic (and amusing) writing. Storyboards and comic strips can provide inspiring
too and can help pupils consider what happened before and after the moment
captured in the painting.
During the course we offer the teachers an opportunity to decide if they’d like each
pupil to undertake the writing task individually or if the class would like to create a
shared piece of writing. Shared writing is often underused in schools and helps to
build on the dialogue and questioning the resources stimulate and can help pupils
understand the process of drafting and redrafting.
Step 6
Share the Writing
It’s important we consider ways we can share the writing the pupils create. In the
Writing through Art course each school selects some examples of their classes
writing and shares them on an online platform for other classes to read and
comment upon. This provides a real audience for the writing provides comparative
pieces and continues the dialogue.
Other successful approaches include building a classroom or hall display around the
piece of art, presenting to an assembly or to another class.