Shifting Styles activity
About Shifting Styles
Shifting Styles was an exhibition curated from the Hatton gallery collection, by students from the Art Museums and Galleries Studies (AMGS) postgraduate course at Newcastle University. The exhibition was due to be displayed at the Hatton gallery in March – April 2020, but unfortunately the gallery had to close due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Whilst researching the collection, AMGS students noticed that only one female artist, Louisa Hodgson, was represented in the works available to them for their exhibition, and they were keen to include this work.
A theme that students noticed was that many of the artists whose works were represented were also teachers. They felt a particular resonance with this idea, which became the focus for their exhibition. They wanted their show to reflect different styles of teaching that had taken place in the art department at Newcastle University.
The artists whose works they selected were Louisa Hodgson and Victor Pasmore who both had taught at Newcastle University. Each artist had a very different practice and teaching style. Shifting Styles aimed to compare not only their art work but also their contribution to artistic teaching at Newcastle University.
As part of the exhibition, students had designed their own activities for visitors to take part in. As we were unable to show the exhibition due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the activities are described below.
The group would love to see what you create.
Learning activity: Louisa Hodgson
Hodgson taught traditional techniques including perspective drawing, drawing from life and studies of form and composition. Hodgson also worked in tempera, inspired by vibrant colours in Italian Renaissance paintings. This egg-based mixture was used before oil paints became more widely available. With help from other departments, Hodgson made her own tempera using bright pigments to create bold colours.
This activity will focus on Hodgson’s sketching techniques. Browse the artist's works in our collection for inspiration.
You will need:
- A pen or pencil
- A piece of paper
- Look around your house and find a piece of material, for example, cotton, silk, sponge, plastic, bubble-wrap, foil etc. One of Hodgson’s primary focuses was material and how material could be portrayed or interpreted through her art.
Have a go!
How does your chosen material feel?
How could you describe the texture of this when drawing with pencil?
Move the material around and draw the way it sits, or the way shadowing and shade appears. If your material is shiny, how could you show this?
Think about varying your mark-making with cross-hatching or using volume. Also consider the ways you are making lines, are they straight or organic?
Learning activity: Victor Pasmore
Victor Pasmore is recognised as one of the co-founders of Basic Design. A new and radical way of learning, this method encouraged students to develop their own ideas and practice and work instinctively. Students were asked to create artwork focusing on simple and practical shapes and forms and explore different materials.
In this activity, we will focus on techniques taught by Victor Pasmore on the Basic Course. Browse the artist's work in our collection for inspiration.
You will need:
- Collected paper materials from around your house - these could be envelopes or scrap paper, or cut outs of magazines or newspapers.
- Glue
- Scissors
Create an abstract collage using these materials – you can use your imagination or base your collage on an object or household item. The most important thing is to go with your instinct.
Think about the shapes and forms you want to create. What do they remind you of? Do you have an idea of a collage shape before you started, or are you going to shape your collage as you go along?
Are you using colour or making the collage black and white?
Do you materials blend into each other or do they contrast? How do you feel about this?
