Gallery Visit: the Whitechapel

A visit to a gallery is a special and memorable occasion and there is much to learn for younger children just in making the journey and beginning to understand what an art gallery is. An important part of the visit to the Whitechapel was establishing the idea of photography as an art form for the pupils.

A lot of them didn't know that art wasn't just drawings and paintings. They now recognise photographs as art, especially after making their own work. They learned to really look at the detail in photography. (Helen McDonnell)

Clearly for Laurie Long one of the key aims of this initial session was to engage the children in looking carefully at photographs and begin to study them.

It was enjoyable to do a question and answer session with the kids in the gallery and get them engaged. That was the beginning of getting them to look in more detail and to 'read' pictures. (Laurie Long)