Our working relationship: Bringing fine art to children

Together they have organised many trips and activities designed to allow early years children the freedom to explore art through their own perspectives and use their unique ideas and imaginations.

Greg Lane: ‘Just visiting a magnificent building like The National Gallery is so inspirational’

What goals did you set to achieve by working with Zoe?

I’ve always been passionate about bringing big experiences into children’s lives, and that includes art. I think there can be a bit of a misconception that early years is too young to appreciate fine art, but this simply isn’t true. Our children are fascinated by the paintings, reading their own interpretations into what the paintings are showing them.

My collaborations with Zoe are all about sowing seeds, not just for the children themselves but their families too. Children tell their parents about their visits to the National gallery, then parents go with them to have a look themselves. Then they walk down to Tate Modern, then Tate Britain – they no longer feel galleries are not for them. Sometimes when people see all this beautiful stuff, they feel excluded because they don’t have the background knowledge – this works against adults, but works well for children, who love all the grandeur and are not fazed by it at all.

How we work together…

I’ve collaborated with Zoe on lots of projects, it’s an ongoing partnership. Although I love art, I’m not an expert, and Zoe’s insights and knowledge have given children a whole new level of understanding. As an early years teacher, you need to be open to other people’s ideas. Your pedagogy should be strong enough to allow for a fresh approach coming from an outside agency – it’s a trade-off. I’ve learnt so much, my appreciation and understanding of art has grown a lot and working with Zoe has benefited our children on so many levels.

Just visiting a magnificent building like The National Gallery is so inspirational. You can see the children’s eyes light up in wonder as they look up at the architecture, and Zoe is great at bringing all the magic out, but not in a prescriptive way. Zoe encourages children to have their own ideas and knows how to bring out that fizz of inspiration – when you see it, you know.

Challenges we’ve faced…

Covid was challenging but also beneficial in some ways, as everything slowed down, giving us more time to focus on our relationships with children and families. Obviously, outings were put on hold, and we had to rely on social media to share our work with families, but the feedback was great.

It was during Covid that we received our ‘Invitations to Play’ resource boxes from The National gallery. These were developed for use primarily over lockdown when many children were mostly at home all day. They were designed and tested with input from our children here at Soho Nursery. I went on to share these boxes and the ideas they inspired in creative training sessions across the LEYF network. The boxes were great, containing pictures of paintings and an assortment of making materials, such as: coloured tape, a bespoke map drawing, cardboard construction shapes, a foil blanket, wool and cellophane sheets. Children loved how the coloured cellophane completely changed the mood of the paintings, and the foil blanket was a huge hit – children were fascinated by the way it caught the light and crinkled.

Why it works

One of my favourite collaborations with Zoe would be the exhibition and sharing event we hosted at The National Gallery. All exhibits were child-led projects about Soho. Children loved it, as you can imagine, and quite amazing to think our children’s work was on display – with a Rubens literally next door!

What’s next?

Me and Zoe are in the process of discussing what we can do next, but one project I’m working on here at Soho Nursery is our home-made planetarium. We ordered a massive tent with funding from Art in Action. With the children’s creativity and imagination, this will be transformed as part of our ‘The Sky Itself’ end-of-year project.

Zoe Bates: ‘By exploring a picture, they could use it to inspireactivities andstories’

What goals did you set to achieve by working with Greg?

My first connection with Greg was through Soho Nursery’s participation in the activity programme for the acquisition of Orazio Gentileschi’s The Finding of Moses; a painting that gave children a lot to think about. It sparked some great responses to what they saw and read into the work, through looking, talking and storytelling. By exploring a picture on their own terms, they could then use the painting to inspire activities and stories, making this a cross-curricular experience, bringing the painting to life.

This was just the beginning of what has become a creative partnership – leading to collaborations to develop new resources for families, consultation to inform the redevelopment of our education centre, and most recently an exhibition of children’s artwork at The National gallery.

I so enjoy working with Greg and the team at Soho Nursery. It’s a reciprocal relationship, a learning experience for us, the children and their families. Part of the reason our collaborations are so successful is down to the similarity in what we feel is so important: a national institution and a social enterprise with the same goal – to show that art and creativity is relevant, important and for everyone. Finding that like-minded person with whom you can share meaningful dialogue, and who is willing to have a go at projects with an open mind, is key to a good working relationship.

Challenges we’ve faced…

There are challenges involved when working on child-led projects, such as how do you demonstrate and share the benefits of what you’re doing? We are working with children directly, but how do you show others the value of that feeling of inspiration you see on their faces? It’s important to champion the work you do, so others have a clear picture of its significance. Our projects are not designed with a one-size-fits-all approach, but to rather build on existing research, and to encourage the natural inventiveness and curiosity of all children.

Why it works

Where me and Greg really come together is our shared thoughts on breaking down the intimidation factor, and using people power to become a conduit between audiences and the gallery.

As Greg has described, once the children and their families have stepped through the door to experience this beautiful building and see amazing art, they’re hooked! This is a big part of our collaboration, the breaking down of barriers between fine art and families who may feel it’s part of a different way of life that doesn’t include them. Greg always keeps cultural capital at the front of everything he does at the nursery, making sure no experiences are out of his children’s reach, which is our aim too.

Once we get talking, me and Greg have so many ideas, we lose track of time – that’s a sign of a good collaboration.

What’s next?

With next year being The National Gallery‘s 200th birthday, we’re really changing the way we work with children; Greg and Soho Nursery are a part of this. Greg’s children have explored our spaces and collections, showing us how we could change things for the better from a child’s perspective, and together with other forms of research both locally and nationally, continue to shape ideas for the way forward.

On 10 May 2024, we start the celebrations for The National Gallery’s bicentenary. For the entire year, we’ll celebrate our past and look forward to our future with a year-long festival of art, creativity and imagination. Greg and the children at Soho Nursery have provided insight here – not only sharing their ideas for new spaces for learning, but also input into child-led programmes that children and familieswill really want to engage with. Our aim going forward is to prioritise a focus on partnerships and co-creation.