Art certainly imitates life at the New Art Gallery in Walsall, where a children's section is at the very foundation of a brand-new 21m, Lottery-boosted building that opened in February at the top of the Midlands town's high street. Step into the Discovery Gallery just inside the main entrance, and educators will recognise the components of any early years setting, a role-play corner, a dressing-up area, a puppet theatre, a drawing table, a storytelling corner, computer corners, tactile and shape-sorting displays, all linked with original new works by the likes of Damien Hirst and other contemporary artists.
'The gallery should be about play, and how you can learn from play,' says education officer Nicky Boden, who stresses the gallery's principles of accessibility and interaction. She thinks too many galleries for contemporary art have a 'white box' approach, that offers visitors no interpretation of the works to start from. The Discovery exhibits, on the other hand, positively prod children into interpreting them, by acting them out or re-creating them.
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