Deaf and Autistic Students Create Giacometti Inspired Art Works

Students from Oak Lodge School, Wandsworth at National Portrait Gallery at Giacometti-inspired workshops sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch
© Hazel Basran

Deaf and Autistic Students Create Giacometti Inspired Art Works. The National Portrait Gallery is working with two London schools, Oak Lodge School for students with hearing, speech, language and communication needs in Wandsworth and Drumbeat School for children and young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Brockley. The project involves artist-led creative workshops and Gallery visits inspired by its current critically acclaimed exhibition Giacometti: Pure Presence.

Students from Oak Lodge School, Wandsworth at National Portrait Gallery at Giacometti-inspired workshops sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch
© Hazel Basran

A workshop for students at Oak Lodge School takes place today Thursday 10 December and there will be a showcase private view of the students’ finished work at the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday 7 January 2016. This will also include finished work from students at Drumbeat.

Artists Chloe Cooper and Jasleen Kaur have worked with the students in the schools, the exhibition and the Gallery’s Learning Studio. The Gallery has engaged the students with Giacometti’s practice through a series of tailored practical workshops.

The hard-to-reach audiences who may have barriers to participating in cultural institutions, have been offered experiences not otherwise available in their schools. Some of the participants may not have been to a gallery or museum, and those who have, still require additional support to participate.

The Gallery has worked with both schools previously, and has seen the benefits that small interventions can have in encouraging these young people to participate in the visual arts. In-depth project work is only possible with additional funding, so thanks to the support of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, it has been possible to work with these schools again in a more rigorous way. The resulting work will be seen at a special view and photo-call on 7 January 2016.

Giacometti: Pure Presence is the first ever exhibition solely to consist of portraits by the twentieth-century artist Alberto Giacometti and opened at the National Portrait Gallery on 15 October. It runs until 10 January 2016. Comprising over 60 works, the exhibition includes paintings, sculptures and drawings, spanning the entire range of the Swiss artist’s career. Including very rare loans from private collections and seldom-seen portraits, the exhibition marks the fiftieth anniversary of Giacometti’s death.

Giacometti: Pure Presence is curated by Paul Moorhouse, the National Portrait Gallery’s Curator of Twentieth Century Portraits.