Over 30 children with special educational needs and disabilities enjoyed art sessions at the V&A Museum with our funding

Over 30 young people with special educational needs and disabilities enjoyed art workshops at the V&A museum.

Funded by ArtSocial, the V&A ran three sessions from September to December 2018, based around some of the most popular objects in their collections.

For the first session 15 students aged 16 to 19-years-old, with a range of multiple learning difficulties from Samuel Rhodes School in Islington, enjoyed learning about the extravagant fashion of the 18th-century. Students were encouraged to uncover the fashion of the period in a hands-on, multi-sensory workshop, and visited the V&A’s Norfolk House Music Room in the British galleries to experience the kind of environment in which these magnificent outfits would have been worn.

After visiting the room, the students returned to the Learning Studio to take part in a practical designing and making activity, inspired by the dress.

“This was the best session!” a teacher said.

While the second session involved eight 14 to 15-year-olds from Woodlane High School, Acton, who took part in a workshop based on the medieval Boar and Bear Hunt Tapestry.

A teacher at the workshop said: “Making a tapestry was really fun and good to work as a group together. We really enjoyed learning the weaving technique!”

The students uncovered the rich story woven into the medieval tapestry and the people and animals it depicts. Using a resource box, students discovered how tapestries were made during a hands-on, multi-sensory session. Returning to the studio after lunch, students took part in a practical activity inspired by the tapestry and were encouraged to try out weaving skills themselves.

Students from Clifton Primary School in Ealing took part in the final session based on the Iranian Picnic Tiles. They visited the beautiful tiled panel from Iran, which shows a colourful springtime picnic scene. After this they recreated the scene using a range of objects, before making their own tile designs.

A teacher added: “It was lovely, the children gained so much from it, I think they will talk about it for a while.”

We, at ArtSocial, are happy to hear the positive feedback about the programme and look forward to sharing updates about more sessions in the Spring term as we continue to fund more workshops at the V&A Museum.

For more information, visit our project page.