The artist takes a clock and ‘breaks’ it in a cubist manner– copy this idea with familiar objects trying to break up an object as if seen from different view points or fragmented through a lens, and try to track moving parts (e.g. the pendulum) by repetition. Use this to research Picasso and Braque Cubist work which explored and abstracted every day objects.

The Redon picture makes every day game objects seem disturbing by using scale, juxtaposing objects and showing something odd creeping up the hat. Pupils could take the familiar and the comfortable and try to include it in a surreal composition by displacing or dislocating the image or by adding something that would be out of context.

This painting takes a simple jug of flowers and gives it impact by the vital use of colours and the lively expressionist brushwork. Use this as a starting point for other artists who use expressive colour (e.g. Fauves or Expressionists) and use their techniques to render your own still lifes. Examples of close-up paintings of flowers can be seen in the work of Georgia O’Keefe.

The Elizabeth Le Moine work in Discovery Gallery shows everyday objects (underpants etc.) produced in miniature sculptures which again refer to scale. These could be followed up by studying the work of Claus Oldenburg, who examined the impact of scale and materials.

All of these items use human or animal forms, metamorphosed to decorate practical craft objects. The Persian finial was, for example, the handle of a wet stone, used for sharpening a knife or a sword. The horns were used to attach it to a belt. The little seals are possibly Inuit toggles used to keep hold of ropes – giving a grip to pull sledge, etc. Through the ages and through cultures these are examples of common shapes being transferred into design of everyday objects. Can pupils think of and draw contemporary examples: faces on the front of cars; sails on the Sydney Opera House; and is the RAC building on the M6 an eye watching cars go past?

This is a simple, appealing image that could be animated by creating a flip-book of simple bird-shapes ‘flying’ across the page. The bird shapes could be cut out of card or press-print and repeat printed across a sky background to get a futurist-like picture of movement.

‘Art Moves’ is a video made by Frank F. Harrison School with The New Art Gallery who employed an animation company to help them design and make a cartoon with the aim of introducing the Garman Ryan Collection to people of their own age. This may be borrowed from Jo Digger, Curator of the collection.

The gallery also has 20 or 30 zoetrope strips based on the Garman Ryan Collection which may be used in the gallery on request plus instruction on how to make a zoetrope machine.

There is also a flip book in the Discovery Gallery by Dave Gunning and Gary Kirkham showing a drawing by Dave developing. This can also be purchased at the gallery shop.

These pictures could illustrate an animation in which a storyboard is based on the Epstein images. The autumn landscape may change through the seasons or have a child flying a kite which gets caught in the trees. What will the rock drill find when it has finished drilling – oil, a rainbow, water or perhaps the picture surface will crack and break?

Other images that might suit being animated include –

shows movement in a more abstract form and could be animated to imply the movement of the brush.

This carving has a strong image and could be used as a starting point for study of the Haida people who construct totem poles carved in bone or wood along the coastal shoreline. Totemic figures based on their mythology and religious beliefs (books available in gallery library) located in between pine trees in their landscape. Pupils could design and construct their own totem poles from cardboard for the school grounds or environment (representing a shared view of their locality?) Further study of tribal art could be studied via websites on First Nation peoples of Canada.

This piece could be used to introduce the idea of a maquette, the sculptor’s small preliminary model, used for planning how the finished piece will look. It also is a starting point for study of site-specific public art with further examples in the gallery that include the English ‘Nottingham’ ‘Resurrection’ GR349 (FIGURE STUDIES) and the Indian ‘Goddess Parvati and attendants’ GR323 (FIGURE STUDIES). In many cases a story is told through a series of visual images (like a stained glass window). Pupils may produce site-specific views of their locality designed for windows within school, perhaps sited along a corridor.

This small treasure is a tribute to skilled craftsmanship

– that a lump of rock crystal was carved into this delicate little box seems amazing to us living in a technological age. Transforming naturally occurring materials into an artwork that reflects something of where the piece come from using leaves, twigs, stones (as produced by Andy Goldsworthy) or clay (from Brownhills), rangoli patterns using natural materials (often displayed temporarily in the art gallery).

I like the idea of making a ‘Rock Drill’ figure based on the Epstein drawing (GR72) (FIGURE STUDIES) out of twigs or withies standing very tall in the school grounds like a Walsall Wicker Man!