Thursday, March 22, 2018
London Art Trip Boosts Autistic Students’ Exam Prospects
A group of students with autism from LVS Hassocks visited the Tate Modern Gallery in London last week as inspiration for their exam coursework. The trip, on Wednesday 7th March, gave five students an incredible opportunity to see artwork brought to life to boost their exam prospects in the summer as they work towards qualifications, employment and independent futures.
The learners from LVS Hassocks, a school for students with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, are studying for their GCSE and BTEC qualifications in Art and were able to view famous international and modern contemporary artwork in order to inspire their projects. They saw artwork by Dali, Monet, Rothko and Warhol as well as spending time exploring the site specific installation of swings designed by the Danish artist collective Superflex in the turbine hall. The students, looked at, read about, photographed and drew their favourite pieces and behaved impeccably throughout the course of the day.
Martin Pullen, 18, will be going on to study art at a mainstream college next year, whilst one of his schoolmates on the trip, 15-year-old Joe James, said: “I really liked the optical art. The work inspired me to create some new types of artwork for my fragments project”. Joe and the other trip students will be writing up their visit as well as selecting artwork from the day to influence the development of their current projects.
Teacher Louise Kidger said: “It is so important for art students to have the opportunity to view artwork in a gallery. With increasing access to artwork online, viewing artwork at home or in school can seem more convenient. However, a gallery visit offers a much more visceral experience that exposes them to alternative art genres that they may have not encountered previously”.