Seek and Sketch

Choose your own adventure

Ask our volunteer for a sketch book and pencil to use during your visit.

You might use just one question to start your journey today. You could also select a couple of questions for the same work of art or move to different works for each prompt.

1. Contemporary artists find innovative ways to make works of art. Collate a list of the unusual materials used in the works of art you see today. Create a list of pros and cons when working with different media. What is the most unusual material you could use to create a work of art?
2. Document the titles of works of art you see. Put them together to create a story or poem.
3. Spend time drawing a sculpture on display. Pay close attention to texture, proportion and scale. You might try some quick blind contour exercises to get warmed up. Look at the sculpture and draw it using one continuous line without looking at your paper or removing the pencil from your paper. Try 30sec, then one minute then two.
4. Write a short story about a person in a portrait. Use your imagination. Are there clues in the portrait that can help shape your story?
5. Based on your observations and before looking at the wall label, invent a title for this work of art.
6. Imagine you have stepped inside a work of art of your choosing. Draw an outfit you would wear when visiting this place.
7. Draw the scene 'before' this work of art - now, draw the scene 'after'. What information in the work of art led you to your before and after drawings?
8. Select your favourite work of art. Look at it for one minute. Now write down as many words in response to this work of art.
9. Spend time looking at a work of art. Describe the work as though you are describing it to someone who can not see it. Now sketch it from memory. Look at the work again, what details did you miss?
10. Curate a new exhibition for the Gallery using one of the following themes (select 5 works for your new display):
    - Yellow
    - A rainy day
    - Texture
    - My favourite things
    - Women
    - Science
    - Paper, scissors, rock
    - Humour
    - Light and shadow
    - Or think of your own theme

Perfect in pairs

• Complete a back to back drawing. One person describes a work of art while the second person has their back to the work, drawing an image based on the verbal description. Take turns in being the scribe.
• Create a movement in response to replicate a work of art. Get your partner to guess which work of art you are embodying.
• Write a description or series of clues for a work of art for someone else to decipher. Your clues might be cryptic or literal.