First and foremost, these art classes are designed to encourage amateur artists to take the plunge and become more confident. The classes are loosely structured, but through small tutorials provide an insight into the beginnings of fine art studies. However, The "Art school" programme is also a step towards integrating a more cross-disciplinary experience for visitors at the Grosvenor Museum.
In an attempt to create more meaningful connections (Bergavin, 2020) between our objects on display and our visitors, these classes have been designed as creative outlets to encourage more empathetic and emotional responses. My influences leading up to these sessions have been Elif M. Gokcigdem's concept of “art as experience” (utilising art collections and creativity to encourage more emotional engagement in the museum) and “Response art,” defined as a practice that encourages empathic resonance within a person through the physical act of creating artwork in order to manoeuvre through personal emotional narrative. “Artistic development and expression entail inner knowledge that reflects the maker’s experience of an object more than the object itself.” (Gokcigdem & Potash, 2016)
Taking this theory on board, by hosting these classes in our museum galleries we hope to invoke a new kind of emotional and emphatic response between the visitor and the objects on display. I aim to ensure that I do not dictate the choice of objects as subject matter, to allow the participants to seek out objects that speak to them as individuals. Visitors are more likely to “feel as though the museum has “changed” them in whatever way” (Bergavin, 2020) if they are free to explore their own emotional connections.
Offering classes like this also stems away from the "traditional" museum experience of passive participation. Instead, it aims to facilitate much more active participation. (Simon, 2010) Placing a significant emphasis on the idea of a constructivist (Hein, 2005) museum environment, allowing visitors the opportunity to explore and learn in an almost completely self-led manner where they dictate their own learning, is something we hope will turn positive results.
