Art Gallery of NSW Super Art Heroes program uses storytelling to engage young creative minds

A group of pint-sized superheroes is marching through the Art Gallery of NSW.

They are wearing colourful patchwork capes and have been told they are on a mission to find famous artworks that have been “lost” in the gallery.

“Look! It’s Ned Kelly!” yells one boy, pointing to a signature painting by Australian artist Sidney Nolan.

“Remember art gallery hands,” urges their teacher, prompting the children to dutifully clasp their hands behind their backs to keep little fingers away from the priceless works.

The four-year-olds from John Brotchie Nursery School in Botany are taking part in the Super Art Heroes program — an early childhood education tour that the gallery began running this year for groups of preschool-aged children.

It uses storytelling, role-play and movement to engage young creative minds and teach them about shapes, colour and form.

Their teacher Deborah Bennetts said an art gallery was not necessarily a place some families would think to bring a child.

“They’ll go to the museum, they’ll go to the aquarium, they’ll do lots of interesting things, but they may be a bit scared or worried about an art gallery,” she said of parents.

“It’s really important for children to see art, and artists to see how people can create beautiful things, and at John Brotchie we then are always talking to them about how they can create beautiful things.”

The children had been learning in their classroom about some of the famous artworks they would be looking at on the tour.

“It’s Five Bells!” one of them yelled out as they approached a large work by John Olsen.

Gallery visits spark creativity in kids

John Brotchie’s principal Rebecca Andrews has been taking preschoolers to the gallery for 20 years.

“I originally started it because as a child my parents brought me to the art gallery and the joy that brought me,” she said.

“Our children are keen artists and learn about that through art at preschool, but coming to the gallery and seeing the real thing is just an absolutely amazing thing for children.

“The colours are more vivid, the paintings are large, they have beautiful frames around them.”

Ms Andrews said a visit to the gallery always sparked a flurry of creativity in the classroom.

“After the visit there seems to be even more enthusiasm to get to the art easel, to paint and not just recreate some of the masterpieces that they’ve seen here today, but to use their own imagination and creativity and create their own masterpieces every day.”

She believed art was a key way that children expressed their understanding of the world and acted as a springboard to so many other areas of learning.

“Art gives us an opportunity to develop their language skills, their fine motor skills, problem solving skills, everything that you want in a child that is going to be ready for learning in the 21^st century,” she said.

‘Core memory’ for young visitors

The Art Gallery’s assistant learning producer, Bek Golsby-Smith, said the enthusiasm that a bunch of preschoolers brought to the usually hushed gallery halls was infectious.

“It brings the gallery to life,” she said.

She said the children’s reactions to the art were surprising and often delightful.

“These three- to five-year-olds arrive already in that state of imagination — we are always trying to get back to that state as adults.”

She hoped the experience was memorable for the children, and perhaps created some lifelong gallery lovers.

“These young learners are seeing art be valued and they’re also experiencing texture and culture and things made all over the world. It is a learning experience but it is also a social experience … and that is locking it into their memory as a core memory.”