Free High-Quality Resources from Art UK to Support Online or Blended Arts Award Delivery

Shane Strachan, Learning and Engagement Officer for Art UK, the online home for every public art collection in the UK, shares some of their new, free, resources to support your online, remote or blended visual arts Arts Award programmes. 

At Art UK, we’re passionate about opening up access to the nation’s art and so we have recently launched our new Learn pages which have a wealth of resources that can support young people to complete various elements of an Arts Award focused on the visual arts and design.

• adaptable creative activity ideas as part of suggested lesson plans inspired by artworks across the UK
• new films featuring artists exploring their practice, as well as school children exploring an artwork in their local region, all filmed by Culture Street
• audio descriptions of artworks created by VocalEyes
• home school activity ideas

• Discover, Explore and Bronze: take part in arts activities
• Discover: researching artists and their work
• Explore: exploring the work of artists or craftspeople and arts organisations
• Bronze: research the career and work of an artist or craftsperson
• Silver: research future opportunities and careers in the arts
• Gold: find out about artists or craftspeople and their career paths

Other features of Art UK

In addition to our Learn pages, the Art UK website is home to digitised images of over a quarter of a million art works from over 3,200 venues and public sculpture. Art works can be searched by:

• artist
• region or venue
• type (painting, sculpture, etc.)
• topic (i.e. transport and industry)
• style (from Neoclassicism to Pop Art)
• date
• or type in any subject or object you have in mind!

As well as a high-quality image of each 2D work, you can often view multiple perspectives of sculptures on the site which provide a greater appreciation of each 3D work.

Alongside this vast collection of viewable art, the website also has a wealth of stories focused on different artists, art works, exhibitions, collections, styles and periods. We also have our ‘Being…’ series – articles focused on different individuals working in the arts who provide insight into their career. You can also check out our Art Matters podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify which currently stands at over 50 episodes covering a range of themes and topics.

These resources can be used to support the following Arts Award elements:

• Discover: researching artists and their work
• Explore: exploring the work of artists or craftspeople and arts organisations
• Bronze: research the career and work of an artist or craftsperson
• Silver: research future opportunities and careers in the arts
• Gold: find out about artists or craftspeople and their career paths

Curations

Our Curations tool allows anyone to curate their own digital showcase of art works selected from the Art UK site. Users can then also write up additional content exploring their selections. This could be a great way for an Arts Award participant to curate their own exhibition focused on a certain theme as part of their arts activity, or it could be used to create a showcase of their research as part of their project evidence.

Venues, galleries and curators have shared their own virtual exhibitions through Curations, so it’s also a great way for young people to virtually attend something they may not be able to access otherwise.

The Curations tool can support the following Arts Award elements:

• Discover, Explore and Bronze: take part in arts activities (curating your own online exhibition)
• Bronze: experience and review an arts event (reviewing a gallery’s online exhibition)
• Silver: review arts events and share their views
• Gold: review arts events
  
  
  
  Visit artuk.org and see how it can support your Arts Award!