Programmes
Ngā wheako mā ngā Akonga Kura Tuatahi / Primary and Intermediate School Lessons
All primary and intermediate school lessons are led by Gallery educators and take place in the gallery spaces, with hands-on activities in the Learning Centre when time allows.
The descriptions below indicate what you can expect from each session. Please note that some lessons can be adapted for your class age group and area of focus – simply chat with our team.
The learning available from contemporary art and that of Len Lye reaches across the curriculum.
gbeducation@govettbrewster.com
06 759 0858

In the Todd Energy Learning Centre

Class with Gallery educator Chris Barry

In Mikala Dwyer's exhibition Earthcraft

Shadow play with Len Lye's work

Gallery educator Rebecca Fawkner

With Mikala Dwyer's work Earthcraft

With Mikala Dwyer's work Earthcraft

In the Todd Energy Learning Centre

With Mikala Dwyer's work Earthcraft

Educator Rebecca Fawkner with students in the Learning Centre

Kaiako Jess Marshall talks with students about tukutuku patterns

Fitzroy School and Len Lye's Fountain
Ngā wheako o te Wāhanga 1 / Term 1 lessons
Bilingual Units/Kura Kaupapa.
He hōtaka reo Māori hoki. Ka kōrero, ka mahi ngātahi kia hangaia ai tētahi wheako pai mā ngā tauira.
The history of Aotearoa / New Zealand through art
5 Dec 2020 – 2 May 2021
We approach this topic from a local angle inspired by sculptor Brett Graham’s (Ngāti Kōroki Kahukura, Tainui) exhibition Tai Moana Tai Tangata. This is an unrepeatable opportunity for Taranaki students to investigate our local history in creative and memorable ways.
The exhibition features five new monumental sculptures with accompanying films. The art works are poetic in nature and reference Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (New Zealand Wars) in imaginative and engaging ways.
Supplementary exhibition information and teacher resources are available, please email or call for details. Check the 'What's On' tab on the Art Gallery’s website for exhibition talks and workshops.
To help with at school planning, a teacher resource kit including background research material from the exhibition and relevant links is available via Google Slides.
At school ideas include:
- Research the history of your area including the story behind the name of your street / school / suburb / town. Helpful resource here.
- Develop alternative names for your area that show another history rather than the one that your street names depict.
- Write your ‘alternative’ address on your sculpture letterbox.
- Find out what are the traditional Māori equivalents of a letter box?
- School or class Mini Film festival. Make videos that tells stories of their local area from varying points of view
Activate student learning from the exhibition with a hands-on workshop or field trip to nearby historic sites, options include:
Haki / Banner
Y 1 - 8, 90 mins +
InfoFind out how flagpoles, military memorials, historic Māori architecture and whakairo (carving) are inspiration for artworks that tell the histories and stories of Waikato and Taranaki iwi.
We consider:
- How the arrival of the Pākehā impacted iwi and whenua?
- How the art helps us look at our local area and its history from a Māori point of view.
In the Learning Centre we focus on the role flags and banners have in history and create our own banners to represent and communicate what is important to us.
Pouaka reta / Letter box
Y 4 - 8, 90 mins +
InfoThe exhibition uses sculpture and film as a way to learn about historic locations of iwi conflict and cooperation and the story of colonisation by Pākehā.
During the exhibition tour we consider:
- How is our history remembered and passed on? Whose history is remembered and why?
- How the arrival of Pākehā impacted iwi and whenua?
- How the artworks help us look at our local area and its history from a Māori point of view.
- How competition for natural resources helped form history and impacted the environment.
- Family stories as a way to understand the past and the history of colonialisation.
- Historic Māori structures and techniques and features of whakairo (carving), in particular Taranaki carving style.
In the Learning Centre we construct and ‘carve’ a group sculpture that questions how local place street names are designated.
If time allows (or back at school) students take the point of view of a colonial settler, tangata whenua or soldier and describe in a letter what living in Taranaki in the 1800s was like.
Add on options for a full day experience:
Te hīkoi o nehe ra / Historic walk
Make the most of your visit and bring history to life! Meet an educator and take a guided historic walk to Pukaka (Marsland Hill) and St Mary’s churchyard prior to experiencing this exhibition. Combine with a trip to Puke Ariki Museum to complete the day.
To help with at school planning, a teacher resource kit including background research material from the exhibition and relevant links is available via Google Slides.
At school ideas include:
- Develop alternative names for your area that show another history rather than the one that your street names depict.
- Write your ‘alternative’ address on your sculpture letterbox.
- Find out what are the traditional Māori equivalents of a letter box?
- School or class Mini Film festival. Make videos that tells stories of their local area from varying points of view.
Dance of nature
Dance / Visual Art / Science
14 Nov 2020 - 11 April 2021
Y 1 - 4, 75 mins
Dance in the Gallery inspired by Len Lye’s kinetic sculptures and experimental movie Rainbow Dance. Len Lye Tangibles: 1959-1961 and Len Lye: Sky Snakes exhibitions are perfect for body awareness, creativity and language development. We use ribbons individually and in groups, to build a vocabulary of moves and words on a theme of water. In the Learning Centre we add te Reo Māori and invent moves that express the various forms of wai (water) based on the WharehokaSmith: Kūreitanga-II-IV mural.
BYO your class ipad or phone to photograph students in action.
At school:
Rework your dance moves to tell a story
Create an artwork that shows your dance
How do things move? Rework your dance to tell a story about everyday movements using poi e.g. doing the laundry
Write a movement poem
Find out about the science of rainbows
Introducing Len Lye
Science/Visual Art/Dance/Music/Technology
Ongoing
Y 0 - 8, 60 mins+
What can we learn from Len Lye?
Experience the multi-sensory exhibitions through interactive activities adaptable to your students’ learning needs and level. Find out how Len Lye came up with ideas and why his art is special. Then create your own Len Lye-inspired artwork.
See Len Lye: Tangibles: 1959 - 1961 for exhibition information.
See Len Lye: Sky Snakes for exhibition information.
Find out more about the world of Len Lye.
Kinetic contraption
Science / Visual Art / Technology
14 Nov 2020 - 11 April 2021
Y 4 - 8, 90 mins
Combine science and art to construct sculptures that move, tingle and shimmer inspired Len Lye.
How did Len Lye use science and innovation to make his art?
We learn about Len Lye’s ‘number 8 wire’ approach to problem solving, including any artist’s first problem – how to get a good idea?
Students use problem solving skills to create a sculpture that moves and stands within a group model for an outdoor public theme park.
See Len Lye: Tangibles: 1959-1961 and Len Lye: Sky Snakes for exhibition information.
At school:
Find out about the world of Len Lye here.
Pictures that Move
Visual Art/Science: Physical world/Technology
Ongoing
Y 5 - 8, 90 mins+
How did old school animation work? What makes Len Lye’s films still cool today?
We go to the flicks to discover how image, movement and sound are combined to create an illusion. Students analyse animation techniques and use gallery zoetropes (animation viewing devices) to create their own moving image.
See Len Lye Tangibles: 1959-1961 and Len Lye: Sky Snakes for exhibition information.
BYO your class video camera, phone or ipad to record students’ animations.
At school:
Google Slide: Len Lye Style Flip Book
Click below to view Len Lye films online:
Tusalava
A Colour Box
The Birth of a Robot
Free Radicals
Films supplied by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Please respect the integrity of Len Lye’s artwork by not copying his films.
Download the Len Lye: Animation Resource
A compilation DVD entitled Colour Box: 19 Films by Len Lye is available from the Govett-Brewster Shop
Ngā wheako mā ngā Akonga Kura Tuarua / Secondary School Programme
Secondary school visits to the Govett-Brewster are most successful when teachers and Gallery educators collaborate.
To inspire your programme, we can shape a lesson tailored specifically for your students from Year 9+. Selected exhibition themes are described by curriculum area and can be developed into a tour which includes worksheets, creative group activities or extended in the Learning Centre into workshops.
Secondary art teachers taking part in the Gallery schools programme consistently praise the sessions as relevant and thought provoking:
“Keep up the good work. Activities engaged students’ perceptions about visual art and oral aspects of art."
High School Art Teacher
The history of Aotearoa / New Zealand through art
We approach this topic from a local angle inspired by Brett Graham’s (Ngāti Kōroki Kahukura, Tainui) exhibition Tai Moana Tai Tangata which features five new monumental sculptures with accompanying films. The art works are poetic in nature and reference Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (New Zealand Wars) in imaginative and engaging ways.
Art teachers, team up with a colleague from another subject area, perhaps Māori Studies or History, to plan a visit that activates students’ learning through viewing, thinking and making. We can collaborate with you to ensure activities suit your students’ learning needs. Brett Graham’s exhibition Tai Moana Tai Tangata provides an unrepeatable opportunity for Taranaki students to investigate our local history in creative and meaningful ways.
Combine this exhibition visit with a field trip to local history sites and/or Puke Ariki Museum for a strong learning experience. Please be in touch today, call 06 759 0858.

Shadow play with Len Lye's work

Elizabeth Thomson's work Ants Head 1993, detail




Brittany Glassey with her 2016 Top Art folio




Students and educator Chris Barry with WharehokaSmith's Kureitanga II IV




Educator Chris Barry and students with Amanda Gruenwald's paintings. Photo Sam Hartnett










Ethan, Shawn and Liam Matuku with Tom Kreisler's Old and New


Students with Jeena Shin's painting. Photo Sam Hartnett
Special Needs Groups - Sensing Len Lye
Info
Interactive experiences designed for Special Needs groups. The energy and scale of Len Lye’s sculptures offer students an opportunity to express themselves holistically.
Talk to the gallery educators to discuss visit options.
Talk Art Challenge
Ongoing
InfoCan your students say more about art other than whether they like it or not? This general introduction to the exhibitions gives students confidence and skills to analyse art through discussion and instant activities.
Media Studies
Ongoing
InfoHow did cameraless movies work? What makes Len Lye’s films still so cool?
Inspired by innovative approaches to filmmaking and the stimulating exhibitions, students deepen their knowledge of where film came from through a variety of hands-on options including zoetrope drawings, experiments with OHP colour projections and a ‘direct’ film workshop.
View Len Lye films online:
Tusalava
A Colour Box
The Birth of a Robot
Free Radicals
Films supplied by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Please respect the integrity of Len Lye’s artwork by not copying his films.
Visit the Len Lye Centre Cinema
The Gallery’s state-of-the-art 62-seat cinema shows experimental film, arthouse and cult films and film festival programming. Special screenings can be arranged by appointment. Please contact Gallery educators for further information or find out what’s on here.
Direct Film Workshop
Inspired by Len Lye’s direct films, students use cameraless hand animation techniques to learn how to create their own whole class 16mm ‘direct’ film.
No cost - contact Gallery educators for details.
Coming up last week of Term 1 and all Term 2 2021
Keep a look out for two exciting exhibitions opening last week of term 1 and running through term 2. These will be fabulous for schools planning a focus on Pacific Island or Australian indigenous cultures. Learn about life in these communities and explore unique art making techniques with an eco focus.
Te Reo Māori
Karanga atu ki a koutou ki raro i te maru o te maunga tītohea; he pou herenga waka, he pou herenga kaupapa, he pou herenga tangata. Ko Jess Marshall tōku ingoa. He Pākehā au nō Taranaki e ngākau nui ana ki te ao Māori. Ko au te kaiako reo Māori ki te Whare Pīataata o Ngāmotu.
Nau mai, haere mai, rarau mai!
Warm greetings to you all. My name is Jess Marshall and I'm the Māori language educator at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre.
Nau mai, haere mai, rarau mai!
The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre welcomes Wharekura and Māori Studies classes to all exhibitions.
Contact Gallery kaiako Jess Marshall to discuss how visits can enhance language and hands-on learning needs.
gbeducation@govettbrewster.com
06 759 0858

Gallery kaiako Jess Marshall and students with Maureen Lander's artworks

Learning about tukutuku patterns



Glow poi

With Para Matchitt's Whakapapa IV

With WharehokaSmith's Kureitanga II IV





Direct filmmaking

With Para Matchitt's Whakapapa IV

Kaiako Jess Marshall demonstrating
