TATE KIDS

Morning, everyone.

BIG news from the galleries today. I’ll start at the beginning!

John Constable (who was born in 1776, and died in 1837) is one of Britain’s best landscape painters. One of his very important paintings, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (painted in 1831) has been saved for the nation. This means that lots of groups and individuals (including Tate) put their money together to make sure the painting stays in galleries so you can come to visit it at a museum near you. You can come see it today if you (and your adults) like!

Some facts:
* The painting cost £23.1 million pounds (that’s a LOT of money – but it was actually a bit of a bargain because it’s worth around £40 million)
* It will be at Tate Britain until the end of the year, in the Constable Room.
* It will then go to Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales; the National Galleries of Scotland; Colchester and Ipswich Museums, Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. It will go to those galleries for about a year each, and then back to Tate Britain in 2018
* It was at the National Gallery before coming to Tate Britain, and was there from 1983 – have you seen it already?
* If you have seen it, you’ll know it’s very big – over six feet wide!
* Constable loved this painting – he called it The Great Salisbury and said:

“I am told I got it to look better than anything I have yet done.”

To celebrate, Tate Kids have made a special Constable playsheet (it’s quite a large PDF file, by the way). Download, print and enjoy! Feel free to send me scans or snaps of your sheets to kids@tate.org.uk and I’ll post some up on this blog.

See you in the Constable room soon, I hope!

SJ

Tags: About Art, About Us, Cathedral, Constable, Landscapes, Playsheet, Sailsbury, Tate Britain

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We’re making a film! That’s right, I’m the next Danny Boyle (not really, I’m more like the lady who brings the sandwiches and makes sure the actors have the right hat on).

Last week we went to Tate Britain and Tate Modern with our volunteer family (and our friends from Reel Nice) to show how much fun you can have at Tate, no matter how old you are. We decided to use these amazing things called ‘Go Pro’ cameras, which you usually use to record yourself doing extreme sports like snowboarding or mountain biking. That’s right: art is extreme.

Oscar (7), Sophie (3 and a half) and Fleur (7 months) very kindly brought their parents along to take part. We started out by fitting them all with cameras.

We also made sure that you couldn’t see the chestplate when the cameras were turned on. This was achieved through the movie magic of cutting a hole in an identical t-shirt and whipping it over the top. Science!

We also added a special camera for Fleur that we like to called PramCam:

And one more camera for Sophie and Oscar to wear on their heads so we could see what they were seeing.

Then it was time to go into the gallery. We went all around Tate Britain, picking up activities and looking at loads of different artworks. Tiring stuff!

We had a look at some of the footage while we were going around to make sure that it was looking good.

Then we had a big lunch and took the boat to Tate Modern. We were given special permission to film on the river from the Port Authority. Cor. It was a lovely day too, so there’s loads of great footage that shows all of the landmarks along the river.

After doing the same tour of Tate Modern (and having some afternoon tea in their brilliant restaurant, where kids actually get TWO courses free, whoopee) there was just time to play tag outside before going home.

We’re going to have the finished film really soon. After having so much fun on the day, we hope it’s going to be a really fun flim to watch too… we’ll share it with you as soon as we’ve got it!

 

Tags: Families, Films, Tate Britain, Tate Kids, Tate Modern

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Four questions!

1) Do you and your family want to be a very short film I’m making about Tate Britain and Tate Modern?

2) Do you want to wear a camera on your head and run around the galleries and ride on the Tate Boat?

 

3) Do you want me to pay your travel fares, feed you AND give you some Tate Kids goodies (and something for your parents too, of course)?

4) Are you all free on April 20 and 21?

If you can answer yep to all of the above, then please ask your adults to email me  - kids@tate.org.uk –  by April 4 with a snap of your family, and one line about why you want to take part. Please put ‘YES! I WANT TO BE IN THE FILM’ in the subject line, so I can spot it easily.

THANKS!
SJ

Tags: Competition, Tate Britain, Tate Kids Film, Tate Modern

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Do you remember we reported that there were lots of strange banging noises going on at Tate Britain, behind a big black curtain? We know what it is, and now that the curtains have been opened, you can come and see it too . . .

It’s Harrier and Jaguar, the new artwork by Fiona Banner. Oh, and it’s made of two real fighter jet planes. Amazing!

Banner has chosen to install two fighter jets in Tate Britain, one upside down on the floor, and one hanging by its tail from the ceiling.

She has been fascinated by jets ever since she experienced their raw speed and energy as a child. She was walking with her father in a very beautiful, quiet part of Wales when a jet flew overhead, making an incredible noise and cutting through the sky.

Now these two planes, both of which have been used by the military, are filling the Duveens gallery space. They look like the could take off at any moment, but like they’ve been trapped. Just like the Harrier Hawk and Jaguar they are named after, they’re like wild animals.

What else do they remind you of?

They’re even more impressive in real life – come and see them if you can!

Tags: Duveens, Tate Britain

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Bang bang bang . . . there’s rattling and clattering and the occasional muffled shout – but what’s it all about? Something exciting is going on behind the big black curtains at Tate Britain. I wonder when we’ll get to see the results? I can’t wait!

Tags: Tate Britain

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