Annual Review 2011-12 - National Galleries of Scotland

Portrait of the Nation: Live!
Together with the dynamic programme
of changing displays, learning activity
for the newly refurbished Portrait
Gallery aims to keep the Gallery consistently
exciting. Portrait of the Nation:
Live!, our comprehensive three-year
learning programme for the refurbished
Gallery, was launched in January 2012
and targets four principal audiences:
Schools, Families with Children,
Communities (both on- and off-site), and
Adults. Through this excitingly diverse
programme of audience-focused activities,
resources and events, we aim to bring
the Gallery’s portraits and photographs to
life. Portrait of the Nation: Live! seeks to
help visitors to understand how such art
is made and also to engage in discussions
about what individual artworks mean.
Visitors to the Gallery are encouraged
to respond directly to objects, the new
galleries and the refurbished building as
a whole. They can also explore related
themes and issues. We also offer many
different types of opportunities for
visitors to have a go at making art themselves,
communicating their responses
to a wider audience online, and through
community-focused exhibitions and
displays.
Schools activity since January 2012
has been revitalised through a brandnew
programme of guided tours and
practical workshops for early years
to senior students, and every stage
in-between. This included the launch
of a cross-curricular initiative: In the
Frame: The Jacobite Cause, using innovative
drama activities in the Gallery
to explore this important historical
topic through its visual culture. Meet the
Ancestors is just one of a series of exciting,
new drop-in activities for Families with
Children aged three to twelve, visiting the
Portrait Gallery at weekends and during
the holidays. Using costumes, props,
professional actors and story-tellers, and
lots of imagination, it aims to transport
young people back in time, to the thrilling
historical events of the past, through the
fascinating people and places represented
in the Gallery.
Memories are Made of This is an
award-winning community learning
programme based in the Portrait Gallery
for older people, particularly those with
dementia. It aims to provide an inclusive,
creative environment in which older
people can connect with the national art
collection in a meaningful way. At the
Portrait Gallery we now offer regular,
free reminiscence sessions and artistled
tours inspired by the collection and
displays, as well as other special events
for older people. In February 2012, we
worked with the Sporting Memories
Network to offer special reminiscence
sessions based on sporting topics, particularly
football, linked to our Playing for
Scotland exhibition.
Off-site, we have also launched The
Nation//Live, the NGS’s first, major
community education outreach project
for the new Portrait Gallery, which will
culminate in a ground-breaking exhibition
in the Contemporary Scotland space
in the Gallery, in autumn 2013.
Inspired by the new displays, and
the fabulously refreshed Arts and
Crafts building, the new regular events
and activities programme for adults is
designed to attract a wide-ranging audience.
It includes talks, lectures, thematic
tours, insight sessions in the smaller
gallery spaces, music concerts in the
Great Hall and Enlightenment Gallery,
practical art workshops and specialistled
architecture tours. We also held our
first special Salon event, an Alternative
Burns Night, which sold out well
in advance.
Portrait Triptychs
Portrait Triptychs showcased work
created through a collaborative learning
project in partnership with Ecas, a
disability access charity. Ecas clients,
all of whom are disabled, worked with
contemporary artist Elaine Allison to
create portraits in response to the NGS
collection. The resulting exhibition at the
Scottish National Gallery was attended
by an estimated 77,184 visitors.
Opposite left Meet the Ancestors:
Rebellious Rogues and Drama Queens.
Photo: Andy McGregor
Opposite right Meet the Ancestors:
Caddie Capers. Photo: Alicia Bruce
Right, top to bottom Still from The
Nation//Live trailer. Photo: Daniel
Warren
Memories are Made of This: Summer
Tea Dance. Photo: Andy McGregor
Portrait Triptychs workshop. Photo:
Andy McGregor
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