Wallface: Portraits of Antiquarians

Wallface is a Wall-wide project funded by The Arts Council and led by Tyne and Wear Museums and Archives during 2014/15. The three elements of this Learning Programme are the Wallface portraits and objects, a Bronze Arts Award Case Study, and a learning section for the Hadrian’s Wall website. This learning programme has been devised and delivered by Yvonne Conchie www.conchie.co in collaboration with the members of the Hadrian’s Wall Education Forum.

Wallface portraits and objects During the summer of 2014, the National Portrait Gallery loaned portraits of antiquarians who had been influential in conserving Hadrian’s Wall to 11 museums along the 73 miles of the World Heritage Site. These museums have long collaborated to increase learning opportunities, and agreed to support the development of this KS3 (ages 11-14) Art and Design resource. The focus is on both the antiquarian portraits, and also on the artistic value of portrait objects from the museums’ Roman collections.

Arts Award Case Study Through collaborating with the art department of Haydon Bridge High School, 165 children from KS3 have been entered into their Bronze Art Award. They visited 10 of the Hadrian’s Wall museums, and have shared their experiences. Three artists have worked with the students, an award winning multimedia artist who is still in the 6th form, an emerging pen and ink portrait artist who is a former pupil of the school, and a professional sculptor who has an international portfolio. They are also working with a local film enterprise to document their learning. The school is expecting to use the Arts Council’s Arts Box online portfolio to develop case studies to share their learning, inspiration and experiences.