National Gallery Art Road Trip
200 Years of the National Gallery
Working In Partnership with The National Gallery
In celebration of The National Gallery’s bicentenary year, the Gallery’s travelling art studio programme, Art Road Trip, is visiting 18 places across the UK. In October 2024 the van stopped in Doncaster with a focus on the Balby Bridge Estate, visiting service providers on the estate.
Through the Art Road Trip, The National Gallery have visited schools in Doncaster, including Atlas Primary School and located on the Balby Bridge Estate and XP Secondary School, and introduced them to their programmes of work ‘Arcade’ and ‘Articulate’ to the students.
A group of young people from ATLAS primary school have since had the opportunity to visit the National Gallery in London with the Right Up Our Street team, enabled by Doncaster Town Ward Councillor David Shaw.
The Launch of Art Road Trip
'Art Road Trip' will offer an inspiring and inventive art studio on wheels, full of high-quality art materials, ideas and creativity. The project places special emphasis on people who have the least access to the arts and creative opportunities. The initiative seeks to champion the creativity of individuals who might otherwise feel excluded from the cultural opportunities and introduce them to their national collection.
From May 2024 to May 2025, our travelling art studio will host 200 creative public engagements and work with 40,000 people to bring art and ideas inspired by the National Gallery’s collection to the heart of their communities. This will include opportunities for local schools to take part in Take One Picture, Articulation and, our digital initiative, Keeper of Paintings, building a lasting legacy with local communities to last well beyond our Bicentenary celebrations.
Sally Lockey, Director of Right Up Our Street, says, “Right Up Our Street is very excited to be a part of 'Art Road Trip'. As a Creative People and Places project, we consult with the community to ensure that work is relevant and co-curated on a hyper local level. This opportunity means that our communities are able to work hand-in-hand with the National Gallery, influencing how a national, major institution delivers its work within Doncaster. That’s a powerful approach to working, and a strong message to our community. I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome!”
Meet the Artist
DR Sadegh Aleahmad
Dr Sadegh Aleahmad is a London based Iranian-born artist. He examines the dynamics of his diasporic identity through performance, sculpture, poetry, singing, and moving image.
His work de-territorialises various Islamic disciplines, detaching them from their personal, religious and socio-political connotations, and fuses them with the aesthetics and ethics of Western contemporary artmaking. His practice focuses on site-specific solo work and socially-engaged projects.
Sadegh’s current research explores the materiality and applications of mirrors and visual displacement of public environments in the narrative of one's construction of diasporic identity.
Arcade & The National Gallery
Phase one of our collaboration with the National Gallery took place at Atlas Primary School on the Balby Bridge Estate and it was a fantastic way to kickstart the new project.
Arcade - a Digital Agency - responsible for the creation of the National Gallery app ‘The Keeper of Paintings’ visited the children of Atlas Primary school and delivered an assembly as well as workshops with two Year 5 classes.
The team at Arcade demonstrated a new app they are developing and the children had the opportunity to experience and use the alpha version of the app first hand and share feedback to help shape the development of the app!
The app allows you to build a character who will then be your creative assistant. You can then take a photograph of your surroundings where the app creates a frame around the image. You then become the artist - allowing you to illustrate whatever you like on your digital canvas.
A big thank you to the children at Atlas Academy for your expertise and the National Gallery for opportunity. We can’t wait to see what’s next for the Art Roadtrip
Articulate & The National Gallery
XP School students and teachers both experienced workshops delivered by artists Josepha and Jo as part of the National Gallery’s Articulation Programme.
“Articulation engages young people, regardless of background or experience, with art and develops their confidence and ability to express their opinions, thoughts and conclusions.”
Session with the Teachers of XP
“It was really amazing to work with the National Gallery on the Staff Day at XP. They will be coming in to launch the Articulation prize for XP C28 students. Staff had the opportunity to take part in the workshop as a sneak peek before the kids get a chance!”
Sessions with the Students at XP
Take One Picture & The National Gallery
Atlas Academy children from Year 4 on the Balby Bridge Estate were visited by artist Jo, who delivered workshops focusing around one painting from the National Gallery. Pupils worked together to create a 3D sculpture based around the painting.
“Take One Picture is the National Gallery’s programme for primary schools, which aims to inspire a lifelong love of art and learning.”
The Art Road Trip
The Art Road Trip van visited Doncaster in October 2024, providing creative activities for two weeks in the Balby Bridge Estate and Danum Gallery Library and Museum.
Because of our strong relationships with the community groups on the Balby Bridge Estate, we were able to deliver activity that met the needs and interests that were relevant to the groups that we were providing a workshop for via the National Gallery.
Artist Sadegh led sessions around self portraiture, shadow puppets, clay modelling alongside other craft activities, whilst discussing paintings from The National Gallery.
The Groups We Collaborated With
Stirling SMILE Group
Stirling SMILE provides day activities and projects for older people, adults with learning disabilities, autism and individuals who require specialist support.
Family Hubs
Doncaster Family Hubs are the 'place to go' for families. They work with other providers to offer a range of activities, services and information for you and your family. Families are welcome with children of all ages from conception, through childhood to adolescence and even older if your child has a special need.
Conversation Club
The Conversation Club befriend and support people seeking asylum and new refugees helping them to promote their asylum claims, settle into a new life in the UK and to integrate into Doncaster.
Doncaster & District Deaf Society
DDDS services cover BSL Advocacy for the empowerment of deaf people, BSL Advice & Information Centre, training opportunities, health & wellbeing workshops, topical presentations and access to employment advice. They focus on deaf rights, inequality and improving the mental health, wellbeing and quality of life for BSL Users.
ATLAS Primary School
Art Road Trip Visits Danum Gallery, Library and Museum
ATLAS Academy Visit The National Gallery
Students who took part in The National Gallery’s Arcade Programme last year were invited to visit The National Gallery. For many of the members of the group it was their first trip ever to London. During the visit, the students took part in a workshop with artist Jo and the group got to explore the paintings, expanded on their drawing skills and were inspired to create their own artwork. This trip was financially supported by Councillor of Doncaster Town Ward, David Shaw.
