This is an online version of a printed trail to help you and your family find out about some artists, their artworks and provide some prompts for you to make your own art, amongst the trees.
Pick up a free copy of the trail at the Gallery of Modern Art or enjoy it on your device as you explore the grounds.
You can:
- Follow this route or make up your own
- Do it all in one go or come back and visit another day
- Hand it over to your child – let them lead!
... have fun exploring!
Walk
Find the swirly slopes made of grass outside the gallery.
Walk up and explore the giant sculpture (... but only if the gates are open! For safety reasons, Landform is closed in winter and bad weather!)
Take a deep breath, smell the air, look around you. How do you feel when you’re standing at the top?
Talk
Charles Jencks, 1939-2019
- Inspired by forces of nature like tidal waves and weather systems.
- Often uses natural materials to express ideas.
Can you think of 3 things in nature that have spirals?
Make
Nature art!
Get inspired and create a piece of spiral art using natural materials you can find in the grounds. Leave it for others to find.
Walk
Find a sculpture nearby of someone lying down.
Talk
Henry Moore, 1898-1986
- Fascinated by rocks, fossils and bones.
- This sculpture was made in plaster over a metal frame, before being cast in bronze.
Name all the body parts you can see (they may be in unusual places)!
What do you think it would feel like to touch?
Where else might you see these kinds of shapes?
Make
Twist and turn your body to make unusual shapes.
On the way to your next sculpture find a tree with branches that you think look like arms!
Walk
Find a sculpture made up of 6 parts.
Walk around and in between, look up, down and all around.
Talk
Barbara Hepworth, 1903-1975
She often spoke about the connection between human figures and the landscape:
‘I cannot write anything about landscape without writing about the human figure and human spirit inhabiting the landscape. For me, the whole art of sculpture is the fusion of these two elements.’
- She made a number of sculptures in groups of three.
- She called the three vertical sculptures ‘figures’ and the three other elements ‘magic stones’.
- The sculpture makes links to prehistoric stone circles like Stonehenge and Calanais on the Isle of Lewis.
This sculpture is called Conversation with Magic Stones.
What might be magic about them?
What might they be talking about?
Make
Can you find any stones or things in the grounds that you can balance on top of each other?
Make a sculpture in groups of three; think about combining different textures and shapes.
You can cross the road safely at the zebra crossing to the grounds of Modern Two, and say HELLO to the man stuck in the pavement!
Walk
Find a shiny sculpture, made up of two moving parts.
Talk
George Rickey, 1907-2002
- The two long rods can pivot and move 360° when it’s windy.
- They’ve been carefully designed so they never touch each other.
- The artist was interested in the movement of straight lines through the air and how they cut through surrounding space.
- As a child, he thought about being an engineer. He was fascinated by the machines in the engine-room of the steamer boats on the river Clyde in Glasgow.
Look at the sculpture – close-up and from a distance.
How does it change?
How might the weather impact this work?
Make
There are lots of reflections to be found in nature.
Can you find something in the grounds that is shiny or shows a reflection? Take a photograph!
On your way to the next sculpture, imagine that you’re a kinetic sculpture, being blown by the wind!
Walk
Find the stone sculpture hiding behind a wall.
Talk
Richard Long, born 1945
- Has walked all over the world, from the Himalayas to the Highlands.
- His art can be a walk or a photograph, a map or some writing.
- Sometimes he moves rocks from where he finds them to a different place, as part of his art.
What shape is it?
Where do you find this shape in nature?
Can you see any circular shapes, natural or man-made, around you?
Make
In Richard Long’s artwork, the pieces of slate are all irregular in size but there is a careful balance between smaller and larger pieces. Collect leaves, stones or natural materials and arrange them in a circle - in your chosen spot.
Download the activity
Nature’s colour palette!
Our exhibitions change regularly so the galleries inside look and feel different all the time . . . but so do the grounds - thanks to nature and the changing seasons!
Come back in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter to spot the differences, inside and out.
Illustrated by Caitlin Bowbeer