Testimonials

Image Credit – The Ambassadors – Hans Holbein (1533)

The most important thing for us is that we make an impact on the children and adults that we work with. Over the years we have collected some comments – here’s just a small selection:

Teachers

It was brilliant to see many of the children and their heritage reflected in art. As a person of colour I found it extremely interesting and appreciate highly the opportunity to diversify learning in the classroom.
Teacher, London Borough of Barnet

Amazing workshop, really brought the children’s imaginations to life. All children could access the tasks and felt like their options were valued. Some children who never talk came out with some amazing vocabulary!
Teacher, London Borough of Ealing

I loved that children had a chance to draw links with their own life and experience. The class also had the chance to use their literacy, oracy, global, historical and history of art skills. Children with behavioural needs were so engaged.
Teacher, London Borough of Tower Hamlets

An exciting and interesting session. The pace was well structured and even though the children were sitting for over an hour they were all totally engaged and absorbed in the art and discussion. The whole session was pitched perfectly to the age group. Excellent!
Teacher, London Borough of Bromley

We really enjoyed the choice of paintings. They all flowed into each other very well and there were lots of cross-curricular links made. The drama techniques worked brilliantly and the children were very much interested in all the discussions. At the end of the session the children asked to see one more painting! This is the best testament to the success of the session.
Teacher, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

Another fantastic lesson! The children were all able to take an active part and even though they were sitting for a long time you held their attention throughout. You remembered what you had previously done with the class and built on their previous learning. Highly informative and enjoyable. Mat, you are amazing!!! Thanks again.
Teacher, London Borough of Hackney

The children thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. They loved being able to give their point of view on the artwork and some of their responses were amazing. I think it’s a great concept to have children discussing art rather than just doing or making it.
Teacher, London Borough of Southwark

Fascinating! Lots of ‘Ahhh ‘moments from the children who were fully engaged throughout. Your vast knowledge is conveyed seamlessly and effectively. You were able to touch upon important vocabulary and ideas from other elements of art such as shadows, diagonal lines and colour mixing and there was a wonderful interactive element to the session.
Teacher, London Borough of Lambeth

The Year 3 presentation today was excellent. The content and delivery were specific to our needs and relevant to our whole school theme. Both the children and I have gained valuable knowledge and experience and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. Pippa’s manner with the children really put them at ease and allowed their exploration of the artwork to be more open. Fifty per cent of the class are children with SEN but this did not necessarily show during the presentation, due to Pippa’s approach and the way the children responded to her.
Teacher, Gateshead

Totally inspirational! The pictures were perfect and the knowledge of each painting was excellent and clearly explained to the students. The students learnt about why each painting was chosen for the topic, its meaning and how it was made. Their ideas and reasons were well accepted and encouraged by the teacher. An excellent presentation – we can’t wait for it to happen again. It makes teaching art look so simple and I have gained confidence for next year.
Teacher, London Borough of Wandsworth

Image Credit – A Balloon Site, Coventry – Laura Knight (1943)


Children

Thank you ever so much, I truly enjoyed today learning about the Ancient Greeks. Having you in my school really made my day. First of all I wasn’t really interested in the Ancient Greeks but now I have discovered I’m actually quite good at it. I’m going to look up the Greeks on my laptop. Learning about the events of the Olympic Games was fun and exciting!
Year 4 Pupil, Consett, County Durham

Wish we could do it every day!
St John’s Chapel, Durham

It was a wonderful presentation. I liked when we said what we thought people in the paintings were saying. I have learnt a lot about Victorian life from the paintings.
Year 5 Pupil, London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

I loved your idea of the speech bubbles and I liked it when people went to the front and did the freeze-frames.
Year 5 Pupil, London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Thank you for showing us those wonderful paintings and telling us about the artists – I will now do more art and hopefully I will go to the art gallery more often. Please come back to teach us more.
Year 6 Pupil, London Borough of Hackney

Thank you for coming to our class. I had no idea there was so much to art. Normally I am very reluctant to the idea of art galleries but I think next time I will appreciate it a lot more. I hadn’t thought of looking for clues in paintings but I thought it was really fun. I hope you can come again to see us.
Year 6 Pupil, London Borough of Hackney

I was disappointed when we ran out of time even though it was playtime. It wasn’t just the pictures I liked, it was the fact that we got to pose and everything.
Year 6 Pupil, London Borough of Hackney

Thank you for coming to our school, I really enjoyed it. The art we learned about today was amazing. It was a great lesson and I will remember it for a long time.
Year 6 Pupil, London Borough of Hackney


Adults

This was an excellent, inspirational session viewing paintings and encouraging interaction with presenter and tenants. Everyone’s comments were solved and skilfully brought into the session. The session was appreciated by all. A repeat would welcome as it did not matter whether you were personally knowledgeable. Thank you for an enjoyable afternoon.
Resident, Sheltered Care Home, London

I enjoyed the session very much. It was presented very well and opened my eyes to art that I didn’t think would interest me.
Resident, Homeless Hostel, London

A very interesting and insightful session. Long may this sort of thing continue. To be able to have reasonable, stimulating programmes like this can only help. Magic Lantern: Shining a light into an otherwise bleak existence.
Student, HMP Wormwood Scrubs

Mat successfully engaged the learners in a surprisingly lively discussion with much uninhibited individual speculation and cross dialogue, no doubt encouraged by his own warmly delivered and informed response to the images shown. I very much hope this will happen again.
Art Teacher, HMP Wormwood Scrubs

Being in a prison for such a long time we really don’t get much from the outside world. Looking into the details beyond the actual old master paintings always inspires me and especially when you can ask someone in detail. It was really helpful to have this kind of opportunity inside the prison – thanks for that.
Student, HMP Pentonville

Excellent and engaging workshop. All of the clients that attended seemed to enjoy it greatly. Both the workshop leaders had a wealth of knowledge which meant we could have talked forever looking at just one picture. They worked excellently with the client group and drew the information out of them showing great patience and attention to the clients needs. Thoroughly enjoyable!
Learning Coordinator, Broadway Homeless Unit, London

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“Inspirational”

“Fantastic”

“An excellent entry point for our topic”

“Exceptionally well planned and presented”

“Interactive and dynamic”

“Great pace”

“The children were engaged throughout the lesson”

“Everybody participated”