Join and learn during Family Day in Chisenhale Gallery on Sunday afternoon, 7th December 2008.

Your family is warmly invited to join artist educators Jenny Hendra, Alice Finbow and Sarah Michaels, from the Institute of Education's Artist Teacher Programme, for a family afternoon of art workshops inspired by Simon Martin's exhibition. Come ready to investigate and reinterpret objects!

With drawing, storyboarding and bite sized performance, families will think creatively about familiar objects, work together to bring life to everyday items and have a family friendly introduction to the exhibition. See you there!

Family Day is in the gallery on Sunday December 7th, from 2pm-5pm.

Find out more about Chisenhale Gallery (this website is in development, so scroll down for information and click under Simon Martin about Family Day), email or call 020 8981 4518.

How to get there:

Trains - The closest train station is Cambridge Heath (London) Rail, then London Fields and Bethnal Green.

Underground - The closest tube stations are Mile End and Bow Road, then Bethnal Green.

Buses - 277 (to Victoria Park); 339, 8 and D6 (get off at Grove Road junction with Roman Road); 338 (get off at Grove Road junction with Victoria Park Road); 25 (get off at Mile End station).

Plan your visit to London with Transport for London's Journey Planner, whether you are walking, cycling or using the public transport system.

Sponsored by United House and Londonewcastle, 'Drawntogether' is a new exhibition of drawings and etchings by current and former students of The Prince's Drawing School's Public Programme.
 
The exhibition is organised around the theme of 'how artists see' and has been organised by the students themselves to showcase their work. The exhibition is open to the public 11.00am to 7.30pm between 21 November and 29 November 2008, admission is free, more than 100 artists' works will be on display, and on sale to visitors.
 

On 18 November 2008, an exhibition at the Camberwell Art College opens showcasing 2,500 recently uncovered drawings of artist Dickie Orpen.  Orpen uniquely used her talent in art and passion for medicine in creating pencil drawings that recorded complex operations and pioneering techniques that helped change the face of plastic surgery.

During the Second World War both civilian and military personnel with horrific injuries were treated using plastic and reconstructive surgery at Hill End Hospital St Albans.  A pioneering surgeon, Rainsford Mowlem headed the team that conducted ground-breaking surgery to rectify injuries sustained in combat.

The drawings making up the exhibition "Dickie Orpen, Surgeon's Artist" were only recently discovered in archived records when the plastic surgery unit at Mount Vernon Hospital was closed last year. The rest were given to the BAPRAS Archive by the Plastic Surgeon Mr Magdy Saad who received them from the estate of Mr John Barron who worked with Mowlem at Hill End St Albans during the war. 

The exhibition is a joint initiative by Camberwell College of Art and the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS).  The collection of the drawings and the exhibition has been organised by retired plastic surgeon Brian Morgan and Jeanne Woodcraft, lecturer in drawing at Camberwell.

Between 18 and 23 November, the exhibition will be housed at Camberwell College of Art, Wilson Road, SE5 8LU.

The exhibition will be open to the public between 10am to 4pm on weekdays and entry is free. 

The drawings will then be exhibited at the Royal College of Surgeons at Lincoln Inn's Fields, WC2A 3PE from 3 December 2008.

En route from their hugely successful debut art show the nomadic Sketchbook collective seek refuge in East London's Jago Gallery from Monday the 10th of November to Wednesday the 19th.

Recently home to the Vice Magazine's Photo Book exhibition, the Jago will become the stage for Sketchbooks next eclectic, 'put-me-up' extravaganza: 'Voyage voyage'.

Drop the anchor as this enchanting collective transforms the Jago into a variant treasure chest of contemporary art. 'Voyage voyage' will feature a cohesion of inspired and original works of illustration, video works, photography and installation from the depths of London's young, artistic talent.

The gallery is open from 12 noon to 12 midnight seven days a week.With a fully licensed bar and coffee area the Jago is the perfect venue to rest weary souls. Private view: Thursday the 13th from 6pm to 9pm.

Find out more about the Jago Gallery and Sketchbook.

How to get there

The closest overground train station is Old Street, then Liverpool Street, Moorgate and Bethnal Green Rail.

The closest underground tube stations are Old Street, Liverpool Street, Moorgate, Aldgate, Aldgate East and Whitechapel.

If travelling by bus the 21, 43, 55, 76, 141, 205, 214, 243, 271 and 394 all serve Old Street.

"Possibly the best family art class in London..."

Free family workshops
Saturdays, 14.00-15.30

Somerset House, and their creative workshops will help you discover the artistic treasure in your little treasure.

Created by the in-house learning team, workshops take inspiration from the collections, exhibitions and magnificent architectural surroundings at Somerset House.

Children aged 6 to 12 years and their families are warmly welcomed at the free Saturday workshops, which begin at 14.00 and take an hour and a half to complete.

Family Workshops take place in the Learning Centre, Embankment level, South Building. Free tickets can be collected  at 13.00 on the day from the information desk in the Seamen's Hall. Spaces are limited, so tickets are allocated on a first come first served basis. Workshops are from 2pm until 3.30pm.

Somerset House family workshops and holiday drop-in workshops are for families and are not suitable for play schemes.

How to get there:

London gem The Wellcome Collection and its neighbour UCL are playing host to a fascinating free interactive festival celebrating drawing and life as part of the launch of The Big Draw, the national campaign that encourages frustrated doodlers to sharpen their pencils and get sketching.

Supported by the Bow Arts Trust, Drawing On Life kicks off on the evening of Friday 26th September at 7pm, and over the weekend the whole family can get involved in creative workshops and talks, all designed to enlighten visitors about the mysteries of the human mind and body while getting the creative juices flowing.

Highlights include illustrator Steven Appleby 'drawing to music' provided by Nathan 'Flutebox' Lee, while those keen to get involved can invent crazy prosthetics, design sets for a production at the ghoulish Little Theatre of Disease and Desire or take in screenings of short animations about the life cycle.

For the more scientifically minded Professor Ray Dolan muses over the connection between emotion and cognition, world-renowned geneticist Professor Steve Jones gives a talk about snails, science historian Professor Arthur Miller compares the thought processes of scientists and artists, and artist Richard Wentworth and scientist Mark Lythgoe walk, map and re-draw their environment. But that's just the tip of the ice-berg.
Sign up to Wellcome's alerts service for more details as they are revealed.

Launch: Friday 26th September, 7-10pm
Activity days: Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th September, 11am -5pm

How to get there:

Feel the love at the inSpiral Community's Monday Love nights at their Camden Town InSpiral Lounge base, where budding revolutionaries and tied-died hippies can commune in harmony while checking out the latest live music, film and, they promise 'real life grassroots media'. They say: Free entry 'for all those who still believe in something more than money and fear'. We say: Promises to offer a bold alternative to London's plush-velvet private member's club get-togethers.


Every Monday at 7:00 PM

How to get there:

By Tube
Camden Town and Chalk Farm (Northern Line)

Or hop on a bus: 24, 27, 31, 168

IBID PROJECTS is pleased to present 'Sights from a Steeple', a group show of six international artists.

Each of whose work deals with issues such as a romance that has failed, a Poe-esque approach to the subject of the night or attitudes of austerity and self-restraint.

The exhibition takes its title from the chapter of a book by the Nineteenth-century novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. Each story in the book had previously been published or told before. In the chapter 'Sights from a Steeple', an all-seeing narrator surveys the world around him from the heights of a church tower. His reflections create a sense of dizzying vertigo but also relay a sense of liberation that can come from looking at an environment from a distance, whereby the past and future can be seen together in one moment.

In a similar way, many of the artists in the exhibition can appear forward-looking in their vision whilst equally sharing a fascination for pre-Modernist canons. Through multiple references from Post-punk music to Nineteenth century literature and scientific photography, each have found similar possibilities in the past in the way that music groups such as The Cure or Joy Division explored Nineteenth century links between disaster and romance, and saw them as closely related; or, looked at recent subcultures that are still somehow unknown or have already been claimed by others.

The exhibition runs from Saturday July 5th until Sunday August 24th. The gallery is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm to 6pm.

Find out more about IBID PROJECTS.

How to get there

The closest tube station is located at Bethnal Green. The closest overground station is located at Cambridge Heath.

If travelling by bus the 26, 48, 55, 106, 254, 309, 388, 394, D3 and D6 all serve Cambridge Heath.

Head down to the Viewfinder Gallery in Greenwich for a fantastic photography exhibition.

These photographers use the camera to create innovative, poetic images rather than simply to record: photographing scenes where there is no immediately obvious subject matter (as with Gerd Hasler's waterscapes, in which water is reduced to monochrome images; Mike Whelan's series of interiors abstracted to light and form; and Mark Bellingham's photographs taken from moving trains, allowing for chance compositions), photographing what is not quite there (Nicola Probert's photograph of her parents' half-hearted redecorating attempts), or photographing the outright invisible (Isidro Ramirez's documentation of the scenes of his dreams and longings).

Nearly Nothing runs from Saturday 12th July to Sunday August 17th. The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 4pm.

Find out more about the Viewfinder Gallery.

How to get there

The closest tube and DLR stations are located at Greenwich.

If traveling by bus the 129, 177, 180, 188, 199, 286 and 386 all serve the area.

The Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition 2008 will take place this June/July - it's open to everyone and free to attend.

The interactive exhibits cover topics from how electrical stimulation of the skin can reduce pain, to whether picture passwords are the solution to identity fraud, and you get to meet the scientists behind some of the UK's latest scientific advancements.

The exhibition runs from Monday June 30th to Thursday July 3rd, opening times do vary so check out the official website.

How to get there

The closest tube station is located at Charing Cross.

If travelling by bus the 1, 4, 6 (24 hour service), 9, 11, 15, 23, 26, 59, 68, 76, X68, 91, 168, 171, 172, 176 (24 hour service), 188, 243 (24 hour service), 341 (24 hour service), 521 and RV1 all serve the area.

The Gestalt Centre is proud to be hosting the artwork of Paul Harris and Paula Snow, young artists from West London, this April.

The artwork on show varies from abstract, cellebrity portraits, and animals to still lifes such as flowers etc...small and large! They demonstrate their passion for art through their recent work by exploring various styles, techniques and textures on stretched canvas.

All images will be up for sale during this one day spectacular on Saturday April 12th from 12.30pm to 4pm.

Find out more about the Gestalt Centre.

How to get there

The closest underground station is located at Old Street.

If travelling by bus the 21, 43, 55, 76, 141, 205, 214, 243, 271 and 394 all serve Old Street.

Alan Michael is a painter who lives and works in Glasgow. He is interested in the idea of things colliding and works a puzzling and eclectic array of imagery into his canvases, with references drawn from both high and low culture. Text, clothing, plants, cars and figures appropriated from art historical and media sources are grouped, repeated or reflected in his compositions with apparent indifference.

Sometimes reminiscent of the cool, slick finish of advertising, his painterly style, like his artistic intentions, is hard to pin down. Using a seemingly impenetrable and private language to skew the familiar, his paintings are impersonal yet beguiling and goad the viewer to disentangle a narrative of connections. For his Art Now exhibition the artist will present new paintings, not seen before in London.

How to get there:

Tate Britain
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG

Help plan your visit to Tate Britain using Transport for London's Journey planner, whether you're walking, cycling or using public transport. You can also access Journey planner on a WAP-enabled mobile by texting 'TfL' to 60835. Text is charged at standard rate. There is also a Google Map of the area.

Underground
Pimlico (Victoria Line, 600 metres approx.), Vauxhall (Victoria line, 850 metres approx.), Westminster (Jubilee, District and Circle Lines).

Buses
A number of buses service the area, including the 2, 3, C10, 36, 87, 88, 159, 185, 436 and 507.

Tate Britain is located on the north bank of the River Thames at Millbank, south west of the city centre and not far from the Houses of Parliament.

Boat
Tate Boat runs every forty minutes along the Thames between Tate Modern, the London Eye and Tate Britain.

Train
Vauxhall or Victoria stations are both located nearby.

Taxi
A taxi drop off/pick up point is situated on Millbank, just outside the Millbank entrance.

Car
There is a limited amount of pay and display parking in the streets surrounding Tate Britain (free at the weekends and after 18.30). Free parking at other times is only available to SEN groups booked into sessions.

Coach
Drop-off point on Millbank

By bike
There are bike racks outside the gallery to the left of the Manton entrance (at the end of Atterbury Street on the corner with John Islip Street) and also on Millbank near the entrance to the Clore gallery.

Access
There is level access at the Clore Gallery entrance for school groups using educational facilities with a lift to the galleries. There is also level access via the Manton Entrance on Atterbury Street, with a lift to the galleries (please do not use the Manton if you require an education booked service or educational facilities). To reserve a parking space or wheelchair please telephone 020 7887 3959.

Fly away on the magic carpet as it comes to land in front of a different painting each Sunday.

Magic Carpet Storytelling at the National Gallery is for children under 5 years.

There is no need to book for any of these workshops, but places are limited and are allocated on arrival. Children must be accompanied to all events.

Every Sunday
11.30am - 12pm
Meet in the Education Centre Foyer

There are also storytelling sessions in the holidays.

Each story ties in with the workshop themes:

Discoveries in Art and Science - Animal Magnetism
Sundays: 9 March, 20 April

Fabric - Brocades and Brushes
Sundays: 2 and 30 March, 6 April

Spring is Sprung
Sundays: 16 March, 27 April

Family Gatherings - Back to the Future
Sundays: 23 March, 13 April

The National Gallery
Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 5DN

Opening hours
Daily 10am-6pm
Wednesday 10am-9pm
Closed 1 January and 24-26 December.

How to get there:

Plan your visit to the National Gallery with Transport for London's Journey Planner, whether you are walking, cycling or using the public transport system. This is a map of the area.

"Possibly the best family art class in London..."

Free family workshops
Saturdays, 14.00-15.30

There are many delights in store for your family at Somerset House, and our creative workshops will help you discover them.

Workshops are devised by our dedicated learning team. Draw inspiration from the collections, exhibitions and magnificent architectural surroundings at Somerset House, then create your own masterpieces from what you learn.

Children aged 6 to 12 years and their families are warmly welcomed at our free Saturday workshops. Workshops begin at 14.00 and it takes an hour and a half to complete the activity.

Collect your free ticket at 13.00 on the day from the information desk in the Seamen's Hall. Spaces are limited, so tickets are allocated on a first come first served basis.

Please note: there will be no family workshop on Easter Saturday (22 March 2008).

Holiday drop-in workshops are suitable for families with children of all ages. Children must be accompanied by an adult. If the workshop is full, families are welcome to wait until spaces become available. The activity lasts about half an hour. Meet in the Learning Centre, Embankment level, South Building.

Somerset House family workshops and holiday drop-in workshops are for families and are not suitable for play schemes.

Somerset House Trust
South Building
Somerset House
Strand
London WC2R 1LA

The American Scene features around 150 outstanding prints by 74 leading modern American artists, including George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois and Jackson Pollock.

The first half of the 20th century was a period of great change in America, and this exhibition examines American society and culture through the prints produced by some of the most important artists of the time.

The exhibition begins with John Sloan's Ashcan School etchings of everyday urban experience in the 1900s and concludes with Jackson Pollock and the triumph of abstract expressionism in the 1950s.

Many of the images in the intervening period explore the changing urban landscape of New York, the onset of the Depression, the romanticised visions of the American heartlands by the Regionalists, the response to the rise of Fascism in Europe and America's entry into the Second World War.

All the works come from the British Museum's own American print collection, which is the most comprehensive outside the United States covering this period.

Admission free
The British Museum is free to all visitors
A charge may be made for some special exhibitions

The British museum is open every day from 10am to 5:30pm

For more information on this exhibition click HERE.

Join one of our free Daily Guided Tours and take a closer look at Tate Britain's collection. Tours last approximately one hour, each focusing on highlights from different areas of our collection displays as chosen by a Tate Guide.

Please meet at the Rotunda Information Desk.

Monday to Friday:

Saturdays and Sundays:

For information regarding Painting of the Month Talks which take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays please see our Painting of the Month page.

The gallery is closed on 24, 25, 26 December. There are no tours on New Years day.

How to get there:

Help plan your visit to Tate Britain using Transport for London's Journey planner, whether you're walking, cycling or using public transport. You can also access Journey planner on a WAP-enabled mobile by texting 'TfL' to 60835. Text is charged at standard rate.

Underground
Pimlico (Victoria Line, 600 metres approx.), Vauxhall (Victoria line, 850 metres approx.), Westminster (Jubilee, District and Circle Lines).

Buses
A number of buses service the area, including the 2, 3, C10, 36, 87, 88, 159, 185, 436 and 507.

On Foot
Tate Britain is located on the north bank of the River Thames at Millbank, south west of the city centre and not far from the Houses of Parliament. Click HERE for a map of the area.

Boat
The Tate Boat runs every forty minutes along the Thames between Tate Modern, the London Eye and Tate Britain.

Train
Vauxhall or Victoria stations are both located nearby.

Taxi
A taxi drop off/pick up point is situated on Millbank, just outside the Millbank entrance.

Car
There is a limited amount of pay and display parking in the streets surrounding Tate Britain (free at the weekends and after 18.30). Free parking at other times is only available to SEN groups booked into sessions.

Coach
Drop-off point on Millbank

Bicycle
There are bike racks outside the gallery to the left of the Manton entrance (at the end of Atterbury Street on the corner with John Islip Street) and also on Millbank near the entrance to the Clore gallery. Consult TfL's cycling page for the quickest and safest route.

Access
There is level access at the Clore Gallery entrance for school groups using educational facilities with a lift to the galleries. There is also level access via the Manton Entrance on Atterbury Street, with a lift to the galleries (please do not use the Manton if you require an education booked service or educational facilities). To reserve a parking space or wheelchair please telephone 020 7887 3959.

Curated by composer, artist and sound designer Matthias Kispert (D-Fuse, WKsound, CrowdFormation), this series of soundworks present a slice of contemporary China that is not seen but heard, providing an aural glimpse of everyday life in China.

The installation features newly commissioned work by some of China's leading experimental artists including Zhong Minjie and Yan Jun, providing an aural glimpse of everyday life in China.

The event runs from Friday April 18th to Monday April 28th at The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 10am-11pm (daily). Admission is free.

Find out more about this event and others at the Southbank Centre.

How to get there

Rail - Waterloo, Waterloo East or walk over the Hungerford Bridge from Charing Cross.

Underground - The closest tube stations are Waterloo (on the Northern, Bakerloo & Jubilee lines), Southwark (on the Jubilee line) or walk over the Hungerford Bridge from Embankment (on the Northern, Bakerloo, District and Circle lines).

Buses - All the following buses stop on Waterloo Bridge and you can take the steps down to Southbank on either side of the bridge or use the pavements that slope down away from the river and then double back to take you to Upper Ground, which runs behind the Southbank Centre: 1, 4, 26, 59, 68, 76, 139, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 243, 341, 521, X68, Riverside Bus (RV1 - which also stops on Upper Ground which runs by the back of the Southbank Centre). 77 (Upper Ground near the Festival Hall), 211 & 507 (Waterloo Road near the main station), 381 (Stamford Street). 45, 63 & 100 all stop at the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge, and there is a 10 minute walk along the riverside to the Southbank Centre.

Renowned Italian designed Anna Izzo will be exhibiting 30 pieces of original art design at La Galleria this March.

Stiletto is a collection of 30 original pieces of art designs in resin, sculpture and oil paintings. Modern lines, innovative materials and colours are the elements that Anna mixes to create her very personal works.

Her paintings retain something in common with Pop-Art, it is the element of vitality, charged with irony, surrealism, symbolic languages endowed with a great power of communication, thus ensuring an immediate and automatic entente with the public.

The exhibition runs from Friday February 22nd to Sunday March 30th, the gallery is open Monday to Saturday from 10.30am to 7pm.

Find out more about events at La Galleria.

How to get there

The closest tube station are located at Piccadilly Circus and Charing Cross.

If on the bus the 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 24, 29, 53, 87, 88, 91, 139, 159, 176 and the 453 all serve Trafalgar Square.

Steve McQueen's moving exhibition at the Imperial War Museum is dedicated to all the victims of the Iraq war.

Commemorating the British service personnel who have been killed in the war in Iraq, McQueen's project takes the form of a series of postage stamp sheets featuring photographic portraits of individual men and women who have lost their lives in the conflict so far. Each stamp also bears the standard profile of Her Majesty the Queen, the sovereign in whose name they went to fight.

Commissioned by the Imperial War Museum and the Manchester International Festival to respond to the conflict in Iraq, Steve McQueen wanted to find a way to bring these people into our everyday lives, our homes and workplaces as a reminder of our country's participation in the war. The project is both a tribute to the deceased and 'a reflection upon the validity of war, the structure of power and notions of national identity'. These stamps are facsimiles: the artist hopes that an official set of stamps might eventually be issued by Royal Mail.

Find out more about this and other exhibitions and events at The Imperial War Museum.


How to get there

Underground: The nearest tube stations are at Lambeth North and Waterloo.

Bus: 1, 3, 12, 45, 53, 63, 68, 159, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 344 and C10 all serve the area.

Which will be the next work of art to grace the famous Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square? Take a look at the shortlisted artists' work at the National Gallery - and leave comments on what you think should fill the space.

The exhibition will display models by the six shortlisted artists: Jeremy Deller, Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Yinka Shonibare MBE, and Bob & Roberta Smith.

Part of a rolling programme of commissions to add a new sculptures to the Fourth Plinth, the work selected this time will replace the recently unveiled 'Model for a Hotel' by Thomas Schütte (pictured) - a specially engineered, colourful glass sculpture of a 21-storey building which in turn replaced Marc Quinn's popular work 'Alison Lapper Pregnant'.

Find out more about the National Gallery and the Fourth Plinth Project.


How to get there

Underground: The closest tube and train station to Trafalgar Square is Charing Cross. Leicester Square is also a short walk away.

Bus: 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 24, 29, 53, 87, 88, 91, 139, 159, 176 and the 453 all serve Trafalgar Square.

This major exhibition features hundreds of the most arresting and iconic posters from the Imperial War Museum's internationally renowned collection.

'Weapons of Mass Communication' explores the relationship between advertising, publicity and government propaganda and policy, from the First World War onwards. It charts the poster's evolution as a tool of protest and counter-culture, incorporating powerful Peace, anti-Nuclear and anti-Vietnam designs of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as more recent material from the Iraq war demonstrations.

The museum is open daily (except 24, 25 and 26 December) 10.00am - 6.00pm.



How to get there

The closest tube stations to the Imperial War Museum are Lambeth North and Waterloo. If travelling by bus, the 1, 3, 12, 45, 53, 63, 68, 159, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 344 and C10 all serve the area.

Become a little artist in the weekends with the help of Tate Britain's Art Trolley.

The trolley d'art is packed with goodies suitable for kids of all ages and their families. Straws, ribbons, coloured card, crayons, glue, felt and all things material to bring out the budding artist in everyone.

It's easy, you just visit the trolley and pick what inspires you, wander round the gallery and put it together as a piece of art.

A gallery has been set up on the website where you can re-visit on-line, click the date of your visit, and send your photo over email as an e-card. If you fancy having your picture in the Art Trolley Gallery, there's only one way to do it!

Tate also has a families website where all their family activities are listed.

Art Trolley Weekend Sessions run every Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 5pm. Just turn up, pick what pleases you from the Art Trolley in the rotunda room, wander forth and create!

For more information click here.

How to get there

The closest tube stations are at Plimco and Vauxhall. If on the bus the 2, 24, 36, 87, 88, 185, 360, 436 and C10 are serve the Millbank area.