On Thursday 26 September 2019, Year 12 Art students visited the Natural History Museum to collect images and make observational drawings to help develop ideas for their natural forms project.

Some of us went to the neighbouring Victoria and Albert Museum as well. In the Natural History Museum, there were many different sections and collections including fossils, rocks, dinosaur fossils, underwater plants and shells, the human skeleton and collections of a number of animal species. Being able to see all of these different displays and sketching them allowed us to explore their texture, tones and shapes and now we have more ideas on how we can incorporate unique natural forms into our art and we have improved our understanding of what we are drawing.

In the Victoria and Albert Museum, we came across many artefacts from different cultures and different time periods. Our favourite section was the glass collection; the smooth, sculpted glass was so intriguing in the way in which each piece had been blown, melted and bent into objects based on natural forms. The eye-catching Dale Chihuly chandelier was full of bold, beautiful colours; it was definitely worth seeing.

By Charlotte Smith and Halle Game

Image by Waid1995 from Pixabay