We are thrilled to announce that the Bermuda National Gallery has won two awards in The Bermudian magazine’s first ever Family Favourite Awards: Best Gallery/Museum for Kids, and Best Summer Camp!
With free admission for the whole family generously made possibly by the Christian Humann Foundation, there has never been a better time to visit.
Free BNG Kids Activity Packs accompany each of our current exhibitions. Pick up a copy and encourage little ones to explore the gallery in their own time.
Over 75 students have taken part in BNG’s signature Art+Tech summer camp this summer. With the generous support of the Centennial Bermuda Foundation, we have been able to offer 34 bursary places and have worked with youth mentoring organisation Big Brothers Big Sisters Bermuda to offer 10 places for children in their programme.
Students, age 11-14, have learned new technical skills in animation, digital painting and photo bashing and enjoyed a variety of field trips to encourage their creativity, from tours of our current exhibitions andthe BNG Sculpture Park, to tours of the Hamilton Princess art collection (where they have managed to find 5 Space Invaders so far) and the City Art Tour.
Earlier this week, Bermuda-based British artist Abi Box held a private printmaking workshop for preschool students aged 3 to 5, inspired by her current exhibition Identical Days, which is on display in the BNG Project Space through to May 6. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The children from Treetops Preschool enjoyed a look at the exhibition with the artist, who then showed them how to make simple prints from Styrofoam plates and ink.
The gallery was a hive of activity last week as the mid-term break brought in two camps, along with Bermuda’s primary and middle school art teachers for a day of professional development.
BNG Narrative Art Camp
In the BNG Narrative Art Camp, ten students aged 8 to 12 explored the possibilities of narrative art making. Under the direction of Rehana Packwood, the Bermuda National Gallery’s Education Officer, students created comics and wrote stories from which they sculpted scenes with clay.
In celebration of Halloween, students also painted mini pumpkins inspired the Yayoi Kusama artworks displayed in the 2019 exhibition What’s Poppin: Pop Art and Its Influence.
BNG camp students pose in the 2022 Bermuda Biennial artwork The Birdcage by Jacqueline Alma.
Students wrote stories (left) which they then illustrated with clay. Sculpture (right) by Leilani Carpol (age 11), Nalini Minors (age 12), and Georgina Dunkerley (age 9).
Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation
With 3 of their teachers exhibiting in the 2022 Bermuda Biennial, Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation turned their attention towards the Biennial as the inspiration for their October camp. Students explored the exhibition with the BNG team and were able to learn more firsthand from featured artists and camp teachers Jahbarri Wilson and Cheryl Hastings, while also discovering work by KAF teacher Corrina Rego.
Students then worked on a variety of mixed media projects inspired by the artworks they had encountered in the gallery.
2022 Bermuda Biennial artist and KAF teacher Jahbarri Wilson takes students through a drawing exercise inspired by the exhibition.
Artwork by Tucker Champion, age 9 (left), inspired by Corrina Rego’s Biennial artwork Phoenix (right).
Ministry of Education
After a 2-year hiatus on school field trips imposed by Covid-19 restrictions, we worked with the Ministry of Education to devise a day of professional development for primary and middle school art teachers.
BNG trustee Mitchell Klink guided the group through a “slow looking” exhibition tour and Education Officer Rehana Packwood shared all of the online resources available for teaching, including BNG’s virtual walkthrough and downloadable kids activity books.
Mitchell Klink leads the group through a “slow looking” tour.
Left: Rehana Packwood takes the group through BNG teaching resources. Right: BNG Kids activity books are produced to accompany each exhibition.
BNG endeavours to enrich the lives of all school children through free school tours, supplementary art classes, art camps and workshops, as well as at school presentations. For further information please contact education@bng.bm.
Are you looking to entertain the kids over the summer holidays? Escape the heat by bringing them in see our current exhibitions. Pick up a free BNG Kids Activity Book to encourage them to explore the gallery on their own.
Admission is free for children, $5 for adults (free for students, seniors and both BNG and NARM members). Bespoke activity books, aimed at children between the ages of 7 and 14, have been produced to accompany each of the three exhibitions on display, providing children with opportunities to explore the themes presented and learn new skills.
2022 Bermuda Biennial
The theme for this year’s exhibition, A New Vocabulary: Past. Present. Future, asked artists to examine the seismic changes that have taken place since the last Biennial. The show brings together 43 local artists and presents a variety of media, including animation, drawing, painting, photography, sculpture and poetry.
The accompanying BNG Kids Activity Book is aimed at ages 11 to 14 and features a guided exercise on planning art, including composition, the elements of design, colour theory, and thumbnail sketching.
A Personal Perspective: Photographs by Richard Saunders
This exhibition focuses on a selection of striking black and white prints by local photographer Richard Saunders (Bermudian, 1922 – 1987). Saunders left the island due to segregation, moving to NYC in the late 1940s, where he went on to shoot for publications such as The New York Times, Life, National Geographic and Time.
The BNG Kids Activity Book produced to accompany the exhibition, aimed at ages 7 to 10, explores the principles of photography from how cameras work, to 35mm film and the focal point.
From Darkness to Light: Portraits by Henry Ward
Henry Ward is a portrait artist. Hismethod and philosophy of painting are based on the techniques developed over the centuries by the Old Masters, however, stylistically, he seeks to blend the old with the new. In this exhibition he captures key figures in Bermuda, such as Dr David Wingate OBE, Miss Ruth Thomas MBE and Alan Burland.
In the accompanying BNG Kids Activity Book, children aged 11 to 14 are introduced to the effects of light and shadow and a step by step guide to representing the planes of a face.
Tours of all current exhibitions, for groups large or small, can be arranged with Education Officer Rehana Packwood (pictured above with kids from the AKSC and Youth Library Camps). Contact education@bng.bm for further information, or call 295 9428.
If your kids enjoy the activity books, please take a picture and tag us on Instagram. We’d love to see their work!
Recognizing the importance of art education in developing critical thinking skills, confidence and teamwork, Bermuda National Gallery with the generous support of Centennial Bermuda Foundation are offering needs based scholarships for the Art+Tech Summer Camp programme.
This year, the Art+Tech programme, which has been running since 2009, is open to 15 students per week. They will be based between the gallery and the BNG Education Satellite Space in the nearby Washington Mall, generously supported by Washington Properties. Each student will be assigned an iPad and Apple Pencil to work with.
To ensure that as many students as possible have access to the course, registration is limited to one week per student. They can choose from a variety of modules:
Animation: Students will learn the principles of animation and apply those to making short 2D animations.
Digital Painting: Students will learn colour theory and perspective as well as digital painting techniques.
Photo Editing : Using photography and photo editing techniques, this week will introduce students to digital collage and photobashing.
A selection of artworks produced in the 2021 Art+Tech summer camp programme can be viewed here.
Scholarships, which cover up to 85% of the cost of camp, are needs-based and will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. The cost of camp is $250 for BNG Family Members (or higher), and $325 for non-members. An annual Family Membership is included for non-members.
Membership includes unlimited free gallery access for up to 4 family members (2 adults and 2 children), invitations to exhibition previews and exclusive events plus priority access to all BNG education programmes.
For more information, and to register, click here.
For further information please contact Rehana Packwood, Education Officer on 295 9428 or email education@bng.bm.
Over the Easter holidays, we held a Narrative Art Camp for students age 8 to 12. Under the direction of Education Officer Rehana Packwood, students explored a variety of art mediums and learnt to make comics, create flipbooks, write and illustrate poetry, and more!
Sarai Burgess, age 10.
Ailey Headlam, age 12.
Nyah Roberts, age 12.
Grace Akle, age 8, Mylah Da Silva, age 9, and Grace Caplice, age 9.
Noah Kipps Gibbons, age 12.
Ailey Headlam, age 12.
Nylah Roberts, age 12.
Maisie Farnsworth, age 11.
Click here for further information about BNG Education Programmes.
Looking to entertain the kids over the Easter break? We have a launched a BNG Kids Competition to encourage our youngest visitors to come in and explore the gallery.
Between now and April 10, every child who fills in a BNG Kids Activity book will be entered into a prize draw to win a Crayola Art Inspiration Case, a Family Membership to the Bermuda National Gallery, plus a BNG T-shirt, in a bundle valued at over $150.
The activity books can be picked up free in the gallery. Simply give your competition entry form to the volunteer at the front desk as you leave. Designed to encourage creative and critical thinking, there are 6 BNG Kids Activity Books for kids to choose from – one to accompany each of our current exhibitions.
The African Collection: Our People, Our Places, Our Stories: a showcase of the BNG’s permanent collection of African art, seen together in its entirety for the first time in 25 years.
Flotsam and Jetsam: The Cost of Modern Living: a photographic exhibition by Meredith Andrews, produced by BNG in partnership with KBB, which looks at the impact of single use plastics.
The Bermuda Biennial: A Retrospective: presenting a selection of artworks produced for the Bermuda Biennial which have been collected by the Bermuda National Gallery over the last three decades.
Testing Boundaries: In the Studio with Nancy Valentine and Christina Hutchings: this exhibition looks at the work of a mother and daughter and how they each forged a unique path as women and interdisciplinary artists.
A Source of Inspiration: St George’s Through the Bermuda National Gallery Collection: offering a unique perspective on life in St George’s in the 20th century, this exhibition celebrates the old town’s unique place in Bermuda’s historic, contemporary and artistic landscape.
Par-La-Ville Sculpture Park: Situated in the Queen Elizabeth Park in Hamilton, the Sculpture Park is a joint project between BNG and the Corporation of Hamilton which displays Bermuda’s National Sculpture Collection.
There are 2 prizes to be won – one for the 8-11 age category and one for the 12-14 age category. The winners will be notified on Monday April 11. Good luck!
For further information on this, or any of education initiatives, please contact BNG Education Officer Rehana Packwood at education@bng.bm.
We will be running an Easter camp from April 4-8. The theme of this year’s camp, for ages 8-12, is narrative art. Join us as we make comics, create flipbooks, illustrate poetry, and more!
Our camp will be limited to fourteen students who will be based between the gallery and the BNG’s pop-up satellite space in Washington Mall.
The cost of camp is $250, and a BNG Family Membership is required. Please e-mail our education officer, Rehana Packwood, at education@bng.bm for more information.
Recognising that children are one of the groups to have been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic, with the majority of schools across Bermuda still closed to in-person learning, we have produced a selection of free BNG Kids activity books to accompany our current exhibitions.
Books can be picked up in the gallery, or downloaded from our website. Entry to the gallery is free for children. Families can also explore a range of artworks in the Par-La-Ville Sculpture Park, a joint project between BNG and the City of Hamilton.
