Take some time out with art! Ways of Looking teacher professional learning programs are offered each term. Engage in rich conversations about art with colleagues and discuss different strategies and approaches to use in the classroom to encourage diverse viewpoints and foster students’ observation, interpretation and responding skills.
The natural world has been an important source of inspiration for artists across millennia and cultures – but how can we engage students with works inspired by the natural world in new ways? How does our experience of nature in art change if we slow down and spend an extended period of time contemplating one work? What details will we notice, and how might our perception change? Drawing on visual sensibilities, imagination and personal reflections, art historian and educator Dr Olivia Meehan guides participants through slow looking practice and techniques that can be used in the classroom and across the curriculum.
All materials are supplied. This event also includes light refreshments. Please include any dietary requirements when booking.
This program is suitable for teachers of all levels and subject areas and does not require any specialist art knowledge or experience teaching visual art subjects.
Learning Objectives:
- Interpret and analyse a range of works in the NGV Collection.
- Develop strategies to help students interpret the meanings and messages of nature in art and design.
AITSL Standards:
- 2.1 Apply knowledge of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area to develop engaging teaching activities.
- 3.3 Select and use relevant teaching strategies to develop knowledge, skills, problem solving and critical and creative thinking.
- 6.2 Participate in learning to update knowledge and practice, targeted to professional needs and school and/or system priorities.
- 7.4 Participate in professional and community networks and forums to broaden knowledge and improve practice.
Presenter Biography
Dr Olivia Meehan is an art historian and object-based learning specialist. She concentrates on slow looking and contemplative pedagogies in discipline-led curriculum design to support visual intelligence. Olivia received her MPhil and PhD in the History of Art from the University of Cambridge, her graduate research focused on the circulation of cultural material and ideas in early modern Europe and Japan. Her book Slow Looking: The Art of Nature, published by Thames & Hudson, is out in September 2025.