Sunday Afternoon Art – Playing with Perception

Sunday Afternoon Art is our monthly art activity for families, aimed at children aged 4 plus.  We are very excited this month to invite Jonathan Roson, from arts collective Alice in Hackneyland, to create an activity designed on his recent exhibition Octagon 300.

In 2020 Orleans House Gallery celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Octagon room by commissioning two site specific installations from artist group Alice in Hackneyland. Octagon 300 opened last October and is made up of two distinctive artworks; Play with Baroque and the Fluorescent Banquet. Learn more about the two artworks with these activities.  Watch this short video to find out more about the exhibition first.

Activity 1: Play with Objects

The Fluorescent Banquet was created from a collection of found and up cycled objects. For this family activity we encourage you to engage with your household objects and create your own fun shape installations.

You will need: any colourful toys and objects around your home. Place them on the floor to make a shape. What will you make?  Can you make other shapes too?

Download the activity walkthrough here.

Activity 2: Play with Perception

One of the installations created by the art group was the Ames room which is designed to distort perception and transform the size of participants moving within the installation.  The Ames Room is named after the inventor Adelbert Ames Jr.

Make your own mini-Ames Room today. Download and print the template here:

What you will need:

– Print out of the template (4 pages). This works on both paper and card but is nicer on card.

– Scissors

– Glue stick

– Two wooden sticks

Step 1: Cut out all the shapes including the slit in the floor, diamond shape in the ceiling and the square peephole.

Step 2: Step 2: Pre-fold all the shaded tabs

Step 3: Apply glue to the tabs and attach the corresponding tabs, using the letters

Step 4: Ensure all the lines match up on your cut outs.

Apply glue to both sticks (3 cm from the top) and attach a Nellie figure to each.

Step 5: Insert the Nellie figures through the floor of the Ames room.

Step 6: Observe both Nellie and her dogs through square peep hole of your Ames room and enjoy the illusion.

Download the walkthrough here:

Thank you for taking part. Share your images and feedback with #OrleansHouseGallery or with Jonathan @alice_in_hackneyland on Instagram. For more activities for children, visit our families page