My arts award group went to Direct Art Action gallery in Sutton Coldfield on 1st March 2018. We saw lots of art from paintings to sculptures by local people in Sutton. We also spoke to two of the artists Mrs Vere and Mr Ware. They both used to be teachers at our school and now they spend time on their own art work and doing exhibitions. Once we had a look round and took photos we also spoke to Gavin who organised the exhibition. 

We interviewed two artists about their work and asked questions about their work. We looked at one piece of each artist in more detail and found out about their training and careers. There was also another artist there who had organised the exhibition and he explained to the group what he did as an artist and a curator which is what you’re called if you organise exhibitions. 

There are lots of different types of art on display like Painting, Digital/Photoshopping, Sculpting, Drawing, 3D and lots of other visual arts. I hadn’t been to a proper gallery before so it was really good to see so many different things and there was something for everyone. It was not what I was expecting at all. It was really big and there was loads to see. Because it’s in an empty store there’s loads of space to move around.

I liked the digital work best because I could understand how they used photoshop and I’d done GCSE photography. I thought it was good speaking to the artists so they could tell us how the made the work. It was good there was a shop so you could buy some of the work by the artists.

In my opinion I think the trip was good but it was snowy day and it was really cold room with no heating or seats. It did help me look at art work differently because I learnt much more when I spoke to the artists about how and why they made the work. I learnt there was more types of art that I didn’t think about even if I didn’t like them all. I learnt that you could do art later in life like Gavin did and then you could be a curator not just an artist which is where you set up exhibitions.