Learning

Experience Wales in Venice offers a unique insight into the rest is smoke… exhibition from its development process and installation to the launch week itself. Visit the front page and use the timeline tool to navigate. Scroll left and right to move through time and explore the interactive content - we are making available a wealth of resources for online audiences, such as artist interviews, documentation of the exhibition as it evolves, a gallery of works, essays, as well sound and photography that capture the excitement of the Venice Biennale.

The work is framed by contextual information including interviews, artist statements, commissioned essays, and formal learning resources, as well as suggestions for further research.

The teachers’ learning materials are prepared in partnership with Anona Harris, senior art teacher, advisor, and external examiner with Wales’s examination board WJEC. They provide ways to integrate Helen Sear’s work in a classroom setting for current GCSE and post 16 Art and Design requirements. They contain useful information and ideas for all arts educators.

Experience Wales in Venice provides a platform for the team of 15 artists who are managing the venue through its 7 month exhibition to tell their own stories about their experience of working as part of the Biennale and engaging with international audiences, in a variety of ways including drawing, writing, photography, video and interactive media. We hope that the website will foster an ongoing rich dialogue around the work of Helen Sear, and provide an important legacy for Wales in Venice 2015.

Learning Resources

Our ‘In conversation with Helen Sear & curator Stuart Cameron’ illuminates the ideas and influences that have guided the artist in the development and realisation of the work.

Especially conducted with educators in mind, the ‘In conversation with Helen Sear & Ffotogallery Head of Education Lisa Edgar’ poses direct questions about the work’s form and the artist’s working methods.

We are making available a specially commissioned text about the rest is smoke… by Steven Connor, Professor of English at the University of Cambridge.

Find out more about the composer Matthew Lovett’s creative approach for The Company of Trees.

A review of ...the rest is smoke by writer Rory Duckhouse

Teacher's Pack

the rest is smoke…. teacher’s pack contains useful information and ideas for all arts educators. It features lesson ideas and explores Helen Sear’s work by highlighting themes and references to related artists and genres, while integrating the work into a classroom setting for current GCSE and post 16 Art and Design requirements. The teacher’s pack was prepared in partnership with Anona Harris, a senior art teacher, advisor, and external examiner with Wales’s examination board WJEC.

Guide for Teachers

Part 1 – Key Stage 2

Theme 1 – The Interrupted View

Theme 2 – Layered Images

Theme 3 - Recording the Passing of Time

Part 2 – Key Stage 3

Theme 1 – Obscured Sightlines

Theme 2 – Layered Images

Theme 3 – Interventions in the Landscape

Theme 4 - Recording the Passing of Time

Theme 5 – Site Specific Works

Download the Teacher's Pack