Head of Art and Design Mark Sherrington provides an account of a recent trip to the Tate Liverpool for GCSE candidates.

On Tuesday, November 5, the GCSE Art pupils all visited the Tate Liverpool.

This was part of their GCSE coursework and the pupils found work in the first part of the gallery that they felt related to their own personal project and made notes and drawings while in the gallery.

Later in the morning and in the afternoon, the pupils visited the Keith Haring exhibition. We had booked a tour and talk given by an Art Historian employed by the Tate and this proved very informative, stimulating and illuminating for the pupils.

A favourite part of the exhibition was an area this New York artist had created a nightclub feel for his coloured and ultraviolet lights and vibrant painting.

On returning to the studio the pupils have been creating notes and drawings in their sketchbooks in response to the exhibition and making links with their own work.

Harings’s work has already inspired some new work by the students and it will live long in the memory.

It turned out to be one of the best trips we have had in years.

The pupils seemed to really respond well to Haring’s work, the talk was excellent, we have some great notes already and the pupils behaved more like Sixth Formers the whole day and were great company.