Special School Programmes

Pitzhanger presents Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences, Language of the Physical: Katherine Gili Sculpture and Antoni Malinowski and Hélène Binet: Pigments and Photons, which are running throughout the upcoming school year.

We have an exciting learning programme to go with Grayson Perry, including a free teacher’s resource pack!

More information

Art as Inspiration Workshops

Bring your class to experience our new exhibition with a tour of the Manor and Gallery in our Art as Inspiration workshops. This tour will be followed by a workshop in our education space with one of our experienced artist practitioners. Your students will learn about the themes, techniques and processes used by the artist, to create their own artwork in response to this amazing exhibition.

If you submit the work that your students create, we will feature them on our website and social media!

Book your place now using our online booking form.

Gallery Visits

Self-guided school visits to Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery are offered free of charge to Ealing schools. Come and explore this wonderful exhibition at your own pace! Includes full access to the Manor and all exhibitions.

About the exhibitions

Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences

This exhibition brings the Turner-Prize-winning artist’s six large-scale tapestries to a building where William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, the inspiration behind Perry’s tapestries, were purchased for and displayed.

Perry’s tapestries offer a contemporary re-reading of William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, a series of eight satirical paintings depicting a riches-to-rags tale of Tom Rakewell in 18^th-century London. Taking Hogarth’s famed series as a starting point, Perry’s tapestries depict a corresponding fable of class, taste and social mobility.

Perry tackles subjects that are universally human: identity, gender, social status, sexuality and religion. Autobiographical references—to the artist’s childhood, his family, and his cross-dressing—can be read in tandem with questions about class, taste and the status of the artist versus that of the artisan.

Language of the Physical: Katherine Gili Sculpture

This exhibition presents a range of sculptures by Katherine Gili, spanning four decades from 1980 to 2022, and highlighting her evolving approach to materials like steel, paper, and bronze. Gili’s practice emphasises physical engagement with material, gaining increased recognition in recent years, with pieces now held by Tate Britain, Arts Council, and the Henry Moore Institute.  

A student of Anthony Caro, Gili’s has transitioned from the industrial aesthetic of steel to a more sensual and subjective approach to abstract form. Her practice challenges the boundaries of form and construction, using cutting, forging, and shaping techniques to bring her ideas to life. This exhibition underscores Gili’s ongoing fascination with the expressive potential of sculpture and her recent turn toward themes inspired by personal engagement with the human body.  

Antoni Malinowski and Hélène Binet: Pigments and Photons

Antoni Malinowski and Hélène Binet: Pigments and Photons celebrates the artists deep sensitivity and understanding of light and architectural space and form. Displayed throughout the manor Malinowski explores the relationship between colour, light and space. Binet is adept at capturing the interplay of light, shadow, texture, and detail in photography. Long-time friends, the two artists recently began collaborating, united by their shared passion for architecture and how the eye reads tone and shade.

Malinowski’s paintings use specialist interference pigments to bend and scatter light, and his mixing of pigments with synthetic tempera, achieves an optical play echoing that which Soane employed to illuminate his rooms. Binet’s photographs in the exhibition focus on the figure of the angel, inspired by the numerous representations of female figures throughout the manor. These works resonate with Sir John Soane’s Grand Tour to Rome in 1778, where he drew inspiration from classical architecture and sculptures.