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Lesson 6 of 6
  • Year 10

Inside and outside in fine art

I can review the range of ways artists have been inspired by inside and outside.

Lesson 6 of 6
New
New
  • Year 10

Inside and outside in fine art

I can review the range of ways artists have been inspired by inside and outside.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Artists can represent physical and psychological boundaries through interior and exterior spaces.
  2. Artists might use framing, perspective, and scale to connect or separate inside and outside spaces.
  3. Artwork can explore the relationship between personal, private spaces and wider, public or natural settings.
  4. Some artists explore the boundary between external appearance and internal experience.

Keywords

  • Space - the area around, between, and within objects. It can be physical, like a room, or it can be visual

  • Threshold - a point of change, a space between two different areas

  • Barrier - things that block, separate, or divide spaces, people, or ideas

  • Framing - how an artist chooses to surround or crop a subject in an artwork

Common misconception

"Inside" and "outside" in art always refers to physical spaces, like buildings or rooms.

In art, "inside" and "outside" can mean more than places — they can show how someone feels on the inside, how people hide emotions, or the contrast between personal and public life.


To help you plan your year 10 art and design lesson on: Inside and outside in fine art, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Greater contextual information on the artist's work can be found in the additional materials. You may wish to alter the imagery to better fit your project themes.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Access to the internet or a library of art books. Sketchbook or paper for recording ideas, pencils, pens.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What does "composition" refer to in art?

Correct answer: The arrangement of elements in an artwork
The artist’s emotional mood
The colour of the background
The materials used to create the work

Q2.
In art, creates the illusion of distance between the foreground and background.

Correct Answer: depth, perspective, space

Q3.
Match the keyword to its correct meaning.

Correct Answer:Scale,The size of something in relation

The size of something in relation

Correct Answer:Perspective,Drawing to show depth on a flat surface

Drawing to show depth on a flat surface

Correct Answer:Form,3D shape or structure of an object

3D shape or structure of an object

Q4.
Which of these shows an artist using perspective?

A drawing with only one object
A flat, pattern-based design
Correct answer: A painting where parallel lines appear to meet at a vanishing point
A sculpture made of recycled metal

Q5.
Artists use to understand 3D shapes in both natural and manmade objects in space.

Correct Answer: form, shading

Q6.
How does composition help an artist communicate meaning in their work?

Correct answer: By arranging elements to guide the viewer’s eye
By copying realistic colours
By filling all empty spaces with patterns
By making the image look neat

Additional material

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