Artists' responses to Museum/Gallery Collections

 I have been looking a examples of artists who have used existing collections as inspiration for their own work. The most notable from the past few years was Grayson Perry's 'Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman', pictured above. I took a group of my students to see the exhibition and we were lucky enough to hear Grayson speak about his work. He described it as a 'pilgrimage' through the British Museum's collection and a homage to the skill of centuries of unnamed people.

Simon Fujiwara's 'Since 1982' at Tate St Ives explored his Cornish childhood through the work of Barabara Hepworth, Alfred Wallis and other well known artists represented at the gallery.

Last year, Simon Starling produced a film that was shown in the Duveen galleries in Tate Britain. 'Phantom Ride' explored the history of the gallery space and the exhibitions that have been held there.