THE new Tim Fairfax Learning Gallery and Studio was officially launched at the National Gallery of Australia this morning (Friday, October 11).

The NGA’s director, Nick Mitzevich, is well-known as a driver of educational programs for young people and has adopted the Confucian maxim, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand”, as the theme for the studio’s development and the gallery’s broader learning strategy.

The two new spaces and programs there have been made possible through the support of the NGA’s noted education patron, Tim Fairfax and in an act of celebration, the whole gallery will be transformed into an open studio tomorrow, Saturday, October 12.

Gallery-wide activities for the whole family will include the opportunity to attend a workshop inspired by body language on Level 2, draw from life and representations of the body in the “Bodies of Art” exhibition on the Lower Ground floor, craft a poem in response to Urs Fischer’s melting wax sculpture “Francesco wax” or pose for a happy snap in “Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia on Level 1.”

There will be roaming guest performers tours, talks, performances and storytelling throughout the day aimed at deepening the understanding and appreciation of art.

Open Studio Day, throughout the National Gallery of Australia, 10am to 4pm, Saturday, October 12. (Children to be accompanied)