This article examines the strategies that can be used to enhance students' understanding of how subjects link together and whether cross‐curricular approaches, through a gallery project, have any real impact on students' understanding of the links between subjects. A substantial part of this article, however, describes the methodological aspect of the project. A phenomenological case study approach was used in order to engage fully with individual students' learning experiences. It was found that the students who were involved directly with the study felt that the links between subjects had more relevance to their learning when the teacher made such links explicit. They were unaware of the relevance of many cross‐curricular links made in lessons, but the study indicated that cross‐curricular learning can enable students to transfer skills and knowledge in order to understand concepts more fully.

A phenomenological approach was employed in order to record and present the lived experiences of three students during a five-hour artmaking activity. Theoretical definitions of cognitive processes pertinent to art and design were compared with the descriptions gathered from the students. The research was intended to portray as accurately as possible individuals' experiences in order to ascertain whether there is a possibility for soundly ascribing cognitive functions to art-making processes. The descriptions of students' thought processes reveal the ways with which the selected students approach learning and also offer insights into the possible links between cognition and artmaking. The findings of the study suggest that intuitive and perceptive processes are utilised by the chosen participants in a variety of ways. The consideration of the ordering of visual elements is a process that all participants describe within their art making. The students' visual judgements appear to be a direct response to the art-work being made.