How Art We Doing?

 

Mockingbird 8y/o Park Life painting

 

This is just a quick glimpse of 3 ways have done Art this year, so far. 

 

En plein air

 

One beautiful day we went to the park to paint landscapes. We tried to use the water from the pond to really 'capture' the environment as a one famous Japanese artist does (so famous I forgot his name), but the scum on top sent us elsewhere. In the water we saw the muskrat, goldfish, a Frisbee disc fly in with a splash, and somewhere in there Mockingbird saw lily pads....

 

I probably could have given more instruction for the landscape due to the frustration voiced, but live and learn and use up canvases collecting dust...

 

Mockingbird's Red Room about 12"





 

Artist Study

We are doing Matisse this term. After reading a few children's biographies during lunches, we painted his The Dessert; Harmony in Red (The Red Room) in acrylics and white chalk--because we were out of white paint... This is Mockingbird's picture again. Her work is pictured in this post a lot not because I favor her, but because she starts with enough enthusiasim to have time to finish it, and allows it to be photographed easily (unlike some people). But that's OK. This isn't for a grade or even the end product. It's for the experience, it's for fun--most of all it's for them (not me).

Painting is also a great chance for children to solve their own problems when they say, initially forget to draw in the chair--or paint over the fruit bowl and their mother refuses to step in and fix it (with mixed reviews). I love Harold and the Purple Crayon and once did a whole week of lessons in public school around him and his sword purple crayon, focusing on how he comes to a problem and his crayon leads him to solutions. (A child's version of the Hero's Cycle.) I do try to choose simple pictures by the artist that are big shapes, and might give some sense of success to young children in copying.

I gave them a piece of cardboard, chalk to sketch out the big rectangles we observed, and then paint to go at it. We talked about the curvey lines, the fruit repeating the yellow flowers outside, and where the center of the picture is. Kingfisher 5y/o painted his board a monster, all green, then all black. Mockingbird 8y/o cheerfully reassured him when he complained about his artistic ability only to (I'm not kidding) 2 minutes later, burst into song and dance about how she couldn't do anything right as she had painted something wrong. It was all I could do to not burst into laughter regarding the about-face...which worked itself out in 2 more minutes.

 

Art History

 

It's still early in the year for us (I keep telling myself) and so we have read only to Chapter 5 in Hillyer's A Child's History of Art. This book is a bit pricey and was admittedly a school gift to myself.  It has three sections; Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. We are going to go straight through it--maybe in 3 years, maybe less.  It's wonderful; concise, applicable to a child's world, chronological, and informative- if dated. I finally went through and penciled in on a printed copy of the contents a little related project we would do for each chapter. Ambleside Online has a chart that also references the dates for me.

 

I made a big chart that has the general artistic periods running up the middle; Ancient, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Modern, Post-Modern. I found this outline from Art for Dummies helpful. On the right there is space to note Historical Events to help us relate. I found an old Janson's History of Art at a used book sale cheap enough to warrant cutting out the pictures to add to our poster as we read about them.

 

Typically, I show them images on-line, set them up to do a related project, and read the chapter to them while they work.

We do this on Sundays because they enjoy it and on that day we have the time to really spend on it if they want to work longer.

 

Related Art Projects

 

So far we have done Cave Art, where we drew with sidewalk chalk on brown butcher paper taped to the wall animals--some riddled with primitive arrows, some not.

 

Cave Art -Bowery Bird & Canary

 

We did Egyptian art, simply copying the front-eye, side shoulders stance.

 

Egyptian -8y/o Mockingbird

 

Then we did Assyrian art, drawing in clay an animal with a repeated decorative pattern. I gave them each a slab of clay and some little tools. For Kingfisher (5y/o) I drew the outline of a bird and let him fill it in, but this is again, is Mockingbird's work (remember, Best Beloved, not because I favor her more), it's only about 3x5".

 

Assyrian; Peacock -8y/o Mockingbird

 

 My goals with art aside from learning about an artist a term are:

• Exposure to different styles and understand how they fit into history
• Experimentation with those different styles and materials
• That's it. (I have to remind us all, myself included) It's not to create a perfect copy, memorize the dates of the period, or what part they played in their larger culture--just enjoy and someday further down the road, have a place to put more detailed information as it comes.

Art Class: Ceramics 4

Repairing & Painting the Pieces

 

Guess I forgot to tell them to attach the head...The Very Vain Lady again, by 9y/o Bowery Bird

• Elmer's Glue worked slowly but surely for bits that fell off (like Frankenstein's bolt). Putting craft paint into baby food jars and no mixing allowed simplified things.
• This was a fun day that ended with a behind-the-scenes bit about clay animation, then a Shaun the Sheep episode.
• Students were told to bring pans to make moving their delicate works home easier...and some listened.

Penguin by 9y/o girl

 

Cat Piggy Bank by 7y/o Mockingbird "it turned into a leopard, mom"

 

Bust by 7y/o Mockingbird

 

Mr. Pickles by 12y/o girl

 

box with shelf by 7y/o Mockingbird

 

 

 

Art Class: Ceramics 3

Ceramics 3: Slab Containers

Up-side down slab container by 9y/o Bowery Bird

Slab construction instructions  I didn't read the instructions, but the pictures helped.

• I cut cardstock in squares and rectangles to help them. The key is for the walls to just be the same height. Snakes of clay were "caulked" into seams of corners for reinforcement.
• Some made impressions in their walls before attaching, some after (branches, buttons, beads)
• Some wanted to do circular walls, which worked well for the careful craftschild (yes, that's a word). Just make a rectangle, roll and seal it. Stand it on top of a pancake of clay and use it like a pattern to cut the bottom.
• Walls needed to be 1/4" thick at least to stand.

Half a box by a 9y/o girl

 

Box container by 7y/o Mockingbird

Art Class: Ceramics 2

 Busts

"A Very Vain Lady" by 9 y/o

To get our weird started, we watched this YouTube clip of the Swiss mask theater troupe
Mummenschanz on Muppet Show "Clay Faces"

Demo How to Sculpt a Face We breezed through--based on their attention span, not mine.

Clay Faces Step-by-Step I gave a quick demo based on these instructions and they worked great.

In case the link changes they are basically:

• Make a boat shaped hollow base.
• Make a ball of clay for your head.
• With two thumbs, push in eye sockets, pull out nose, make opening for mouth.
• Build up browline and lips with clay tube, and add eyeballs to the sockets and eyelids.
• Add details of hair, neck, etc.

7y/o working on Head

Some pieces fell off if they weren't attached well enough.
Older kids helped younger kids make their base.
It was near Halloween, so things got a little creepy, and by that I mean they grew horns and pointy teeth (I drew the line when only one eye was suggested).



Girl's head by a 7y/o



"Shapeshifter" by a 12 y/o

Mary Cassatt and All That

So on weeks when we don't have our "Art Class" with friends, we ideally, copy a work of art by our term's artist. This term was Mary Cassatt, we had already read a couple children's biographies and watched a film about her. For today's project, "Young Mother Sewing" was the voice of the people.

 

 I pulled out oil pastels and chalk pastels, pushed back sleeves, and gave strict orders to stay at the table until completion; in that order.

Earlier we had played the memory game where I hide the picture and ask them "what color is the mom's hair?" or "can you see her needle?" and "can you see the dragon out the window?" so they had really looked at it carefully before this.

We just briefly talked about the focal point, major dividing lines in the picture, and the tone of our cardboard (we're big spenders around here) compared to the lightest/darkest values in the picture. Then I noticed their eyes glaze over and went to do dishes and leave them in peace.

And what a peace it was--silence for the better part of an hour working on these:



 

by 9y/o Bowery Bird

 

by 7y/o Mockingbird

 

Then we have a 4y/o boy's interpretation of "Young Mother Sewing."


by 4y/o Kingfisher

It was smeary, but fun. I think the tactile nature and vibrant color of chalks really appeals to children, and I'm going to have to pull them out more often.

 

 



Art Class: Ceramics 1

Coil Animals

7y/o beginning working on his coil base

I reviewed how to make a long clay snake, then coil it flat to make a base, up to make a wall. We also talked about how to smooth the wall with our tools and use slip and texture to secure layers.
We looked at some images of clay birds, cats, and a particularly cute hedgehog online to get the wheels turning. I encouraged them to not necessarily do something representational, but have fun.

Cat chasing Mouse by 12y/o girl

 I have about 3 sets of ceramic tools for everyone to share and little bowls of water on the tables. This clay cleans up really easily once dry, which you will find out if you put your feet up for half an hour after class and don't even think about cleaning until it's time to make dinner.
So I eventually scrapped the protective tablecloths. Sometimes we did use a gessoed drop canvas I have to work on the floor and easily "peel" off a wet piece. Jackson Pollock-like it has led a colorful life.

Birds. By Bowery Bird.

We still don't know where this tattoo came from.