Either Or

I find that incorporating choice is a great way to help students be enthusiastic about an art lesson—often the more prescriptive a lesson is, the harder it is to engage students. Another great benefit of lessons with choice is that the resulting art is obviously more varied and interesting to look at—it's a bit unexciting to see a classroom wall adorned with up to 30 very similar artworks.

Recently I was with this year 3 class for a session in the computer lab. This simple "doodlish pattern" task included two basic choices. The first step (and choice) was to cover their page/screen/image in either straight or curvy lines. The second step (and choice) was to paint in the resulting segments using either all cool colours, all warm colours or all tints and shades of a single colour. As you can see a few students felt even that was too restrictive!

Mother's Day Hearts

Happy Mother's Day Mums! These paper-woven hearts were made by year 3 this week. Each card has a lovely message from the children to their mother on the reverse side. Hopefully they have survived the journey home intact and are being delivered along with breakfast in bed this morning : ) 

They were inspired by my one and only art project book 1000 Things To Make and Do by Fiona Watt. I'm sure there are hundreds more great titles out there, feel free to let me know of any must-haves!

Cloudscapes III

A third instalment of cloudscapes. Some students in this 5/6 composite really dove in with reckless abandon, which was great to see, and admittedly a little scary at times! I am really impressed with the subtlety of some of the colours a number of the students created.

And as you can see below they really do make for a great feature on a classroom wall.

Art vs Science

Displaying these Ryo Takemasa-inspired insects all together like this reminds me of a classic scientific insect identification chart—although these insects are more art than science; insect-ish rather than scientifically accurate. We briefly discussed the very detailed, exact and useful art of scientific illustration and contrasted it with the stylised insects Ryo has created.

These year 4 students pre-sketched, then penciled in their own stylised insects. There was a selection of real insect photos for them to view on the board as well as a selection of Ryo's insect illustrations. Next they traced their drawings with permanent marker and finished with watercolours. 

Most of the students were really happy with their results, and so they should be—they look great. However, they're possibly not quite as good as Ryo's... yet!

Here's a dragonfly by Ryo Takemasa. You can (and should) see more of his work here.

Nine Lives

Each year 4 student created nine various pictogram-style people in black and white. They presented their collection as a 3 x 3 grid on a piece of coloured construction paper.

I was with this particular class for a full week and they mostly worked on these during early finishing time. Initially I brought up some examples on the smart board and they sketched ideas in pencil before transferring them in permanent marker onto the small squares of art paper I had pre-cut. I asked the students that each of their nine people be obviously different in some way.

It was a good way to occupy the students between other activities and I think they enjoyed the collective process. It's an effective way for them to manipulate positive and negative space too. This is the first time I've tried this lesson but I'm sure I will again in the future. I think it could also be a good opportunity to look at and imitate Keith Haring-style people, but this is a future lesson!

Abstract Mosaic Collage II

These eye-catching collages were created by a recent year 5 class. I first trialled this lesson last year with year 2. I've been really pleased with the results both times. As a relief teacher it's great to have ready-to-go lessons that work well across multiple age groups (and are even more engaging than colouring-in stencils!). You can see the original year 2 results and read more about the lesson process here.

I was really impressed with some of these colour combinations and especially with the student on the very top left who opted to use only blue and black while most used their full "allowance" of four colours!

If you're too stretched for time to visit my previous post and instructions, here's a short overview : ) Students choose between 1 and 4 colours, then free-cut and paste pieces of these coloured papers down, covering the white paper without the pieces touching each other.

Gorillas in the Art Room

A diverse collection of gorillas now stare down from this particular classroom wall – some menacingly so, others wearily or comically. After pencil sketching, the students finalised their line drawing with permanent marker before finishing with watercolours. These magnificent beasts are the handiwork of a talented year 5 & 6 class.

The original, ‘as-per-the-book’ lesson was for the teacher to lead a step-by-step line drawing of an identical gorilla. Instead, I searched online and found several different gorilla drawings to project on the smart board. Some of them were quite realistic while others were more stylised and even cartoonish. The students copied or took inspiration from one or more that either appealed to them or seemed manageable!

It's important to me that as often as I can, I allow the students ‘room to move’ and make their own art. In this case I was asking every student to draw and then watercolour a gorilla up close and personal with a hint of rainforest in the background. I tried to maintain some diversity with the variety of stimuli rather than a single source and made no restrictions on the colours they chose. 

I'm really glad I didn't limit them to realistic colours because blue gorillas look undeniably cool : ) A homage to the Cookie Monster perhaps? But at the same time, if every gorilla was blue they wouldn't look so special... So my ‘soapbox’ opinion for the week is that we should endeavour to include room for at least some individuality within all our art lessons.

Seeing some of the more unrealistically coloured gorillas reminded me of Fauvism and its emphasis on strong colours over representational or realistic ones. Then I noticed that the French origins of Fauvism appear to mean ‘the wild beasts’. In the future I'm thinking of another lesson where we observe some classic Fauvist artworks before creating our own wild beasts with exaggerated and bold colourways. And as per my quest for variety, if I'm dictating the colour scheme then I imagine the art will feature a diverse cast of animals instead. 

Paper Cutting + The Winner Is... + Your Opinion Please

This is a great lesson for those in-between times. Paper cutting is quick, easy and effective. Plus the students love it – one recent class literally broke into applause as I unfolded my example before their enraptured eyes! No kidding : ) Click here for some previous examples and the instructions on my first such post. These particular ones were created by an enthusiastic year 3 class.

I've found the children learn more and are frustrated less when they begin with some practice attempts on scrap paper before using this research and development to make their deliberate final cuts on their coloured square. 

I'd love your opinion on the display of this artwork. Please let me know which is your favourite method? The top grid of 4 is the way I most commonly display art here on the blog, but it's a looong scroll for some viewers to take them all in. I like to include every student's art as an indication of the success of the lesson across the varied levels of ability and enthusiasm within any given class. 

The second way is the patchwork you see above with every student's art pasted together in one image (including one artwork repeated twice to make a rectangular number). The individual artworks are seen on a smaller scale but look really neat altogether.

The third and newest way is the potentially seizure-inducing 'gif' below! It briefly flashes through every child's artwork and runs on a continual loop. The image quality and colour is not as high as the previous jpgs, but every student's art is potentially right there near the top of the post. Gifs are not widely loved, but I thought I'd at least give it a try... It's also possible to adjust the amount of time that each image is shown for.

Realistically I'll try and keep using a variety of ways to present the artwork. But I really would appreciate any comments, feedback, preferences etc. I've got big shoulders and thick skin : )

And finally, the Win a Joe Hall & The Treehouse Band CD competition has now closed. My wife Katherine was the band's drummer and I gave her the unenviable task of choosing a favourite as the winner. We were both really impressed with all the contributions and really enjoyed reading them. If you haven't read them, it's well worth clicking here! Those childhood experiences and the memories of them, really are so special.

Insert drumroll here... With all her wifely wisdom, Katherine has declared that everyone's a winner! From North America to New Zealand, congratulations Don, Phyl, Mrs Hahn, Mary, Jen and Gretchen. I'll catch up over email and get some postal addresses to send the cds to. Thanks a bunch for sharing : ) The competition's over but if you feel inspired to add your own childhood memory please do.

"Notanarama"

Each year 5/6 student began with a black square, triangle, rectangle or circle. Most of the class chose to cut more abstract rather than representational shapes, and then derived great pleasure from recognising incidental objects within their work. We were limited to using black paper (all the available coloured paper was single-sided), but black and white turned out to be very effective.

This was the first time I'd taught about—much less made—Notans (a Japanese design concept focussing on the relative placement of light and dark within a composition), and both myself and the students enjoyed the process. I hope I can make them with another class soon. I'd seen a number of Notan posts floating around the blogosphere, but the most recent one I recalled and studied up with was by Rina from the K-6 Art blog.

While you're here, have you entered the "Win a Joe Hall and The Treehouse Band CD" competition yet? It's as easy as pie, just recall a favourite childhood memory or pastime here. One week left to enter...

Chalk it up!

When The Treehouse Band and I were still performing we asked our fans (okay admittedly a high proportion were friends and family!) to create chalk messages and drawings of support for us. Photos were taken and we kept an album entitled Chalk it up! It was a lot of fun and we even received some from the other side of the globe. Here's a small selection of the resulting photos, you can see the entire collection here.

By the way, I'm sending a copy of our debut recording "Joe Hall and The Treehouse Band" to one lucky reader : ) Just leave a comment here with a favourite childhood memory for your chance to win...

Win a copy of "Joe Hall & The Treehouse Band"

I recorded these songs with my wife Katherine and two good friends around 5 years ago now. As well as playing the drums, Katherine was responsible for all the art and design — very handy! You can hear the songs on the player below. If my Aussie accent's not too much for you, the EP is available in iTunes. Alternatively, read on for a chance to win your own copy of the CD posted anywhere in the world : )

We had lots of fun recording the music and playing at community events and festivals. We originally wrote the songs with 8-12 year olds in mind, but didn't want to call it kids’ music because we thought they'd run a mile — and in the end the songs proved just as popular with adults, so we labelled it “all ages”.

As I eluded to earlier, a lot of the content is very Australian but the general themes are universal, like celebrating simple childhood memories and good times, the power of being pleasant, having a positive attitude, respecting others and being confident to be yourself.

So, for your chance to win a copy of the CD just add a comment below sharing a childhood memory that you have, like walking to the corner shop to spend some loose change, making mud pies or that exhilarating sound of the final school bell before Summer : ) I'll let my wife Katherine choose her favourite response to be our winner in two weeks’ time. If you don't have a profile to post your comment from you're welcome to email it to artwithmrhall@gmail.com

I'm next to Katherine, sans beard, several kilos lighter and pre-dad status. This must have been a “lets just try and look like a serious band” pose... there are more photos (and videos) here.

TTTPs (or Two Terrific TeePees)!

I'm always up for some alliterative fun : ) This year 2 class used textas to draw two tall (and terrific) teepees before adorning them with repeated patterns featuring triangles, lines, zig-zags, circles etc. To complete their teepee scenes they used watercolours to paint their background landscapes. Some teepees were set in front of sunburnt and dry desert-like landscapes while others featured lush green grass with far-off mountains.

I guess "Cowboy and Indian" movies, toys and the like aren't as prevalent these days—the children all being more familiar with subcontinental Indians than Native American Indians. Hopefully they'll now remember that the Native American Indian people are just like our Indigenous Australians, people who lived and thrived in these beautiful landscapes long before freeways, cities, factories and the rest.

Cloudscapes II

These graphic cloudscapes were created by a year 5 class within their first few days of school this year. They were embarking on a weather unit to begin their studies and these were a great way to quickly brighten up the bare walls of the room. You can view my inaugural cloudscape post here. 

The students painted these with regular acrylic paint after viewing a diverse selection of cloud photos including sunsets and sunrises, storm clouds and much more. I think there must have even been some aurora borealis in there judging by a few of the colours! Some students also added some subtle oil pastel the following day. I really enjoy the variety of responses from the students.

The three grids of nine artworks that I've used meant that the 28th student was left all alone... I hope they don't mind! To make up for it I've copied and rotated the photo of their cloud four times resulting in the symmetrical pillow-like cloud above.

In other news...

In non art related news, my wife and I are expecting our second child this year : ) That's Katherine gliding along at our local beach. The photo is from another blog that I keep over here. Next week I'll begin posting artworks from this school year, starting I think with some arresting cloudscapes.

Speedy Serapes!?

I asked this 5/6 composite class to create their own serape design during their fast finishing time. And while most children found time to begin their Mexican inspired patterns, only the three above actually finished while I was there! So if you're a teacher looking to occupy some Speedy Gonzales in your classroom these could come in handy...

A serape is a brightly coloured blanket-like shawl/poncho traditionally worn by Mexican men (having never set foot in Mexico myself, please feel free to correct me here). We looked at several online pictures such as the ones below as well as an actual one that I own – it was a gift from my mum when I finished high school : )

We recognised the repetition, close lines, bright colours, use of triangles and diamonds as well as symmetry. The students worked in coloured pencils or textas and as already mentioned, they found them to be deceptively time consuming. However I think a number of children find this kind of simple but repetitive process to be quite relaxing and even cathartic.

Time Lapse Light Art

Year 6 students had a tonne of fun creating these time lapse photos on their second last day of primary schooling. I came across the idea on Don's excellent blog Shine Brite Zamorano. 

Way back when I was much younger and had my first SLR camera I used to take some time lapse photos of my friends twirling fire while on camping trips. But back then I only had a film camera, so not wanting to pay for loads of film and processing I never got too carried away with the process... Now with digital cameras there's hours of trial and error for free! 

After inspiring the class with the work of Zamorano's students, I attempted to give a simple and succinct explanation and demonstration of the two essential camera functions (aperture and shutter speed) and how they effect the image that it records. I had my own camera set up on a tripod, the lights off and the blinds down. It wasn't near as dark in the room as it appears in the photos, but with a tiny aperture (around f/22) and slow shutter speed this is the result.

Next time I hope I have more light sources available. I only had one torch and my mobile phone (which has a small torch built in) plus some taped-on cellophane off-cuts to create the different colours. I had hoped that the students' own phones (which I allowed them to temporarily retrieve from their bags) would have torches or at least bright screens, but most were fairly dull. However, we made do and everybody had several turns each at orchestrating their light displays.

These are only a selection of the photos taken. Students took turns in small groups, and later individually. I'm pretty sure all the students enjoyed themselves but a few were enthralled—perhaps they will have been motivated enough to pursue photography at high school!