Unruly Mondrians

Year 1 made these wavy Mondrian-inspired abstractions with black oil pastels and watercolour paints. It's a straightforward lesson but the students enjoyed it, which has to remain a priority — not a lot of learning happens when there's no joy! I've previously tried more regular, ruled Mondrians with year 2 and recoloured Mondrians with Year 5.

Kandinsky II

Some more pixel paintings inspired by Wassily Kandinsky's Farbstudie Quadrate from 1913. These are of course a collage of many students' work. The pieces immediately above and below are by year 5 and 6 students. Each student was responsible for six shapes. In the above collage, students made all their six shapes the same, whereas below each child used a selection of different shapes. Please click on the images to see the details more closely.

This second set was created by year one students. Each child was responsible for a single shape. The students featured above chose circular shapes like Kandinsky, while the children below used a variety of other shapes. For more information about the process and Mr Kandinsky, please see my previous post here.

10 min Kandinsky

It's nice to have some meaningful but quick and easy art lessons up your sleeve. Here we imitated Kandinsky's famous "circle" art using a simple computer paint program. Small disclaimer: there's no guarantee it will take 10 minutes! It could take a little less or lots more depending on all the usual variables... But I can say that of the multiple students I tried this lesson with (ranging in age from 6 to 12 years old), they were all really engaged.

I briefly introduced the students to Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky and his Farbstudie Quadrate work from 1913. There's a small photo of Kandinsky and his original art at the bottom of this post. Using the computer paint program the students then made their own concentric shape patterns. The grid of circles above is the combined results of a year 2 class. Each child was responsible for one square in the matrix, pasted collectively here for your viewing pleasure! Immediately below is a collection of other shapes used by year 2.

The next collection (below) is by year 4 students. Click on the image to see all the nuances up close. I originally intended for all the year 4 students to make a grid of four concentric shapes, but had a bit of a brain freeze and asked some classes to make a grid of 4 and others a grid of 6... however with a bit of extra effort I still managed to stick them altogether in a rectangular shape : ) Down the track I'll post work from year 1, 3, 5 and 6 as well. 

Below is one student's example of what I'd intended for all of year 4 to create (all of year 3 and some of year 4 made these). Year 1 and 2 all created a single shape.

And below is a great example of a year 4 grid of six. All students in years 5 and 6 made grids of six.

And last (but not least), here's Wassily Kandinsky and the original work that inspired this lesson.

Musical Moments Inspired by Paula Cox

These musical moments were made after year 4 observed this series of album covers created by British artist Paula Cox. The students created their own scenes in pencil, then traced the "good bits" with permanent markers before finishing with watercolour paint.

I like the variety of responses from the students and I think they have captured the emotion and simple joy of music much like Paula has. I always keep this lesson up my sleeve as a relief teacher, you can read more about the lesson process on my inaugural "Musical Vibes" post here. Another post featuring more oil pastel variations can be found here.

Rosalie Gascoigne Inspired Collage

A talented and patient year 3 class are responsible for these great collages. They are inspired by Rosalie Gascoigne's Tiger Tiger. I first tried this lesson with a combined year 5 and 6 class last year. Both times the students and myself have been really happy with the results. There's quite a bit of work involved and there are some very thoughtful responses from these young artists. You can read more about the process involved and see the work of the 5/6 class on this previous post.

I like the variety of themes the students have chosen, from single and varied colours, to typography, people, transport, hairstyles and more. I commented to one young student that I really liked his collection of colours to which he replied "it's not a colour collection, they're all different dress fabrics..." I was even more impressed! Some might find it a little creepy, but I was also really impressed with the student who amassed a collage of different skin tones. As I mentioned the students were very patient, mostly I think students of all ages like fairly fast paced art lessons but this process is fiddly and laborious. Year 3 is definitely the youngest I'll repeat this lesson with : )

Paula Scher-inspired NZ

These collaboratively made maps of New Zealand were inspired by American graphic designer and artist, Paula Scher. Year 3 viewed a collection of her beautiful map art here. The land mass of NZ is made up of hand written words all to do with ‘Aotearoa’ (Maori for Land of the Long White Cloud). The children took turns copying from a word bank of around a dozen words with permanent markers. Originally there was a light pencil outline to guide the writing which was later erased. The writing wasn’t particularly legible but the overall effect is great! 

I really like art that looks great on the wall at a distance but also seems to have laser beams that drag you in for a close-up look. It’s interesting to see all the different writing and words and the ways they zig and zag and tumble over each other.

The black and white one is my personal favourite and is inspired by New Zealand’s national sporting colours. The teacher of this particular class was on leave to compete in a hockey tournament in New Zealand so it seemed like a good opportunity to combine a quick geography lesson with some art. Apologies to any Kiwis reading this who have zoomed in close and feel that our word bank is stereotypical or too limited! In the future I would really like to try this lesson with an older class and let each student choose a country to research and make a Scher-like map of art for.

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.

Tiptoes In

The night before I was called in to take this kindergarten class for the day, I came across Standing at the Edge of the Water by Helena Wurzel.

I really like it. I hadn't planned to use it as a lesson so soon but it was a warm Spring day (34 degrees celsius to be precise) and we had some time, so we dove right in... I mean tiptoed in! As it was a bit of a spontaneous lesson, I'd like to improve my delivery next time. The classroom had no smartboard to display the art with, so these were created sight unseen. This would be the most important improvement — to show and discuss the artwork being imitated beforehand. I'm not usually a fan of copying an artwork so directly, but as we say in our house "rarely say never".

Each child traced around their own feet with a lead pencil (they loved getting their shoes and socks off). These pencil lines were then traced with a black permanent marker (I was trying to avoid them having marker all over their feet). They were also asked to add in their toenails and a gently waving water-line across their feet spanning from one edge of the paper to the other. In future I think I'll try and have the students allow for the bending of the water line as it curves over the feet.

The feet were coloured with oil pastels before the sand and sea were blocked in with water colours. To be honest I've had little experience with water colours and I've never used them with kindergarten before. I'm pretty sure it was their first time too and they seemed to enjoy them. As I said I'm looking forward to better presenting this artwork as a lesson again one day. I'm thinking it could be great for colour-mixing with older students. Please share any suggestions you have!

Danko Inspired Faces

These faces are inspired by Aleks Danko's "Incident – Ambivalence", a piece that really stood out to me earlier this year when I visited the MCA in Sydney. I thought it would translate really well to a primary art project. The faces shown here are the handiwork of a 5/6 class I was with for several weeks.

Incident – Ambivalence is shown on its own at the very bottom of the post. It is constructed from wood and galvanised steel with dimensions of 28 x 27.5 x 2.5 cm. It was placed relatively high on the wall and demanded my attention as I entered the gallery space. Apparently Aleks reappropriated the image from an 18th century book, and the artist responsible for the book believed the face was reminiscent of children's drawing.

We began by looking at and discussing his work (as seen on the smart screen). To make their own faces the children recognised the basic features employed by Danko. Essentially these were a single bright colour plus black and white, and simple shapes and lines representing only the most obvious features of the face. The children were asked to create their own face in keeping with this style. 

The students sketched some ideas on scrap paper before drawing their large face on art paper. Initially I was planning for them to paint this directly, but lucky for us there was an abundance of large thick cardboard that arrived as packaging at the school that week! So the students cut out their paper face to use as a pattern, these were then traced onto the cardboard which I cut with a stanley knife. 

Next the children painted their cardboard head shape with a base coat of their chosen fluoro (the orange and pink look almost indiscernibly different on screen). Once dry they referred back to their paper plan to paint all their facial features with black lines, and finally any white parts, again once the black was fully dry. They made for a striking collection on the classroom wall.

Designer Camouflage

This year 6 class was tasked with designing and painting their own camouflage print for a real or imagined environment — something to make them inconspicuous while traipsing through a Lego landscape, lolly shop or a far away planet etc.

The students dreamed up a location and suitable colourway, then quickly planned their shapes in pencil before setting about painting. Tints and shades were encouraged and I suggested a limit of 3 or 4 colours. Most students went for fairly typical interlocking organic shapes. Their environment/print titles were great, a few were: Pink Pop, Mercury Lake, City Summer Night, Swirly Sweets, Wacky Waves and even Sponge Bob!

Since this lesson occurred I've discovered Andy Warhol's camouflage prints from the 1980s. I wish I knew of them beforehand as they would have been great to show the class. You can see a collection of his prints and read some interesting commentary at this LA Times art review. It even includes a quote from Picasso, who on first seeing actual camouflage print during WWI reportedly declared "It is we who created that". I think this lesson has the potential to be even richer in the future.

                                                  

Blue Eyes - Green Eyes

These animal all-sorts were inspired by Bob Gill's The Green-eyed mouse and the Blue-eyed mouse. It's a neat story that my wife introduced me to earlier in the year. The art contained therein worked well as a springboard into this lesson, and the story's well worth sharing with children and adults alike. This was a fast paced lesson with the year 5 half of a 5/6 class while year 6 were on an excursion.

Although these were painted it would be quicker and probably just as effective to draw them with permanent markers, but I do like paint... The students made some pencil sketches after observing a few of Bob's understated but endearing animals. Next they painted with regular black acrylic before adding their final blue or green eye colour. I don't think you'll be able to find all these in the wild, captivity or even a fieldguide - but it's great to see something brought to life from the animal kingdom of a student's imagination!

Musical Vibes II

A second installment of Musical Vibes, this time at the hands of a 4/5 class. These vibrant moments are inspired by the artist Paula Cox and her jazz and classical music scenes. A number of these students obviously have more contemporary leanings in their musical tastes! It's always good seeing new ideas and influences coming from the students.