Australian Icons

When I ran this lesson with year 3 and 4 students, they were in the middle of an Australian theme —including a focus on Aboriginal Australia (I was lucky enough to be with the class on an excursion featuring a guided and very inspirational tour through the bush, where we were taught about the many types of bush tucker and medicine surrounding us). Another focus was Australia’s natural and man-made landmarks, so this art lesson was a way of bringing these two aspects together. 

First, we talked about things that were widely recognised as being Australian cultural icons. Together we made a list (some will be obvious to readers far from Australia, and others may not), which I trimmed down to those that could be easily drawn and identified in a simple silhouette. 

We also spent some time appreciating the work of Indigenous artist Bronwyn Bancroft. Looking at her children’s book Why I Love Australia, we especially noted the bright and often non-traditional colours she uses. 

Then, the children chose their icon and drew it with lead pencil. Next, they painted it and the background in a different single colour. The children then used cotton buds to finish their icons with repeated dot patterns as used by many Aboriginal artists, but also using bright colours inspired by Bronywn’s art. It was quite a process from start to finish, but the children did a great job and the results are stunning.

The most popular icon turned out to be Ned Kelly, as inspired by Sidney Nolan’s famous paintings of him. For those further afield, Ned is our most infamous bushranger. Probably his most lasting legacy is the home-made helmet and armour that he sported, although as it transpired, without much success. He’s a controversial figure in our history — loved and loathed in equal measure. He was convicted of three murders, and hung in 1880 at the ripe old age of 25. Our other, less controversial icons featured here include an emu, a kangaroo, the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Uluru and the Three Sisters. 

As well as enjoying the fine efforts of these students, I hope I may have captured the imagination of any of you viewing from abroad, and you're planning a trip here soon!

Fantastic Fauvist Foxes

"Fantastic Fauvist Foxes" says it all really... This 3/4 composite class were mid way through Roald Dahl's classic Fantastic Mr Fox. We began by following a guided drawing lesson from Kathy at Art Projects For Kids. After starting in pencil we then traced in permanent marker. Taking inspiration from the bold and non realistic colours of Fauvism, students completed their foxes with water-colour paints.

The Good Ship Endeavour

The HMS Endeavour was sailed to Australia by Captain James Cook and his crew well over 200 years ago now. The ship and the intercontinental mode of transport in general were featured in these year 4 students’ studies. Together we embarked on the challenge of sketching this tall ship. I initially lead a guided drawing lesson which the students then completed themselves and later embellished with some simple watercolour ocean and sky.

Symmetrical Silhouettes

Year 4 were working on these stylised trees for a short time at the end of each maths class. Unfortunately only a few were completed in the time I was with them — I hope to see more of them fully realised when I get a chance to visit their class again.

Using grid paper printed from this very handy site, I asked the students to make a stylised but symmetrical tree. Working from the bottom and centre, they began by drawing in pencil, then traced this with black markers before finishing with brightly coloured backgrounds of their choosing. 

Most students only seem to enjoy this type of detailed art for a short time, so just doing a little bit each day seemed to work well. As you can see, some of the trees are very stylised — I'm not sure how many were secretly drawing something else... but at least they were busy! 

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.

Paper Cut Patterns

Paper cut patterns from way back at the start of the year with year 4. I've been holding off posting them because I've posted this lesson a few times already during this blog's short life! Simple and effective = great for casual teaching days... and I think the results definitely speak for themselves : ) The previous examples are here, here and here. 

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.

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!

10 min Value Landscapes

Like the Value Landscapes posted earlier this month, this lesson was inspired by Miriam at Arteascuola. However, these were "painted" with pixels on the computer rather than regular paintbrushes. Each year 4 student completed their own landscape in less than 10 minutes but still had valuable experience with using tone to create depth within a two dimensional artwork. 

After we observed and discussed the scenes created by Miriam's students the children took turns at making their own value landscape on the two available classroom computers while the rest of the class continued on with their set work. It was quick and easy but also meaningful for the children. 

Primary Silhouettes

Yes, I'm still experimenting with silhouettes! These were created by a year four class. I asked them to make a large outline of their chosen object in pencil and then had them rule their own background stripes using dimensions written on the board. Using regular acrylic paint, the students painted their silhouettes and the stripes in primary colours, leaving one white. Each student decided which colour should go where. The paints were wet on the paper so I was pretty impressed by how well they controlled their brushes.

We briefly discussed how some famous artists and artworks were renowned for utilising the three primary colours plus black and white. From memory I only talked about Mondrian although Lichtenstein is another good example. Please feel free to let me know of any other artists who have used this sort of primary colourway.

Paper Cuts II

A second installment of patterned Paper Cuts as posted back in August. These are courtesy of a year 4 class and happened as another spontaneous gap filler for 15-20 minutes. The class had some small (maybe 15cm) coloured paper squares that seemed to be left over from something else. I think having larger paper would have given the students more design scope and room to navigate their scissors, but it is nice to find ways of using up left over odds and ends.

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.

Techno Fish

Being a relief teacher, I undertake a variety of roles within the schools I visit. Sometimes I'm on one class for the day and other times I end up being the school librarian. And sometimes I end up taking a class for their allocated time in the computer lab. It's normally a short lesson, especially after moving into the room, powering up and logging on. The children usually find painting with the computers a welcome relief from internet research, word documents and the like... especially faced with a fun and colourful challenge.

These pixel paintings are the result of a very short lesson with a 4/5 composite class. I began by showing a fish I had completed myself while working with another class, and then asked the students to create their own fish. For many students this was enough of a spark, while others needed some more structure. So I began painting another fish on the large screen explaining the tools and quirks associated with the program. Soon enough they were all busy creating. 

Unfortunately on this particular occasion the students had only just over 20 minutes actually painting, and much worse – I didn't manage to successfully save all the childrens' art... I am still technologically challenged at times, but I will persevere! But for a quick gap-filling lesson I'm really impressed with the students' responses. If you're anything like me, looking at these fish you can't help but smile.