General Resources

Tiki Mulvihill Portable Prairie

Pia Andersen

Christo and Jean-Claude The Wall

Frank Chimero

Museum of Modern Art Modern Teachers' website:
http://moma.org/modernteachers/lessons.php?categoryID=guides

Vancouver Art Gallery:
http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/events_and_programs/school_education.html

Cyber Muse:
http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/home_e.jsp

Teaching Children Art. Jack A. Hobbs and Jean C. Rush. 1997. Prentice Hall.

John Lovett, artist sight with lessons and elements of design definitions.
http://www.johnlovett.com/default.htm

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem

Daily Drawing from my visual journal

Line, texture and colour study from my visual journal

Print Making

Plexiglass with Paint

Easy Cut Block and Burin

Prints are images made from ink and in multiple copies. In class we made them first from styrofoam, where an object with a point (pencil, marker, pen) is used to draw an image. The piece of styrofoam becomes the plate. Paint is applied lightly using a roller and the plate is pressed onto the material (paper, fabric) and the print is produced.

Next we used a piece of Easy Cut Block using a burin to carve out shapes.

Both these types of print are examples of intaglio, where prints are cut into the surface of the plate. There is also relief prints, where the plate has a raised surface to produce the print (such as a stamp). Woodcuts are an example of a relief print:

Edvard Munch's Separation II, 1896.

Prints are images made from ink and in multiple copies. In class we made them first from styrofoam, where an object with a point (pencil, marker, pen) is used to draw an image. The piece of styrofoam becomes the plate. Paint is applied lightly using a roller and the plate is pressed onto the material (paper, fabric) and the print is produced.

Next we used a piece of Easy Cut Block using a burin to carve out shapes.

Both these types of print are examples of intaglio, where prints are cut into the surface of the plate. There is also relief prints, where the plate has a raised surface to produce the print (such as a stamp). Woodcuts are an example of a relief print:


Some fantastic sites:
http://www.moma.org/interactives/projects/2001/whatisaprint/flash.html
This site is amazing. Interactive site with step by step instructions for woodcut, etching, lithography and screenprint. Lots of examples of artist works.

http://www.kinderart.com/printmaking/index.html
A great source of information and lesson plans.

http://www.worldprintmakers.com/english/opm.htm

Painting

Painting is an easy activity to coordinate in the classroom.

We started by exploring how to make colours using the three primary colours, red, blue and yellow. Orange is acheived by mixing yellow and red, purple by mixing red and blue and green by mixing blue and yellow. Mixing everything together produces brown.

The hues of colours can be manipulated by adding black or white. Adding white creates a tint, where lightness is increased. Adding black produces a shade of a colour and decreses light.

We then created a painting as a group that included all the colours (first image). Next we experiemented individually by painting with complementary colours (red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange). We explored warm colours (red, orange, yellow) and cool colours (blue, green, purple).

Here are some excellent resources:
http://www.opusframing.com/how/handouts
How to handouts on all kinds of mediums.

http://www.artjunction.org/encounters_painting.php
Discusses preparing to paint, types of paint and what to paint.

Lawren Harris' Mount Lefroy

Georgia O'Keefe's Hibiscus with Plumeria

Jackson Pollack's Galaxy

Colour Wheel

Plaster

Cora L. Schroeder Sculpture

Making Plaster Finger Puppets

Using plaster sheets, cut into very small lengths. The plaster is activated by rubbing it. Dip pieces into lukewarm water, then mold them onto your finger. Keep adding pieces to build shape and texture. When that is achieved pull off puppet with care. Once it is dry it can be painted.

Resources:
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/p/plaster.html

Principals and Elements of Design

Lines

A line is a mark made by a tool such as a pen, a brush, a crayon or a pencil. Lines can be thick or thin, curved or straight, fine or dramatic. They are defined by their edges, which can reveal direction and detail of the lines.

Contrast

Contrast allows the artist to convey emphasis and provide visual interest. It involves opposition of some sort. There is high contrast (such as black and white) or low constrast (varying shades of one colour). Complementary colours provide high constrast as well.

Form

Form is a 3-D figure (such as a cone, cube, sphere) as opposed to a shape which is 2-D (such as a triangle, square, circle).

Emphasis

Emphasis occurs in art when an object is dominant. This might be the part of a piece that our eye is immediately drawn to, that really stands out. Contrast is often used for emphasis.

Colour

Colour is comprised of three things: hue, value and intensity. Hues comprise all the primary colours (red, yellow, blue), secondary colours (orange, green, purple) and all those that fit into those categories (red-violet, blue-green, orange-yellow). Value is the extent to which a colour is light or dark. Intensity refers to the level of brightness in a colour.

Pattern

The repetition of an element or elements in a work.

Movement

Movement in art can be conceived as visual energy. It can be achieved by implying movement by use of contrasting lines, brilliant colours, and tensions between shapes.

Texture

Visually, texture is the way 2-D objects "feel". It can be achieved using colour, line, shape and contrast.

Balance

Balance refers to equilibrium and order. It is the way lines, shapes, textures etc are arranged in the piece. There can be symmetry in a piece, where visual weight is the same on both sides of a painting, or asymmetrical, where there is a disparity between two sides.

Shape

Shape is enclosed space, where the boundaries of an object are defined by another element of art (such as a line, colour, texture). They can be 2-d defined shapes such as a triangle, square or circle, or they can be organic shapes, with natural, less defined edges.

Earthworks

Andy Goldsworthy, Red Leaf Patch, 1983
Red Earth,
http://www.redearth.co.uk/home2a.html

Earthworks refers to art made in nature by using materials such as stones, leaves, stick, ice and dirt. It is a contemporary art, that got its beginnings in the United States in the 1960s. The premise behind it is to emphasis man's relationship with nature by making art out of natural materials in a natural setting.

Earthworks would be very easy to explore in a classroom. Take the kids outside and see what they can find and build with the natural resources in their school yard and surrounding. Document it in picture or movie form.

Includes crop art, see Stan Herd's work:
http://www.millermeiers.com/stanherd/examples.html

Robert Smithson:
http://www.robertsmithson.com/index_.htm

A good overview, with lots of artist links:
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/e/earthart.html

Cultural Objects

Looking at objects that reflect our culture and heritage. These can show what values a culture has and can give students insight into these values.

Having each student bring in a cultural object could create a multitude of learning opportunities.


A lesson plan for cultural objects.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/06/g68/index.html

An interesting read for teachers that could spark a debate over property rights:
Reversing the Flow of Traffic in the Market of Cultural Property by Eric Bergman
http://saiic.nativeweb.org/ayn/repat.html