I nearly deleted this beautiful piece by accident, so it’s only fair that I feature it as ‘Artwork of the Week’. Laura O (S1 now S2, Art Claster and Film Maker, OLSP) finished it at the end of term last year and it got lost in my iPhoto library. I asked Laura O to create a depressing urban image and this is what she created… quite depressing, but very beautiful.
With all the chaos that’s been going on at the minute with the snowy weather and school closures, I was able to get the chance to catch up on reading my emails. I’m glad I did because I was instantly cheered up when I read a reply sent to me from Ruth W. Her Mum had been teaching an Art Project to a P5 section and had asked some advice on running the unit. I had suggested using some tracing paper to build depth and use of black and white paper to sustain contrasts, but I’d never thought I’d see such great examples as the ones attached to the email.
I believe that the works are to be framed, the multi-layered collages will make the picture look deeper and therefore, much more intriguing to view. I’m so happy that my small amounts of advice lead to such great outcomes.
S1 (aged 11-12) are working on a transitional piece of work which they started in P7 and will complete in S1 this week. The unit is to make the movement from primary school into secondary school more fluid. In their visit to secondary school as primary pupils they had made initial abstract drawings based on the masts and roping of the Cutty Sark. They are now developing their initial drawings to make a collage of mixed materials that will form the cover of their transitional book and a short film.
Above Kyle D, Charlotte M and Clare S work on their Cutty Sark backgrounds. After this is completed they will finish the work with a porthole frame.
Artist and Teacher, Jennifer Mullin is currently looking for a nice home for a print of her new collage piece ‘Come Sit Next To Me’. The piece is tremendously well composed using cut outs from magazines and a black fine line pen to add detail.
Anyone interested in winning this beautiful piece should click on her name or the image and say nice things to her. Good luck.
Over two years ago I devised a unit idea that would look at several large issues concerning design and the music business. The first was the collapse of solid media, in other words, how CDs would become worthless and how music packaging would no longer be collectible for the popular market. The second was how to actually package new music, whether it be an image on an iTunes file or a free PDF booklet with a download, this was no easy task. I finally came to the conclusion that a USB stick would be a marvelous way of allowing people to buy an object, though reduce the cost and packaging, while containing media files and artwork.
I know what you’re thinking… CDs are still around and that they tried the USB stick idea and it wasn’t a big seller. You’re right, though now is not the time or the place to cement your thoughts. The music industry has been in a state of panic now for around 8 years and there is no working template for what will be the next consistent media format.
Just over one year ago Radiohead released their new album ‘In Rainbows‘ as a download for people to pay whatever they saw fit. Before this release the album was rumoured to be called ‘Beware of Monsters’. This unit idea was to foretell what that album would look like and to allow pupils the chance to design something that ‘hadn’t been’.
This idea would push pupils into several states of thought. Firstly, about the changing face of media and technology, then the concept of music packaging and the market and costs involved, environmental issues and then putting political ideas across visually. A lot of teachers would possibly avoid some of these big issues, thinking that they are too big. Having dealt with units similar to this, I believe that this must be the way all art teaching should move. It must encompass all culture, thought and ideas to allow pupils the chance to experience real Art & Design at a professional level, so that when they leave school, they will be better at handling briefs and commissions.
Pupils would explore music media, some of which, they will never have seen or heard before. I was shocked when I introduced Vinyl and Mini Discs to S2 pupils and they hadn’t heard of them before. Why would they though? Music media has moved so fast over the past decade that it isn’t really important what state the music is on, it’s more about what customers want and what they will pay.
After this, then pupils explore news and issues. Modern issues. Things that are happening right now. My image is a little out of date even after just two years, but I’m sure you’ll get the idea of how pupils find magazine or newspaper images and compose them together to make a strong collage.
So as you can see the Critical is embedded into the actual practical work. Pupils should see a connection between the critical work and artists they are studying with the work they are creating. This is more in line with research for higher, college and professional life. Artists study the people and topics they enjoy, to create their own work from it.
This unit idea was completed as a student, then slightly reworked to make it possible to produce three sheets for the intermediate unit. I haven’t had the chance to try the idea out yet, but I would really like to know what pupils and other teachers think of it. Comments would be appreciated.
Kirsty M (S3) had found great difficulty in observing images and reproducing them through drawing. We are all wired up differently and so it’s not surprising that we all approach things differently, especially when it’s creative. Instead of tackling something that she couldn’t do, Kirsty tried something she could do and I think her final solution above has very nice aspects to it. It’s simplicity reminds me of Japanese prints, which is very apt, as a lot of her cat ornaments are of Japanese origin. It’s bold colours and minimal detail makes the image commercially and visually appealing. In other words; I would quite happily have this image framed and wall mounted in my home. A very interesting collage that makes a playful and free image.
I recently combined the work of Louise, Craig, Beth and Jordan H (S2) into the 2012 Logo. The four works were joined to make a strong submission for the 2012 Logo Competition. The competition closed on the 5th June. The Art Classroom wishes them luck.
Mrs O’Higgins’ and my portrait class are currently stressing out and cramming in as much effort as possible to try and finish their final pieces. Pupils always underestimate how much time they have left, but it’s no surprise to teachers when the inevitable stress out begins. All stressing and panicking aside, the work is looking very varied and strong. Below Ross (S3) is finishing off little touches to his Mario inspired background while considering a title for his unit.
While Ashley continues to add magazine tear offs to her stained glass collage portrait. This was her idea, which I think is an absolutely fantastic concept. It makes her ordinary portrait into a statement about media representation of women and the idea of beauty.
On the other side of the class, Ruth carefully scratches the last of the folds on her jumper for her frightened pose. The scraperboard technique helps give that sense of drama and the unknown.
Nicole (S3) works on her collage for her Expressive unit. She has built up her image layer by layer to form the basis for the composition. The collage image is worked from the background laid down first working towards the foreground images. This should not only make the image compositionally correction, it should also make it appear correct in slight relief. Nicole still has around 4-5 hours of work still to do on the image, though for what she has already achieved, she definately deserves it to be an ‘Artwork of the Week’.
S1 work on their Eric Carle influenced insect unit. They have investigated an individual insect of their choice by drawing guide lines and making a simple form. They then add detail to the form to build their drawing into a realistic sketch. To get similar effects to Eric Carle they trace the insect on both sides of some tracing paper, drawing registration marks and fixing the tracing paper with tape.
They are now working on patterned and coloured paper sheets, from which they will cut out insect shapes and segments, similar to Eric Carle’s technique. These shapes will be glued to make a Carle-esque collage of their insect.
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