Abstract Like The Best Of Them

This week’s piece comes from the mind of Kirstie G (S3,OLSP). At first you may not understand it, but continue to look at it… You will soon start to see the fractured image of still life objects. Bottles and vases, jugs and bowls. These are rendered in a variety of media from acrylic and watercolour paints to pencil and charcoal. Some are rushed, some are painstakingly worked on. Each of these works have been completed in full and then sliced apart; artistic vandalism. It was tough for Kirstie to make the decision to do it and to then actually do it, but I think it was the right decision.

Her work reminds me of the likes of Braque (Picasso’s underestimated co-creator of cubism). Your eye is forced around the work to make sense of it. Little sections are painted well to prove that she can paint. Though that’s not the point. Painting has become snobbish in schools. It’s all about realism and copying. There is little time given to expression and experimentation. It is for this very reason that I feel that this piece is extremely strong. It’s taking chances. It’s not a piece created to pass an exam. It’s created to be a good piece of art and that’s what counts isn’t it?

There’s also great aspects of Leger in her work. The lines that dissect the work into a living three dimensional jigsaw. Kirstie’s work is relief, it sits on many levels and the observer is able to lean around foreground objects to view more of the background objects. It’s like four or five paintings in one. It is just so refreshing to see pupils take on something as hard to understand as abstraction and cubism and learn about it practically instead of remembering about it critically. A well deserved ‘Artwork of the Week’.

Kirstie’s relief piece before the dissection lines were painted in

S4 Pupil Of The Year

Monica L’s (S4/OLSP) Standard Grade Exam image is such a beautiful image. The warm luxurious purples in the red onions draw your eyes to the right of the image, then after being awed by the detail of the skin and the flesh, the viewer can cast their eye around the muted colours of the garlics, cloth and cardboard background. Monica worked none stop during her class time and put a lot of after school time in to fine tune this image to look its absolute best. It’s what art is about… mastery, skill and beauty. Monica was awarded my S4 Art Pupil of the Year award.

Getting Better And Better Again

 

Monica L (S4/OLSP), like most of my pupils, worked on her standard grade image over and over to discover the best ways to recreate it during the exam. It is true what they say…. ‘Practice makes perfect’.

Mrs Hull’s Young Apprentices

I’ve been posting some submissions from my school’s Art Department to TESS (Teaching Supplement), to feature in their Art Section. I couldn’t give up the chance of letting you see some of the pupil work my colleague, Mrs Hull (OLSP), has been supervising across the corridor. These submissions were pre-lim examples for the S4 Standard Grade expressive exam last year. Pupils usually sit the exam with objects in front of them, or a photo along with a pre-trial version of their exam composition. This gives them the biggest chance to succeed, as it is asking a lot for a pupil to be at their artistic best on the day. Lots of things can go wrong and the pupil could have artistic block or an ‘off day’.

At the very top Emma H and Patrick McC (S4, OLSP) show off their painting skills with beautiful studies of fruit, bottles and a basket. Mrs Hull’s still life resources are very luxurious, it makes the pupils’ work look a lot more mature, even professional. Her teaching methods help the pupils focus on capturing pockets of colour in an expressive, yet controlled manner. If you can observe and record the right reflections and perfect your eclipses in your work, like Holly McP‘s (S4, OLSP) pastel study below, you can produce impressive work, though this would be a lot easier if you have a great mentor like Mrs Hull.

Breakfast, Breakfaster

Emily G (S3, OLSP) sat her Standard Grade Expressive Exam a few weeks ago and I have only gotten ’round to taking the images off my phone. Here is the best photo I’ve taken of her pastel piece based on the ‘Breakfast’ theme, it had to be taken in a hurry as the pieces were sent for marking right after the exam finished. I love her use of vivid colours along with that great capturing of the breakfast spoon and its reflections.

Like Chalk And Charcoal

I created this exemplar for S4’s introduction to Chalk and Charcoal techniques. The exemplar contains how to layout your drawing in charcoal (either compacted or vine), as well as the three main techniques of applying pastels; Scribbling, Smudging and Dashing. I didn’t use Scubbing, because I hate the technique and think that it ruins work rather than adds to it. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, why don’t you search ‘charcoal techniques’ on youtube.

Still Life… Still Important.

S3 (St Benedicts) have been working towards finishing their investigation sheet of their expressive intermediate exam. The investigation sheet requires pupils to draw analytical studies of their chosen area; still life.

Peppers are often used as an introduction to still life drawing. This is because the pepper is an interesting natural shape, it’s surface is shiny, it’s insides are filled with detail and crevices, it is colourful and varied. The Pepper is the perfect object to learn observations skills from.

Below Robert shows good use of contrast, he has a great personal style to his drawing, it is free and scribbled. It has character and with practice, Robert should be able to fine tune his scribbles to get a controlled, stylised style.

Above Antonia adds more detail and tone to her flower study. She uses cross-hatching to add darker tones, as well as hatching to the contours of the petals to give her drawing form and substance. While below Heather uses her clean and patient tonal skills to bring volume to her Pepper.

Below Robyn works her scratchy style into her pepper. It is such a great expressive style that will also be useful when using pastels or paints, her use of multiple lines to cover the surfaces of her objects helps draw the viewers eye into the object. It’s like staring into the framework of how the objects are made.

And finally, above, Edward uses a similar style to help raise his flat objects from the page. By shading along the contours of an object, you can help to show the viewer the form and dimensions of the object. It’s a simple trick, though it has helped Edward make his pepper more realistic and make his drawing more interesting to to look at.

It Would Impress Jimmy Choo

I’m still browsing through my old hard drive, cleaning it out and finding lots of beautiful artwork. This triptych comes from the talented hands of Gemma S, created in 2007-08. A beautiful intermediate expressive study of still life objects, mainly shoes. The final piece (lowest image) is absolutely extravagant, its success definitely helped with the contrasting black and white pattern background.

Readers Of The Lost Art

Some of you might have heard that poor Chelsea B‘s (S3 – Gleniffer High) final piece had gone missing over the summer, though if you hadn’t, imagine the loss of an important final artwork for a certificated exam.

After arriving back from my Disneyland activity week escapades, I had returned to school in July to sort out work for mounting and to make sure that my classroom was cleared of my belongings (my cover had came to an end). While there, I had realised that the piece was missing, but had just presumed that Chelsea had taken it home over the summer to add to it.

School then started back up in August and it had came to my attention that the final piece was missing. Chelsea had not taken it home and it was not in my large class folder. It was possibly the worst thing that could happen to a pupil.

Imagine that you had spent months on a piece of work that had then just disappeared. You thought that your expressive unit was complete and that you had only your design unit to worry about in S4. The teacher that you thought had your piece had now left school and texted your new teacher telling her that he didn’t have it at home. The final solution was just gone. It must have been very nerve wrecking for Chelsea.

For a week I worried about what must be going through Chelsea’s head. Was she worried that she would have to start the piece all over again while completing her design unit, did she blame me for its disappearance, was she tearing her own place apart looking for a piece that she knew wouldn’t be there anyway?

After checking my own materials and resources at home, I knew that I definitely did not have the piece and that if it was anywhere, it had to be in school. I arranged to return to the school in the afternoon to search for it. Getting there, I searched the obvious places; Chelsea’s class folders, other class folders, old folders, drawers that were used to store work and yet, there was no sign of the artwork.

After around 30 minutes of looking I decided to comb my way through the new card storage and there it was (pictured below)?! I had found it! I have no idea how it got there, though I obviously blame myself and believe I must have misplaced it in there somehow. I may never know, though all that was important was that the piece was recovered.

Organisation of pupil artwork is extremely important. No matter the quality or the importance. Though all planning cannot account for human error. I know that when dealing with lost items, it’s usually because the pupil has not looked properly in a box, or a drawer or a folder, though when a teacher can’t find the item, it’s easy to get frantic and presume the item is lost forever.

It’s crucial that searching is done as soon as possible to reduce further movement. Obvious places are usually the most rewarding, though don’t rule out the inevitable weird place; in a cupboard that no-one ever uses or even in the bin. I was not extremely lucky this time, I was just thorough.

Hopefully, Chelsea can now move on and concentrate on her design unit and is relieved that the drama is over. I know I’ll sleep better.

Encased In Amber

I had the chance to sneak back into Gleniffer High School yesterday evening to look for the famously lost final piece by Chelsea B (more on this later in the week). While in school, I stumbled across another long lost piece that finally showed its face, the piece above by Amber T (S3 now S4).

Amber had been avoiding the completion of this piece for months, obsessing about little parts, while other large areas remained untouched, and having to complete this piece over the summer is no mean feat either, without a Teacher looming over her, it’s hard to find the drive to sit down and complete work.

So summer had passed and pupils returned to school and I had heard that this piece had still not shown up (possibly due to incompletion, though I don’t want to start any rumours). After some pushing Amber finally brought the piece back into school and I have to say, it was worth waiting for. Amber’s style is something that I have told her I like very much, there’s a freedom and confidence to it that would make me believe that anything she draws is important. Although a little inconsistent, it does show the extent of a person’s qualities and standards. While there are issues with the bottles (something that was completed in school), the box, the crystal heart and the reflections on the perfume lid are just spectacular (completed at home).

I do have one gripe; the folded crease along the middle of the piece, but it doesn’t take away from the skill involved. It is beautifully damaged, it’s very apt for Amber. She can produce beauty from carelessness, and that’s something that will annoy her peers.

I still ask myself though, ‘If Amber can do this with putting as little effort in as she possibly can, what could she do if she tried?!’, then I scare myself and try to dwell on something else…