An Obsession With Line

Year 1JH students have been exploring  line to create patterns, shape and form while also developing their spatial positioning in their drawings.
We began with reviewing what we knew about lines, drawings as many different lines and then painting the areas in and around our lines. Check the flip book Mrs Hiskens made of our line paintings.  Here is the link to view it in full http://snack.to/fz9f2c9t

Below is a sneak peek



We then progressed into exploring the contour lines (outlines) of objects and how they helped us see the shape of the object. In this case we used toy animals as our objects. We tried tracing them and drawing them from just looking at them. Mrs Hiskens then told us a funny story about some crazy farm animals.

Can you guess the story?

So we drew our own animal stack, trying to position and draw our animals so that our work used up the whole page.  We talked about our animal shapes and discussed the similarities in some animals and their special features.

 

 

 

 


This week Mrs Hiskens surprised us all with a special project influenced by the work of Keith Haring. We are now going to use what we have learnt about our animal shapes and lines to design our own plushie!
Here is the work of Keith Haring  that we looked at.

This one reminded us of a maze, Aboriginal paintings and an x- ray

 
We loved how he used outline to draw simple forms and how he has used lines to create patterns and show movement.


Here are some of our plans for our Keith Haring inspired plushies. Mrs Hiskens photocopied our work and then cut them out to use as templates on our fabric.

 

 






Keep an eye on this space so see our finished work.

The only way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas- Albert Einstein

When I first begin to plan for creative learning experiences, my main goal is for students to take ownership of the creative process. I don't believe in giving them formulas to follow because  this is no different to giving them a worksheet that does not allow them to think, problem solve, experiment and take risks. Taking risk is very important in the creative process, without it students have no way of knowing if their ideas will work or receive the instant feedback needed to develop  their skills. In short they will not have the opportunity to make mistakes from which to learn from. It is when there is a great combination of  teaching the knowledge, making mistakes and collaborative sharing of understandings that results in their work taking a life of its own with the children steering its direction. This is when I know great things are about to happen...

Year 1/2 KC began the year by exploring line (our main focus), colour, patterns and shapes. We looked at how these elements of art are found in many great paintings, we discussed how artist use them to make them work and the questions were raised... "how did the artist know that they needed those two colours? How did they know that they had to draw the line like that and not a different way?" I was almost blinded by all the thinking lights flashing, eager to try and explore these elements of art for themselves to find the answers.
(images to come...)

Equipped with the knowledge of lines, we then shifted our focus to 'seeing'. Seeing is an essential tool in developing creativity. It requires thoughtful examination allowing students to classify and make connections with their knowledge of lines and how they can be used to draw what we were looking at.
Now normally, this is when things begin to fall apart for some children. They get so caught up with wanting their drawings  to look the same as what they are looking at and become frustrated when what they see on their page does not match up and then the risk taking stops. This is when imagination comes to the rescue...

These lovely drawings are what happened when year 1/2 KC used their knowledge of lines, took the time to really look (at the bushland outside the art room) and used their imagination to include the possibilities of what we could not see under the ground.

It was from these idea-drawings that our project then began to take a life of its own with each student working collaboratively with each other, no arguments over who was doing what. Instead there was a shared understanding, shared ideas and a shared vision...

Stage 1 in the process-

                                                           Mural of  above the ground

                                                               and below the ground

Stage two- When the murals are finished students will begin to construct parts of  their under the ground ideas into 3D structures using recycled materials- cardboard, wood off cuts, colourful plastics, fabrics, pieces of metal, string, feathers etc.. We will then have a display of our wonderful mural with all of our fantastic creations giving our ideas a real life.

If you have any clean, safe and interesting recyclable object that you could donate to our project we would be over the moon! Please email me, comment here or just drop them off to our art room.

Where is the artwork?

Some of you may be wondering where all the artwork from last year has gone and why does this blog look different to the one from last year. Well... that is because I have changed blog hosts. The new blog will allow you to sign up and receive all updates instantly,via email.  The old blog  (khiskens.edublogs.org ) is still active and all of last years work can be found there with the exception of the virtual art galleries; unfortunately the links are no longer active. This year I will be continuing to upload the artwork into the virtual galleries and also, (fingers crossed), virtual flip-books.  I am so excited to be starting with a fresh new blog this year and I can't wait to share with you the creative journey we will be undertaking.

"My paintbrush is my childhood."

In the past three weeks I have been fortunate to shared in some amazing art experiences. The title of this post basically sums it up. As a teacher, these experiences are a constant reminder that children are powerful image makers. The desire to make sense of their world though their artwork communicates their ideas , thoughts, discoveries and feelings in a manner that words cannot describe or elaborate.

The highlights so far for 2012 range from a Year 2 student discovering that he can create grey, (as he guided his brush on his work, with great care and concentration, mixing white with black in swirls, fascinated with how the colours combined and changed before him), then proudly exclaiming " Mrs Hiskens I made grey!" to Year 5 students not even asking or reaching for erasers. Yes! finally understanding that every line we make is useful and necessary in guiding our drawing. Most importantly it is the discussions, about their artwork, that the students have with me or the ones I overhear among themselves that never cease to amaze me. The above quote comes from such a discussion, so simple yet so profound and straight from the mouth of a Year 3!