From Our Sketchbooks, Part One

Showing off some pages from our sketchbooks this quarter!

 

Decay

This was a unit I did with my IGCSE class in the final weeks of the first semester. I wanted them to have the experience of working with a midterm exam topic to practice working within a limited time, similar to the final exam.

The topic was decay. We began by brainstorming the word, looking at the definition and collecting ideas for subjects pertaining to the topic. I had them do observational drawings of objects, both from my collection and from items they brought in.

After the students had several drawings, we narrowed in to the topic a bit more with a specified task: either to design a fashion garment inspired by decay, or to develop a final piece to be shown in an exhibition on decay. Once the students chose a direction, they began to develop their ideas from their original starting point drawings.

I did a workshop showing them different techniques for distressing paper and fabric to make it look old, worn and decayed. They explored these techniques in their sketchbooks and incorporated some of them into their final ideas.

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The final piece was to be created during three one and a half hour exam slots. My students went into the exam knowing exactly which of their ideas they were going to recreate, what materials they needed and had thought out the steps for completion. There was an interruption of snow amidst the creating, so the midterm was not actually finished before the semester ended. Despite this small hiccup, I think all of them were familiarized with the exam process and the steps needed for taking a topic from the brainstorming stages to completion.

Micro>Macro Drawing

I am teaching the Cambridge IGCSE Art and Design course for the second time this year. Once again, I only have four students. I am facing difficulties this year mostly with room scheduling- there is only one art room and two art courses running at the same time (a mostly good problem!) This week was experimental, mixed media drawing; so I decided we would draw on the floor- out on the 5th floor landing. As it is just outside the art room, we had easy access to materials and sinks for clean up. The setting was more relaxed- yoga mats instead of the typical table and chairs- and since more traffic comes through the stairwell, we had more visitors be a part of the excitement.

The students picked from a selection of natural objects to draw. We used bigger sheets of paper- the goal was to zoom in on a section of the object and experiment with materials to replicate the texture. Media attempted for this drawing included charcoal, conte, pastel, watercolour and ink. Following a discussion of the finished results, I had them experiment drawing with thread- stitching overtop of their drawings to create additional texture and interest. I gave them ideas of different embroidery stitches to try and they did the rest. I am so excited to work with this very talented and self motivated group- this is just the beginning!

Exploring Natural Forms: Repetition+Variation

Part A of a two part project. Students chose a natural object from my own collection to explore and worked in their sketchbooks at first to test out different mixed media combinations. They chose limitations for their piece in regards to the layout of their compositions and media, and created a grid of twelve compositions. These compositions were to show repetition and variation in exploring an object and throughout the piece as a whole.

I am so very proud of what they have accomplished and how far they have come!

And of course, I had to try it out for myself!

 

Series II

Final projects were due today and I spent the day marking! Here are a selection of my favourites (these are each part of a series of fifteen drawings. For a further project description, see here).