the working process and studio practice: new art from past art
Worshop and Report by Rebecca Hardy Griffith
Ysgol Y Graig, Llangefni
Chosen Artist: Iwan Lewis
Pupils: Key Stage 2/Year 5
Quantity: 30
Accompanied: Class Teacher
I chose the artist Iwan Lewis as he is based on Ynys Mon in the nearby town of Holyhead. I am familiar with his art practice, it is his use of colour and composition that would in my opinion create an engaging and interesting workshop for the pupils to respond and react to. It was not only his process of materials but also his subject matter within his work that would make a great open topic for the pupils to discuss. Therefore, it made the workshops an active but also verbal exercise for the pupils to stretch their creative minds physically and mentally.
The two day workshop was split into two sections, day one to focus on the chosen artist from the project, day two to focus on the project and the artist’s chosen artwork.
DAY ONE:
The structure of the sessions on day one was to introduce the project, the artist and the artists practice using drawing games, handouts, open class discussion, group activity, independent work and evaluation. After introducing the pupils to the project and announcing the artist name I decided to ease the pupils into the session with quick fun drawing games to remind them of the joy of free expression and not to be too precious about the finished drawing. It is also a great way to get their hand eye coordination into practice and to get them thinking quickly. From the excitement and buzz of the first game I introduce another activity of mark making, a simplified activity of word and action. We also discussed mark making and how it can be used in their artwork. It was great to see how quickly the pupils absorbed the information and with the engagement of the teacher an image of Rembrandts etched self-portrait was displayed on the smart board which then led to an open discussion on the variety of marks Rembrandt used.
Next large sheets of A2 paper were placed on the tables, where pupils in pairs had to share the space on the paper being considerate and aware of each other’s drawings. The activities that were asked of the pupils were to draw something from the first game (act of memory), draw it again using your other hand (challenge), draw it again with your eyes closed (extra challenge) and finally the pupils were paired up. One pupil becomes the pencil holder while the other moved their partners hand around the paper to draw and then they exchanged roles. To close the drawing games I asked closed and open questions to the pupils about the activities, which game did they enjoy? And which activity challenged them? The class had to be prompted at the beginning to share their opinions, using the other hand or eyes closed seemed their most seemed a popular choice and pairing up seemed their most challenging activity which is the complete opposite to Ysgol Pen y Bryn.
After the pupils returned back from break I began the discussion with a recall question regarding the project. Asking them where did the North Wales artist travel to and which gallery did they visit? What was the name of the artist they were going to look at? With the correct answer the pupils were given various images of Iwan’s artwork from his latest exhibition at Ucheldre the previous year and were asked to look at the artwork on the handouts for a few minutes.
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We continued to discuss the variety of textures and examples of paper the artists use, additionally I displayed the colour wheel on the smartboard again to discuss basic colour theory asking recall questions and mixing paints before they began painting for the rest of the afternoon. The pupils had the whole afternoon then to create paintings on textured canvas paper, cardboard, acrylic paper. Giving consideration to composition and colour with influence and inspiration from the sketches and drawings they had created during the morning.
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We then discussed as a class what materials Iwan used to create his artwork and what they thought Iwan’s artwork was about. In a review of Iwan’s exhibition at Ucheldre for the CCQ magazine by James Harper I pinpointed the comment regarding Iwan’s references to Henri Rousseau. On reflection it was a mixed response with the open and closed questions, prompting some students while others were more forward in responding. All though Iwan’s subject matter might have been harder for the pupils to understand they grasped his colours and tropical theme of his Indian Summer exhibition in the drawings they created. Using the handouts as inspiration they created sketches from pencil, watercolour pencils, oil pastels, some pupils created exact copies while others used their imagination. During the activity I explained the artistic processes of how useful sketches are for the artist to get ideas, patterns, shapes.
After they finished they’re individual sketches I introduced the group activity, each table had to work together to create a large drawing inspired by Iwan’s artwork. The three groups had to decide together what they wanted to draw, who in the group was drawing what and where and be sympathetic to each other’s work. It was fantastic to watch them work together and to see characters naturally form, therefore after observing them for 5 minutes I intervened and gave each group a project manager. Iwan’s artwork of exotic leaves and fruit inspired them to create scenes of jungles and tropical islands. Imagery of monkeys, palm trees, parrots and elephants etc were drawn by each group. Just before the bell for lunch I asked each group to view each other’s large drawings and to reflect on which sections of the drawings they enjoyed.
After lunch I introduced the afternoon’s activity of exploring colour and forms through the medium of paint, I displayed a colour wheel on the smartboard and we discussed within the class primary, secondary, contrasting colours. Iwan’s main medium is oil but it’s not practical in a large classroom setting therefore I opted for acrylic. Another material that Iwan used and the pupils noticed in the handouts is his use of painting on various surfaces from canvas, wood to cardboard. They also commented on his shapes from circles to 3D forms to the use of real leaves. I had selected cardboard rectangles and circles for them to paint on and suggested that they were welcome to cut and change the shape of the cardboard if they wished. The brief was open once again for them to use the drawings and sketches they had done previously in the day to create a painting. Allowing them to choose and decide on their own path, once again like the previous school some pupils flourished while others kept asking for permission. By the end of the afternoon creative mayhem had taken over the classroom, and the results were abstract, colourful, thoughtful, tentative, expressive, joyful from jungle scenes to big leaves to tigers to abstract colours to believe it or not pacman!
DAY TWO:
Today’s session with the class was focussed on Iwan’s selected artwork from the National Museum Cardiff art collection and his early sketches and paintings in the project. I began once again with some recall questions regarding the project and Iwan, the pupils gave excellent answers. Before introducing them to the chosen painting I decided to repeat the process from day one and play a few drawing games with the pupils to get them ready for the day ahead. These games develop their hand eye coordination, listening and group skills plus it gives them great enjoyment.
I gave the pupils handouts of the painting Iwan chose which was David Jones ‘Elephant’ (1928) asking the pupils in pairs to discuss together what they liked and dislike about the painting and why? On this occasion compared to day one the pupils were much more open and expressive, commenting on David Jones use of black lines to describe the shape of the elephant and discussing the environment of the animal how sad they thought it was to see him in such a small cramped quarters. Even a few were confident to give their reasons why they didn’t like the painting, the lack of vibrant colours were mentioned compared to Iwan’s work. However when we discussed which year they thought the painting was created they all believed it to be a contemporary piece of work painted in the past 20 years a little surprised they were when hearing it is 1928. I then gave them handouts of Iwan’s sketches and paintings to date on the project and how he began his artistic process on the project. The pupils connected strongly to his use of colour and picked up the change in environment for Iwan’s elephant, recalling the jungle and circus.
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I asked the pupils to sketch using the mark making skills they learnt from the previous session, using the handouts as inspiration and following in the steps of Iwan’s first reaction from seeing David Jones painting. I then introduced other materials for them to use like watercolour pencils and oil pastels. We conversed about art materials and the different numbers on sketching pencils while they drew and I encourage those of the pupils who weren’t sure where to begin or weren’t happy with their drawing.
To close the sessions I run a quick recall asking questions about the project and reminding them about the exhibition which will include some of the work created over the two days.