Tuesday 6th October - MailArt cards

What a fantastic art-making session we had on 6th October

Our Art Club sessions always begin with a few deep breaths to relax, we meet at the end of the day and it's important to rest briefly between School and Art Club.

Following on from last week's Giant Egg focus we have continued to look at the animals and birds of Madagascar and the impact man is having on them, we have combined this with our term-theme of 'flights of fancy' and tied both these themes in to our project with Cupertino Middle School which is in Sunnyvale California.


My involvement with a Worldwide twitter art project called Mail Art has led to an inter-school collaboration with Sylivia Griffin the art teacher at Cupertino. Mail Art is a collective project where a list of artists create pieces of art on postcards, the art is then mailed - without an envelope, one card to each person on the list. Part of the idea is to see what extra marks the cards pick up in transit.

The results of Mailart projects are stunning and the aim is that when each artist has a full set, they exhibit them at their next show - good exposure for every one of the artists. The current round of MailArt has a theme of 'Being human in time', cards can be seen at The Mail Art Flickr Group

Below is one of the cards I drew and sent:

I shall be showing all the results when I exhibit my work at Bear Steps gallery in Shrewsbury in January 2010.

Our school MailArt has seen us each making postcards to send. Sylvia and I exchanged their list of children's names and the school addresses last week, giving only the initials of the children's last names.

We started the session by looking at the progress on the The Giant Egg website - lots more images had been uploaded since last week, the children were very excited by @tomavana's Fire Egg, @fiddlehead Lee Tracy and by @RyanSeslow's work, (names preceded by an @ sign are Twitter names).

We talked about the excitement of sending postcards to another school in another part of the World, how these children would send us cards too. We looked at a map of the World highlighting Sundorne, UK and Sunnyvale, USA and asked questions about where Madagascar was in relation to both schools and what journies our cards would make by plane and other transport.

Then we had another look at the information sheets I had produced about birds, animals and environments and at some more work by Wassily Kandinsky with the children relating his brush-strokes to 'flight' and talking about what they could see within his abstract works.

After our talk the children set to work making their own MailArt cards. With our 'inspiration sheets' on the tables, some music playing and much ongoing discussion, we worked with drawing and collage, with card, pen, tissue, glue, pencil and then had a 2 minute glitterfest at the end!

The results are sensational and I have since varnished the cards and addressed them, in our session on 13th October each child will stick on their stamps and write a small message then off the cards will go, all the way to Sunnyvale, USA.

One of the cards, produced by Ashton, is shown below -


Our cards can be seen on our Flickr page

When we receive our cards from the USA we will post a link to them here.

In our next session we will be continuing with our term-themes and painting four big abstracts on canvases to hang in the school corridor.

Art Club 29 September 2009 - Giant Egg

Today we talked about Tim Grosvenor's Giant Egg project see Here Artists of all disciplines come together to raise awareness about Madagascar The Giant Egg Event Tim uses the Twitter name @elephant bird because this is a symbol of the changes happening in Madagascar - the Elephant bird is now extinct. The Elephant Bird is shown below:



I showed the children pictures of Madagascar and explained about the problems facing the animals and people there, we discussed how we would feel if our environment was being chopped down and how it would be good to contribute to the Giant Egg project to help people to be aware of the issues in Madagascar. We used the resource sheet I had created (sheet below)


We looked at and talked about some images from artists which relate to 'flights of fancy' their current topic including Kandinsky's Fixed Flight and Sky Study with Birds by Jean-Michel Cels. Then I read to them the poem below by Micalanne, I chose this because I thought the children would relate to it well.

Where do they lay to dream? 

By Micalanne poet and artist

When the forests have burned, 

and the creatures are extinct,

what will be left to inspire?

Who will care for the remaining

fragile fragments of dreams

when they must be set aside

and attentions are turned to survival?

Laying on the sweet green grass,

filled with yesterday and today,

I am unhindered to dream of tomorrow.

My dreams are never set aside.

I exist in them

with every rising of the sun. 

I would give that to the

Malagasy.

After looking at a sheet of information which I had produced, then at the posterous website and at the Giant Egg Event site, the drawings were made by the children who are aged 5 and 6. I have added one drawing here and more can be seen in this Flickr group

Visit from the Dept for Schools Children and Families

On 16th September we were pleased that five visitors from the Dept for Schools Children and Families came to look around our school, they were very interested in all aspects of the school arts policy and how it relates to the SEAL project and the promotion of good mental health in schools.

Time was spent looking at the Mosaic garden created by the children with Mosaic artist Liz Turner and at the murals created with Artist Carla Boulton shown on this site.

Our children are knowledgeable and interested in the arts and really enthused about showing the visitors the murals and talking through their work.

Large wall pic

Click this pic to see larger image

Painting on a large wall...

This is the Monet image we have used as inspiration for the large image

One wall almost complete

Except for deciding whether we will frame the 5 murals these are finished and the images can be seen below.



The next part of the project is the opposite wall which I have been asked to work on with a group of parents, we will create one large mural across the wall to continue the theme of peace and along the lines of a Monet image. A challenge!

2nd,3rd,4th,5th June

Session details:
Morning sessions between 9.10 and 12.00
Afternoon sessions 1.10 - 2.50pm

One workshop Tuesday morning
Two workshops on Wednesday one Am and one Pm
Workshop on Thursday PM
Workshop Friday PM

Between 23 and 25 children in each session

Session Structures:
3 minute introduction by class teacher
Talk about good behaviour and listening about how this is an exciting piece of work we will al lmake together

15 minutes by Carla Boulton:
Introducing myself, my name and that I live nearby
Ask the question does anyone know what I do?
What I do as an artist, that I paint and draw and make things, how I look at things
That I feel lucky to love my job
Ask about the artist (Claude Monet) that he children have been studying, do they like his work
Talk about Monet's use of three colours plus white - show children four paint tubes
Show children my brushes and sketchbook
Show some of Monet's paintings, look at how amazingit is that he achieved so many different colours
Talk about Monet's work and the sizes
Talk about his garden at Giverny the beauty we see around us
Talk about my work
Show some of my paintings on the Monet theme, show them a painting I have done which is not of a garden which still uses only the three colours. This is the unfinished 2nd portrait of Isabella which has about 2 weeks more work left to do.
Show the children the process of laying on the different colours one at a time and using stage photos of my work.
Talk about collaboration and consideration and that we will all be working to make one piece of work which we will all be proud of

Go through rules:
Have a drink before going outside
Keep paint on the wall not in hair etc
Wear old shirts and bags on shoes
Respect for other people's work
Ask for show of hands from those who do not want to stick to the rules
Make it clear that anyone who cannot be sensible will have to come in
Wash hands when come back in

Groups
Conversation before intro session with class teacher about any special needs or any children who will require the assistance of a TA
Children split into groups of either three or four by teacher

Work
Children outside in small group.
Put on old shirts and bags on shoes
Spends few minutes looking at the work we are basing out mural on
Look at the colours, where the light and dark parts are in the painting
Look at which colour we think we will put on first and how we will build it up
Show how to carefully dip their brushes into the pain and how to wipe of the excess paint.
Show how to gently use brushstrokes which will still allow the base colour to show through. Explain that we don't want to cover this up completely as it give light to the picture.
Spend ten minutes blocking in the colour where needed.
Ask children to stand back after 5 mins and see what they have done and how it relates to the work we are using as inspiration.
5 more mins painting then stand back and look at work

The work in progress (below)


The work near completion (below)


Recording
Notes throughout
Feedback forms from children
Gather children's comments throughout work
Photographs of stages by each class

Monday 1st June

Went in to school in the morning to paint basecoat on the five panels, decided to paint each one a slightly different colour and to make the colours quite luminous so that they shine through, so hot and sunny, hope this carries on.
Part of this exercise was to time the paint drying, supposed to be 30 mins but in this 24 degree heat it took...8 mins, this bodes well. So satisfying to get all the materials out and get to work. This step is always hard making the first mark on a white wall! Pleased with coverage and the colours.

Very short 15 min assembly with Rachel to talk through what the project is about with Yr 1 and 2.
Rachel explained about
Waterlilies
Monet where he lived and
Showed huge Giverny paintings in the Musee D'orsay in IWB
The link to the SEAL project
Ran through good behaviour rules
I then talked briefly about
What I do as an artist
Showed the stages of a painting (below)

What we will do outside in the quiet area
That we will be collaborating to make the works
Why we are creating a thinking peaceful space
Showed the children my paint, brushes and easel and talked about the three colours Red Blue and Yellow and using white

Everyone very hot in hall as temp up to 24 degrees outside so kept it brief and children seemed happy and understood. I am very excited to be starting to paint tomorrow...

Third drawing session 14th May

Another lovely session drawing with reception children. Each class has a completely different dynamic and the work in each other the three has been amazing from totally abstract drawings to very detailed figures and explanations.
Took some great pics for our records and came away feeling enlivened and really interested in how these children see the world.

Second drawing session 13th May

Reception children again toady but slightly younger
Ran the session in the same way and realised that maybe as they were younger we needed to wrap things up a bit sooner so tried to cut things down and though we spent an hour together I could feel that the children were tired.
The drawings they produced were fantastic as were yesterday's, will put some of the results online.
I feel I will learn about how to see the signs and move on as I learn more.
I came away feeling that the children had really enjoyed the work and they seemed excited about what would happen next.

First session with children. May 12th

Reception children, they have the most sponge like brains and make wonderful descriptions on paper.

Plan of session
Intro to me and what I do show the children some of my insect and bird drawings
Explain they will be drawing the bugs, birds, leaves and flowers
Explain that we are going to make a peaceful space - somewhere to go and think and feel very calm
Show them a Monet style picture and explain why he used the colours he did and that the colours on the letters will come from the Monet-style paintings that the KS1 children will make
Look at tubes of paint, brushes and palette, talk abouthow we can mix all the colours from Red, Blue and Yellow with white
Show the children my two plans for the walls
Show which wall they will be producing and how the colours of the letters relate to Monet's colours
Go outside and look at the space, listen to sounds (leaves birds etc) collect things to draw > back inside
Inside look at whathas been collected, the colours and shapes, names of plants
Explain again, they will be drawing the bugs, birds, leaves and flowers they might find in Monet's garden
I will draw some examples on the board and have examples of drawings with me and some little sheets that the children can look at on each table
Use felt tip pens and white paper to draw on to white paper
Gather on carpet
Show each other's work and share thoughts
Close

Les Nuages

Carla Boulton - Artist
Rachel Moore - Artist and Teacher

Les Nuages by Claude Monet - an inspiration


Today's painting

Painted by Carla Boulton as inspired by the above

Preparing to Paint

Carla Boulton - Artist
Rachel Moore - Artist and teacher

I am so excited to be working on this project which combines murals with some big graphics and aims to create a really lovely space in what is a very happy school. This space will compliment the existing rather lovely mosaic garden created by artist Liz over the last year.

The project we are about to start at Sundorne Infant School in Shrewsbury is based around the Monet Waterlilies series of paintings. Working outside in lovely sheltered quad area which has already been bark chipped in the middle and has various play logs and some sandpits we are aiming to create a really peaceful area where children can go to think and just be. I have been looking at these pictures and painting one of my own to really get to know the work more.

My very small waterlilies painting - Mr Monet will be turning in his grave!


The project has been in the planning and gaining-funding stages for about 6 months now. Last week Rachel and I sat down and planned out the sessions - our first decision was that over-planning was a bad idea both for the project and for our brains! We agreed:
One wall will have paintings and the other is to be decided
We will use some acrylic panels somewhere in the project
I will work on three afternoons with the three Reception classes. In these sessions, the children will produce drawings of the bugs and bird and flowers they might find in Monet's garden, these will be printed on to the acrylic panels
At the beginning of June, the five KS1 classes will work on painting the murals

I talked to the Dulux tech lady before ordering and would recommend this to anyone embarking on this kind of project. Dulux were very helpful in advising us as to how to apply the paint and what to use; Smooth masonry paint which is avaliable in 1200 colours - amazing. We ordered tins of red, yellow, blue and white to stay true to Monet's limited palette.

Imagine how exciting it was to get to the school to find 12.5 litres of paint, bags of new paintbrushes, tape, plastic, paint kettles and rollers - all waiting to be arty with us.

On Thursday I spent two hours in the quad, thinking and measuring, marking out the space. I decided to section off the wall into five panels four of about 1m x 750mm and one of 400mm x 750mm. There are five classes and i figured this would make the division of labour easier. The youngest of the KS1 class will do the smaller panel. I did, by-the-way borrow the shortest child to make sure he could reach the top of the panels - he could and proudly went back to class with his 'Well Done' masking tape badge on his jumper.

Mock up of wall one with murals


Once the marking out was done I asked Rachel to come and have a look and make sure she agreed - she did. Spent the rest of the time rubbing down the panels lightly and wiping off the million spiders from under the window sill, shame to disturb them really but what a pain if legs and bits of dust got into out paintings.That was all really for Thursday so took some pics and talked through thoughts with Rachel before heading off home. I love going to this school, the children are so fired up about creative stuff and when they see me say "Hello Mrs Boulton...I mean hello Carla!" I like that.

The next important task according to the Dulux lady was to paint the areas with fungicial wash, this is a poison when it's wet so Friday afternoon at two was my slot, no children would be using the space and the weekend would give it time to dry and work. Luckily the rain held off and the mushroom-killer was on within an hour.

Spoke to the head Alan Derry, he has been really supportive and is also excited about the project. Showed him my revised plan for the wall opposite the Monet murals, this was my shower-time brainwave. This wall is exactly the same as the one on which the murals will be painted. We had previously thought we would paint more murals and then float acrylic panels showing drawings over the top. After a few discussions I thought it would be a shame to cover up the paintings so proposed that we make a big word out of acrylic cut-outs and have this printed in the same colours as the mural and with the younger children's bug, bird and flower line-drawings on the letters. Both Alan and Rachel liked the idea which is double-exciting.
And the word is . . . r e l a x.

Mock up of wall 2 with coloured acrylic letters


Another ten minutes with Rachel and to put her amazing pics from the Musee d'Orsay Paris onto a memory stick for me - wow, what a fab place, why have I been to Paris every year for two decades and not been there? Below - Les Nuages by Claude Monet