Category: Art At Home

After my first student-teacher interviews in the United Kingdom, I had a lot of guardians ask me, “How can I support my student outside of school in the arts?” Great question. I am thankful my parents took me to local art events and galleries as a child, and nerd-ily enough, I genuinely enjoyed going to them. My high school art teacher also created an “Art Passport” program to encourage us to see theatre shows, indie films, local music and galleries in exchange for an art-themed prize. There is so much beyond the classroom to see and experience. Since I am relatively new to London, I don’t have a great idea of how accessible the art scene is for youth. I decided to do some research and compile a list of ways youth can be more involved in the arts:

Submit your work to contests

Contests are a great way to have a guide or theme to start an outside-of-school art project. They have a theme, a due date, and a prize! Here are some I’ve found for UK residents (click on the underlined words to be directed to the site):

Theme – A BETTER WORLD, NATURE or ‘SCAPES’ (land, sea etc.)  – Submissions close March 29th (Applicants must have a diveresability)

Theme – Life After Conflict – Submissions close May 18th

Theme – Climate Change – Submissions close June 13th 

Theme – Write about an art piece on their website – Submissions close June 30th

Theme – Endangered Wildlife – Submissions close June 30th

Attend an Art Club or Event

National Saturday Club – Here is a free art club hosted in different parts of the city! You need to apply for a spot, and the applications for 2022/23 year are open.

Oxo Gallery, Plein Air workshop – From the website: Artist, teacher and writer Jeanette Barnes will give tips and ideas about working on location and a number of insights and exercises to build confidence in a range of approaches to drawing, all with views of the Thames and the City of London as the background. Derwent Pencils will be providing material although artists will need to bring their own sketchbooks. Booking is essential. The two hour workshop will start at 11am at the Oxo Gallery, London.

Free Artist-Led Workshops for people ages 15-25 – From the website:

This year’s onsite workshops will be hosted in the Camden Art Centre’s Drawing Studio by artists Adam Moore and Madeleine Pledge.

The artists will unpack different themes and provocations each week to enable participants to build awareness around different types of art, concepts and techniques. Each session is designed to allow you to develop new skills, learn about various ways of working in the arts and using your passions and interests to create exciting artwork.

• Onsite sessions take place weekly every Saturday from 2:00 to 4:00 pm and give the opportunity to use the centre as a resource, see our current exhibitions, get behind the scenes of a gallery and meet new people.
• No previous art-making experience is necessary and all materials are provided with free food and drinks.
• Sessions can be attended as a one-off event or a series as a whole. Each session is open enough to continue making work from previous weeks attended.
• We have 15 places each week and booking via Eventbrite is required.
  
  That’s all I have for now! I will post more contests and events as I find them. 🙂

The VAG is sharing “a new series of digital family programs designed to inspire you and your family to get creative at home! Every Sunday, the Gallery will share a different art-making activity, taking inspiration from the exhibitions or an artwork from the permanent collection, on our website and across our social media channels. Every other Wednesday at 1:30 PM, Family Programs Coordinator, Christina Jones, will share stories about the incredible lives of artists and their approaches to art-making in a LIVE Art At Home session on Zoom.” -From their webpage

A post came up on my social media so I decided to participate in the live Zoom lesson on   Takao Tanabe, a Japanese painter, printmaker, designer and teacher. The lesson was led by Christina Jones, the VAG’s Family programs coordinator.

Jones led us through Tanabe’s career, showing us slides of his work, video examples of art techniques such as silkscreening, powerful quotes and fun mini-activities. The lesson can inspire you to create a similar lesson on landscapes. Here is another Art At-Home Activity on landscapes provided on the VAG website.

Here are some notes I took from the lesson:

Warm up:
-Which places make you feel calm? Landscapes: What are they?
-Being with and reflecting with nature

Artist Bio
-Tanabe was uprooted, and had to stop going to high school in Grade 10 because his family was sent to live at a Japanese interment camp in Lemon Creek

Resources:
Hastings Park
Tashme
Nikkei Place: Taiken Video Resources
Nikkei Place: Learning at Home

-Tanabe studied at the Winnipeg School of Art
-Tanabe studied in New York under abstract expressionist Hans Hoffman
-Tanabe taught at Emily Carr (previously the Vancouver School of Art)
-Learned typography and printmaking
-Example of screen printing video: https://www.malaspinaprintmakers.com/

Questions for Students:
-What does Abstract mean? (nonrepresentational, you decide what it looks like)
-What is Abstract Expressionism? (artist’s emotions represented)
-How do artists use their body when making abstract expressionist art?

Mini Activities:
Speed sketch challenge:
-30 seconds, sketch what you see. Try to observe Tanabe’s work and don’t look at your paper.

Using your body:
Go into 3 poses that act out the lines this print

Comparing 2 artworks: How are they the same, how are they different? (Materials, shapes, technique, colour, line, space).

Yesterday I attended a virtual artist talk by my close friend, Abi Taylor. Her presentation was called “Murals of Gratitude”. From the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden website:

Abi is currently studying visual arts at Emily Carr, and when she graduates she would like to continue working on the west coast as an illustrator, drawing graphic novels.”

The recording of her artist talk should be available soon! Taylor spoke earnestly about her early experiences with art, drawing lots of pictures of three-legged cats. She always had a special relationship with animals and the landscape around her. I believe her observant connection to the world led her to develop a skill for storytelling and documentation. She brings a journal-sized sketchbook with her when she goes out, illustrating her trips on transit to conversations with friends.

Today I wanted to share with you three resources on how to document your artwork at home. These instructions are easy to follow and will help students learn how to document art for their portfolio and also help educators assess student work properly, and keep them to use for examples in future classes.

Documenting Artwork at Home by Nick Mahony (PDF)

Nick Mahony is an artist from Perth, Australia and shared this awesome guide on the Facebook group Online Art & Design Studio Instruction in the Age of “Social Distancing.” 

How to photograph artwork in 3 steps by Bryan Lunny (DOC)

Bryan is a friend and fellow UBC Teacher Candidate who created this resource for his students during the switch from in-person to remote learning.

Documenting 2D Artwork with a Smartphone by aftrART (Youtube)

I found this video by just doing a quick search on Youtube. The YouTube (Amanda) has since stopped creating videos, but they are still available to watch!

This week your challenge is to find a PORTRAIT from art history and re-create it from objects and people in your home!

Step 1: Read this! 

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has created a twitter challenge getting people who are social distancing to recreate artworks in their homes.

Have a look at what people are doing here and here.

Prefer to watch a video? Check this out.

Step 2: Choose an artwork and write a reflection.

Please choose an artwork (a painting, photograph, sculpture) that contains at least one human figure.

Here are some links where you can find art by Indigenous peoples, women, and international work:

Art Gallery of Ontario: Indigenous Art

The Great Women Artists

Google Arts and Culture

In a Microsoft Word Document or piece of paper, you need to write:

-The title of Artwork

-Name of the Artist and Year it was made

-In your own words…Tell me a fun fact about the artwork, or why you chose the piece.

Step 3: Review these examples made by my previous students!

Step 4: Gather what you need.

-Find a minimum of 3 objects (can include clothing) around your house

-Recreate the artwork using those items

Step 5: Review the Project Criteria

Photo Interpretation

-Your interpretation is theatrical, playful, and imaginative

-You have selected and integrated at least 3 objects into your photo

-You have researched and selected an important artwork that contains at least one human figure. /30

Reflection

You included the title, date, and artist in your reflection. You are able to respond to the artwork by including a fact or opinion about the piece. /10

Total: /40

Step 6: Take your photo!

-You can use your phone or camera

-Make sure there it is good lighting (it’s not too dark or too bright) and try to match the same angle and framing as the original artwork.

Note: If you don’t wish to be in the image you can re-create it from just objects.

There are a TON of online resources for educators and students, but how do sift through them all to find the good stuff?

Firsty, look local. I think it’s important for you to get to know artists in your area, and how they might be contributing to the community. Seeking out local artists can also give you ideas for reaching out to them for artist talks, tracing their practice and giving them recognition.

I recently heard about UBCO (University of British Columbia Okanagan) fine art graduate students organizing an online-exhibition. From my understanding, students complete their work at home, document it and collaborate with a writer and web designer to post it to their online exhibition. The site features 10 artists and is easy to navigate. From sculpture, photography, video and painting, I can find inspiration from a vast array of mediums.

Virtual exhibitions certainly change the art experience. I have no way to gage its scale, or pose questions to a gallery-going-friend. Will these virtual exhibitions be forever existing online? No one has to miss a show again, and visitors are permitted to revisit again and again. The art world can be dismissive and classicist, but the Internet is changing all of that.

Here is some student work from our Natural Ink and Tools unit. The final piece was made with both commercial and homemade art materials (liquid glue and the q-tip brush!)

First of all, is poetry art?
Does poetry belong in the visual arts?

Yes! I integrated illustration, symbolism and imagery into this lesson for Seniors.

Write a “cheat poem” and draw symbols based on your poem.

Here’s a simple and effective way to start writing a poem.

This activity is adopted from poet Johnny Macrae from Vancouver Poetry House.

Step 1 : Get out a piece of paper and a pen or pencil.

Write down 3 things that make you feel calm (people, places, objects, and more).

Step 2 : Choose one of these words to write about.

Step 3 : Underneath this word, write down:

Smells like ______________.

Feels like ______________.

Looks like ______________.

Tastes like ______________.

Sounds like ______________.

Step 4: Fill in the blank. Try to be imaginative in the way you describe your chosen thing.

Really take the reader there.

Step 5: Create an illustration that represent one of the lines of your poem using ANY medium.

Draw it on the same page as your poem.

The idea: Each line of your poem gives you inspiration to create visual “symbols” that represent your chosen ‘thing.’

Example:

3 things that make me feel calm

-My front yard
-Yellow

-Lying in the sun

“My front yard.”

My front yard…

…Smells like mouldy dish towels that haven’t quite dried.

…Feels like a spongey mattress.

…Looks like a fairy’s playground, soft bumpy hills and little places for creatures to hide.

…Tastes like sweaty shoes and summer concrete.

…Sounds like birds speaking to bicyclists speaking to the screaming baby next-door.

Make a color wheel with objects found at home!
You could also try doing this with your food, your clothes, or things you find in nature.

To supplement teaching colour theory, include a PDF of Colour Theory for your students. Here is one I used with permission from another teacher candidate: Colour Wheel Review

There are also some free slides you can download and edit here.

Start with the primary colors – red, yellow, and blue.

Add the secondaries – orange, green, and violet.

Fill in with the intermediate colors – yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, and yellow-green.

Have you ever thought about what might be in the art supplies you’re using?
Is it toxic? Is it safe? Are they expensive? Do some research on the internet and see if anything surprises you.

Today you can experiment with creating 3 different inks/paints from home!

You will create an “experiment” sheet that is clearly labelled with the inks/paints you have created. Some items could be harmful to pets, be sure to check with your parents/guardians.

Here is a video on how to make natural paints!

Other things you can use are: Coffee, Spices (Tumeric, Paprika), Old Makeup, Tea, Food Colouring, Beets, Berries, Red Cabbage, Flower Petals, Leaves, Bark, Onion Skins, Dirt, Peels (Avocado, Orange)

On a piece of paper, create a grid with at least 3 rows and 3 columns. 
Fill in your grid and clearly label the materials you used!
Maybe even try using 1 or more of your homemade brushes/tools.