Waharoa Project and Monochromatic Cubes
Today was another session working on the Waharoa Art Project. This project is an artwork at the entrance way to our school. You can find out more about the symbolism behind the Waharoa on the Island Bay School website. Behind the Waharoa is the ‘frame’ for our artwork. We have created a design which is to be painted onto large boards and inserted into the frame. This time around the boards are to be painted by students in the senior school and inserted into the structure behind the Waharoa. The idea is that the boards will be replaced frequently so that different students get a chance to contribute to the artwork.
I had help from Michael’s class today to do the final coat of paint on the solid coloured boards. I am very proud of how seriously the students took the responsibility of the task. The painting they did is incredibly even, very smooth and looks fantastic! I can’t wait until the patterned boards are finished and we can do a big reveal of the mural in place behind the Waharoa.
The students did a fabulous job today of respecting our art room space, looking after the brushes and cleaning up the art materials that they used. Once again I was reminded of how much I love working with the students at our school - they are amazing at art and amazing at tidying up!
Since the students did such a fantastic job of painting the boards I thought that we would continue with painting techniques for the remainder of the day. I decided to teach the students about an important element in art, value, by painting monochromatic paintings. Value is the term used to define the lightness or darkness of a colour. It is important in art, particularly when creating realistic images, as is used to create form (3 dimensions) and space within an artwork.
I taught the students how to create tints and shades to create a value scale. Starting with their original hue the students mixed a small amount of white to create their first tint. They added more white to make the next tint. The students then washed their brushes and started to create their shades with the TINIEST amount of black. Mixing the shades proved to be the trickiest part for the students. It was challenging to create difference between the shades but with perseverance everyone created a scale that graduated from light to dark. This value scale was used as a visual reference for their painting later in the day.
Next the students followed step-by-step instructions and drew a cube. They labelled each section of the cube with a corresponding shade or tint from their value scale. I taught the students how to paint the background first and paint accurately around the edge of their cubes. I showed them how to change the direction of their brushstrokes to emphasise the form of the cubes - vertically for the front faces of the cube and parallel to the edges on the top of the cube.
I really enjoyed today’s lesson and am very proud of how the students challenged themselves. The students were able to take their artworks home today as it was their last art lesson for the year. I hope many of the cubes are displayed proudly on the walls at home.
