Art challenges
OVERVIEW & PURPOSE
Miss Leakey challenges you to make art out of found materials in your own home.
Each week you will be given a theme to inspire your artwork. You will be given a list of suggested materials you are likely to find in your home and what you could use. Explore any material and see what you think of it, does it require you to build it or to use glue, to find colours in a magazine or even to take a photo of it when you are done?
Based on trial and error you are likely to have a really great piece of art at the end of it!
These challenges will encourage you to think creatively and to be more confident in making decisions.
OBJECTIVES
Do some research to inspire your ideas. Look in magazines, on google or on Pinterest for example. Ask a parent to sit with you and ask you questions about what you would like to do to help you.
Gather your materials.
MAKE! CREATE! ENJOY!
Take a photo to document your work and upload it.
WEEKLY ACTIVITIES
Week of 8th June
Make a piece of art inspired by the theme : OUR PLANET
Week of 15th June
Make a piece of art inspired by the theme : HEROES
Week of 22nd June
Make a piece of art inspired by the theme : SPACE
SUGGESTED MATERIALS
You can choose from any below for each week’s theme. These are just suggestions, you can use other materials too!
For painting and drawing:
Pens, pencils, crayons, markers and ink filled brushes
Paint brushes and palette knives
Chalk, pastels
For found objects at home:
Newspaper
Magazines for collage
Recycled materials - egg boxes, milk cartons, tin foil, cereal boxes, cardboard tubes.
Leaves, twigs, bark, flowers and vegetables.
For funky backgrounds:
Tea bags or coffee
Papier mache (newspaper and glue)
Watercolours with salt/or cling film on top
For making marks:
Bubble wrap, fruit wrapping
Sponges
Toothbrushes, combs
For working on:
Paper, cardboard, wood
Old envelopes, cards etc.
OVERVIEW & PURPOSE
Miss Leakey challenges you to explore the word ‘composition’ over the coming weeks. Each week you will be asked to respond to a theme which will be based around the word ‘composition’.
Composition means ‘putting together’, it is thinking about where you are placing things in your work, the ‘layout’. Composition is a big part of what makes a piece eye-catching and dynamic, or calm and soothing, or disorienting and off-kilter. It is likely to be an object or collection of objects arranged to create balance. For example, you might paint a picture of a dog and position the dog slightly off-center on the canvas. That’s a composition choice. Or maybe you’re drawing a still life of objects on a table. The way you choose to arrange those objects in your final piece is the composition.
Each week, alongside your theme, you will be given a number of suggested artists to look at to give you some ideas for your choice of composition.
These challenges will encourage you to think creatively and to be more confident in making decisions.
OBJECTIVES
To develop a greater understanding of the word ‘composition’ each week.
To be able to select an artist to study from the list provided, and learn more about them.
To be increasingly curious about how you want to approach the weekly theme, using a material of your choice.
Lesson plan timings
3 mins - Identify the week’s themed task.
10 mins - Do some artist research to inspire your ideas. Look in magazines, on google or on Pinterest for example. Ask a parent to sit with you if it helps and ask you questions about what you would like to do.
5 mins - Gather your materials and objects/imagery to work from.
5 mins - Prepare the layout of objects or viewpoint needed for you to do the task.
20-25 mins - Make it/paint it/create it/photograph it!
5 mins - Take a photo to document your work and upload it.
WEEKLY ART ACTIVITIES
(Note: You can choose the order in which you complete these tasks. You can also opt to spend two ‘Creative art’ sessions’ on just one of the tasks, and a third ‘Creative art’ session on the second task).
Week of 27th April - 1st May
Make a piece of art inspired by the theme : STILL LIFE / BALANCE
To maintain balance in a piece you want to make sure the visual “weight” has been considered. For example, if you have one large object on one half of your painting, you might consider placing two smaller objects on the other side to maintain balance. Still life is a collection of inanimate objects put together.
Instructions:
Gather a collection of objects that appeal to you. Arrange them as a group making sure you have a variety of heights, widths and shapes.
Draw, paint, collage (you choose) the composition of objects in front of you. *Try not to move the objects or your viewpoint as you do this!
Work on A4 paper or in a sketchbook if possible.
Example artist image: (Google - ‘Still life balance artists’ for examples. You can choose more exciting objects than fruit!)
Week of 4th - 8th May
Make a piece of art inspired by the theme : RULE OF THIRDS
The Rule of Thirds is a compositional guideline to use when taking photographs or creating artwork. To apply the rule, you divide the scene into nine equal squares, drawing three evenly spaced horizontal lines and three evenly spaced vertical lines to form a grid. The most important elements should be at or near these lines or the spots where lines intersect. Additionally, the horizon should be either at either the 1/3 or 2/3 line on the grid.
Applying the Rule of Thirds to your composition produces eye-pleasing results. Like many great artists, you can use the rule wisely to communicate with your viewer.
Instructions:
Make a drawing or choose a work or art or photograph to work from. You could use a landscape but you can also choose what you draw (as long as you have applied the Rule of Thirds!)
Divide the piece into a nine-square grid by lightly drawing pencil lines.
Draw, paint, create your artwork from the grided image.
See examples and artist’s work to further your understanding.
This photograph demonstrates and shows the principles of the rule of thirds:
Week of 11th - 15th May
Make a piece of art inspired by the theme : YOUR NAME / UNITY
Graffiti or ‘tags’ range from simple marks to complex and colourful compositions. To create an aesthetically pleasing graffiti ‘name tag’, the artist is required to consider how they unify the individual letters. They might write the ‘name tag’ as calligraphy, bubble writing or in a stylised font and surround the letters with a colourful design. Unity is the sense that everything in a piece “goes together” either through a unifying element like colour, or through visual weight. This way no single object looks like it’s weighing the piece down.
Instructions:
Your name will be your graffiti ‘name tag’.
Make up a font or choose a font online to work from. You can find full alphabets on Google or visit dafont.com for inspiration.
Add a colourful composition to bring the artwork together.
Draw, paint, collage to make your artwork.
Example of a stylised ‘graffiti tags’:
Week of 1st June
Make a piece of art inspired by the theme : POINTELLISM
Visit this website to find out more about Pointellist art and ten see if you can create your own art work in this style.
SUGGESTED MATERIALS for all tasks : You can choose from any below for each week’s theme. These are just suggestions, you can use other materials too!
For painting and drawing:
Pens, pencils, crayons, markers and ink filled brushes
Paint brushes and palette knives
Chalk, pastels
Stencilling (for graffiti task)
For working on:
Paper, cardboard, wood, cereal box card etc.
Old envelopes, cards etc.
For funky backgrounds:
Tea bags or coffee
Papier mache (newspaper and glue)
Watercolours with salt/or cling film on top
For making marks:
Bubble wrap, fruit wrapping
Sponges
Toothbrushes, combs