Class # 4 - October 1, 2019
Positive Relief
Today's Lesson
In today’s class with ArtAbilities, students created art that was inspired by stained glass. The focus was for students to create a positive relief image and be able to understand the relationships between positive and negative space. The were asked to create a composition through creating sketches and visualizing how the negative and positive space could react. The students explored the possibilities of what everyday materials such as string, cardboard, and foil could offer during the class.
Essential Understandings
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Understand how artists and designers consider positive and negative space
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Understand how artists and designers use line in a composition
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Understand how artists and designers seek potential in everyday materials
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Understand how artists and designers visualize their ideas through sketches
Outcomes
Students will be able to...
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After observing the demo, students will be able to create a series of sketches for their final product by visualizing their ideas
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Using their sketches, students will transfer their final idea onto cardboard by observation
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After having their final sketch on cardboard, students will be able to glue sting to the cardboard by following the lines of their drawing on the cardboard
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After gluing down their string, students will be able to cover their cardboard in foil by wrapping it around and taping in the back.
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After applying the foil, students will be able to color in their positive relief image by using the raised lines from the yarn as guides
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After completing their final piece, students will be able to understand the relationships between line, positive and negative space by discussing what the learned and how they used the materials
Skills
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Creative thinking
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Flexibility with open-ended prompt
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Visual thinking
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Manage multiple supplies to create a multi-step project
In our fourth session, the class explored 2-D art making by creating a positive relief image. The artists grappled with many materials and project steps today: tin foil, yarn, cardboard, glue, tape, pencils and sharpies. Upon introduction of the project, the students challenged by the process. They were frustrated at points, but were able to see the pay off. At the end, they were able to explore various complex art concepts, such as line, positive and negative space and color. Check out the various illusions of stained glass that our students made today!
This student experimented with color mixing during her process. She applied layers of different color markers to see how they would interact and was able to create new colors in her piece. Through trial and error, she was also able to discover the fragility of the materials. When she first started coloring, she applied heavy force and ended up tearing through some of the foil. On her second attempt she learned to be more gentle to keep the materials in tact. In the end however, she discovered that the tears added an interesting texture and highlights of color from the yarn underneath and ended up liking it!
This student found the sketching portion of the project to be very useful in building up their design. Due to limited muscle ability, the student decided to use their water bottle to trace a circle for the center of their design, the head of a flower. This allowed for more stability and a symmetrical circle to place the petals around. The student was inspired by the notion of love for this project. The flower petals were made of hearts, representational of love. A letter “K” was placed in the center of the flower representing the name of a loved one very close to her. When gluing the yarn to the cardboard, the students’ glue often dried too quickly so patience was a virtue. The student learned to reapply in places that need more glue in order to get the yarn to stick. In the end we discussed the piece, myself exclaiming “It looks wonderful, and the design really showed through the foil!” and I asked if the student was happy with the piece. The student said joyfully, “Yes! It turned out beautiful! My favorite part is the “K” in the middle for _____!” Although this project was more difficult and required a lot of patience due to the student’s mobility, they really persevered and ended with a result they were excited about.
This student started out with sketching a flower, and anticipated on using that as her final design. After starting to apply the string however, she realized it was difficult to capture that much small detail, and instead decided to depict the parts of a flower instead. In her final design she broke up the petals to create an abstract image. When trying to attach the foil to her cardboard, she realized it wasn’t as flat against the surface as she would like, so she solved that problem by adding more glue to the cardboard in the gaps between the yarn and was able to make it stick!
This student used observational skills to create an image inspired by one of the examples for the project. During her process, she became frustrated with gluing down the yarn, but she learned that patience and tedious work is worth it because she was very happy with her end result. She also experimented with color mixing and was able to create colors that were not provided. She mixed blue and red marker to create purple, and yellow and green to make a brighter, light green.
This student explained in her process that she connected the example presented for the project to stained glass windows. The student began thinking about the environment in which stained glass windows are found and was heavily influenced by churches. The student chose to use a religious motif of a cross to represent her interpretation of the project. Her use of color and line around the cross she described as, “radiating from the source”. While gluing the yarn to their cardboard, the student experienced a problem trying to create corners with a single strand of yarn. The student analyzed the way in which the yarn curved, and made the decision to cut the strand into smaller sections.
This student took this prompt to mimic a stained glass window. He took his time during every step of the project. He meticulously placed each line of glue and each strand of yarn to match his sketch perfectly. Each action was deliberate and had a purpose during the creation of his project. He was constantly thinking about the different aspects of his piece. For instance, he used red and green next to each other because they are complementary colors. We were pleasantly surprised that he didn't mix all of his colors together so that we could see his thought process about color. This student is usually nonverbal or says very few words. When asked if he matched the colors on purpose he said “Yes!”
