First question out of the students mouths?
You got it.
"Is he dead or alive?"
Although disappointed to hear he was in fact no longer among the living, they were quite interested in his life story. There were lots of questions when I told them he was not accepted as a war time artist for the Canadian Army and I quickly realized I could of known a lot more about exactly what it meant to be an artist in the Canadian Army during WW2.
Are they on the front lines? Why are artist there? Do they get killed?
Sorry parents, I'm guessing you might of found yourself just as perplexed at the dinner table that night.
And if that wasn't fascinating enough, they were even more intrigued when I presented the Shadbolt piece we were going to use for inspiration.
Rite of Spring, Jack Shadbolt 1967&1980
Did you notice the dates on this work?
There is a 13 year gap from when the painting was started until when it was finished. He did the background in 1967 and added the butterfly in 1980. It was a great lesson to teach the kids that just because you aren't happy with something today, keep it around. Some time later you might find yourself quite inspired by the work and create something very exciting you hadn't originally been planning.
So channeling this concept, we created backgrounds first thing in the morning. Each student had to decide whether they wanted to do a cool or warm colored background because one of the things we noticed about the work was that the background was cool colors and the butterfly was warm colors, so our butterfly (or bug) would be from the opposite color family.
Using acrylic paint in their chosen color, they were also given black and white to create tones and tints. All mixing was done directly on the canvas. Once they had covered the canvas, they had the choice to take a dry paper towel and "stamp" on the canvas thereby creating some textures. And when that was done, I had a couple of spray bottles filled with water that they could squirt on the canvas to cause dripping.
They LOVED that part and most got quite carried away with the water spraying. This zeal played an important part in the left turn the project took later on in the morning.
And I say later on because we put the paintings aside to dry once the background were complete. We didn't have 13 years to wait to get back to the backgrounds, but I did get a lot of giggles when I told them we were going to do another project first (Dana Irving) and then pretend it had taken 20 years and come back to our backgrounds.
Well 20 years (or one Dana Irving project completed) later, we came back and most of the canvases were still wet. Remember the gleeful abandon I mentioned that each child took in spraying water on their canvases?
That takes a long time to dry.
And I was without another project to start for the day and found myself tap dancing as to how to still make the project work with wet paint. I told the students that I was thinking on the fly and then something truly magical happened.
We began to work together, just like Shadbolt and other artist use to do at Binning's weekend gatherings, and brainstormed different ideas for getting our butterflies on the canvas.
And a six year old saved the day when she suggested they cut out their final working sketch and glue it on the canvas. This then sparked another student saying they could make a stencil out of their working sketch and then another student used that as a jumping off point and suggested something else and before you knew it, we were off to the races.
Scissors came out and EVERYONE was excited to have had a part in deciding how to work with a wet canvas that we wished really had 20 years to dry. The butterflies were cut out of the lowly copy paper they were sketched upon and glued onto the canvas. Then using oil pastels, they drew over the paper and as the paint dried drew into the canvas, so the viewer actually has no idea that the copy paper was ever there.
It's "top secret".
And so now with far too much talking on my part, here are the results of their inspired Shadbolt paintings. I just love each student's unique take on the project.
7 year old
Oops, more talking on my part about the above work. Being the ever absentminded instructor, I did not have the kids put their names on the boards as we finished their backgrounds. DUH! Of course the backgrounds could get confused. The above student was convinced she did not have the background she created and every other student was convinced they had their background. She was very disappointed and frustrated (rightly so) to not feel like she had the background she created. We talked a bit and she bravely agreed to work on the background she ended up with some more to make it her own. She sprayed more water on it and added some white oil pastel. Adding the water once the paint was nearly dried did some really wonderful things and she was quite excited in the end with the canvas she would be using for her butterfly. I thought it was a great lesson for both of us. For me to not forget to have kids put their names on EVERYTHING and for her in how to creatively work out the unexpected. In the end, what a beautiful work of art she created.
7 year old
7 year old
6 year old
Oops, more talking, sorry. The above artist had the typical butterfly you would expect from a 6 year old. Smiley face, spots on the wings. I know if you have raised kids or ever been around kids this age, you have seen that butterfly drawing before. Once she had it glued on paper, we talked about how Shadbolt "colored" his butterfly. She nodded her head and I left her to go and work with some other students. When I came back, her work took my breath away. Her butterfly had come such a long way from it's humble beginnings. Underneath that Shadbolt inspired butterfly is a smiling, cartoony thing we all know and love from the grade one set. I was so impressed with her.
6 year old
7 year old
How awesome are these dots that were added to the painting? I don't know why she decided to do it, but I like it!
kindergarten
Above are all the "top secret" copy paper butterflies. Now for some students who went in other directions from our brainstorming session.
This student created a stencil for his butterfly and went from there. I think it is a lovely, dreamlike piece.
8 year old
And then there is this piece. Originally she had taken a piece of charcoal and using her cut out butterfly, smeared it just off the edge of the paper onto the canvas. We both liked it so much, I suggested she do it again with a black oil pastel. Once she finished it was beautiful and she contemplated what to do next with it. One of the suggestions I made was maybe cutting out some of her drawn shapes in the butterfly drawing and doing the same technique. I came back around and this is what she had done. I absolutely LOVE it. I am so grateful for canvas that was not dry because this work would of never happened without that mishap.
9 year old
And then there was this student, who worked so hard to color in all those little dots with a pencil on her working sketch. I kept telling her to not spend all her time coloring in her sketch, to get it on the canvas and do the work there. She'd smile politely and nod and then I would come back around some time later and she was still shading in the working sketch with her pencil. Internally I fretted that she was going to use all her time coloring this sketch and then not have time to work on her canvas, but in the end it was all for nothing. This was a student with a vision. She knew she wanted to add minimal color and use the pencil drawing to her advantage. Great choices on her part and great lesson for me to once again trust each student's vision.
9 year old
Another stencil work.
9 year old
And two final works to admire....
8 year old
7 year old
I'm also teaching this same class in the afternoon at my studio. Unlike the morning class, we didn't have the same issue with the water. So these students used acrylic paints like I had originally intended for the morning camp.
10 year old
9 year old
9 year old
Although I did mention to all the children that Shadbolt did bugs and butterflies, only one student took up the offer to do a bug. She was so excited to find a reference for this particularly beetle because it is her mother's favorite.
9 year old
Once finished with the acrylics, these students were able to go back into the piece and worked with oil pastel and charcoal.
Shadbolt would be proud.
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