Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Horace Pippin inspired wood burning paintings

A year ago I was introduced to Horace Pippin through an online art course.

I fell in love with his story and knew it would resonate with children. His desire to create was deep and he spent his life overcoming obstacles in order to create his work, a story I knew my students would find fascinating and inspiring.

I particularly love his wood burning pieces.



He created his work with a hot poker iron, adding paint to some areas but also letting the burnt wood and wood grain have equally important roles in the work.  They are simple, graphic and stunning.



Last night in class, I shared these pieces with the students along with a brief history of Pippin's life and the storybook, "A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin", by Jennifer Fisher Bryant.

Then while the kids created sketches to flush out their ideas, I heated up the hand held wood burners. I gave each child a small wood plaque to use for creating their works. It was interesting to see how each child faced the challenge of working with the wood burner.

One was quite concerned it would be too hard.  He needed some coaxing to get started and we simplified his artwork quite a bit so that the project wouldn't be too overwhelming. This lovely Christmas stocking will be quite special hanging from the tree this year.

(After taking this picture, I added a ribbon to the top with a hot glue gun so he would be able to hang it.)

9 year old

This young boy wanted to make a flower to give to his grandmother for Christmas. He lightly sketched his drawing on the wood before starting to use the wood burner. I was amazed at how deep his burn marks were in the work. I would of never thought of that, but it looked so great in the piece.


He really went to town burning out the negative areas of his work and the final product?  Gorgeous! I love the deep grooves he created for the blacks, it almost looks like lace.

7 year old

Then over by herself (because I only had so many outlets in the room and had to move the tables around to utilize them), this artist was quietly inspired by the beautiful winter scenes Pippin had created in his works. She sketched this beautiful and quite simple scene of a winter tree by a park bench. The street light is the only splash of color in the work....very much inspired by the splashes of color in Pippin's pieces.

Her artwork is simple, serene and breathtakingly beautiful.

11 year old

Her father's reaction at pick up was priceless, he was so impressed with her work.

I am so happy that I have been slowly collecting wood burning sets with every 50% off coupon I get at our local craft store.  I still need a few more until I get a collection of eight, but am so happy I finally had enough for one of the smaller classes to use.  I have had this project tucked away for almost a year now and it was well worth the wait




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