Gotta keep those kids guessing!
It took about a millisecond for them to scurry under the tables to figure out what was up, which was plaster taped to the bottom of the tables.
I put the burlap on a piece of cardboard when I created these just to keep things a little cleaner and then recycled it once the plaster was dry. The great part about the plaster being on the burlap is that if it breaks, it still stays adhered to the work.
In fact, in past projects I have encouraged students to actually break their work at the end to imitate the old frescoes we admire. You can see the results from older post here and here, (these were not created under the table)
So to say that once the discovery was made that there were things taped under the tables for art class, instead of on top of the tables, the excitement level grew exponentially.
I had a hard time getting the kids to come out from under the tables in order to get started! But the lure of discovering what we were going to do with that plaster finally enticed them to come out and let me present the project.
I told them a bit about Michelangelo and showed them some of his sculpture work, both finished and unfinished. Yes, the sculptures were anatomically correct and yes, an eight year old boy honed in on that immediately with an exclamation of "ew, his thingy"
So we quickly moved on to the Sistine Chapel and the Pope because that seemed like the perfect lead in after the "ew" comment.
lawd have mercy
I love the Sistine Chapel, as someone who admires art, visiting here made my head spin. Where to look? It's amazing to think that Michelangelo's work can actually make you forget to look at the marvelous Botticelli's also in the room and I did indeed not mention these when talking to the kids.
To be truthful, the vast amount of art at the Vatican made my head spin in general....or was it the fact I made it out of the Vatican alive without being struck down by lightening? Could be a bit of both, but back to Monday night.
What I love best about presenting Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel is that it is a great example of how an artist learns as they create.
We talked about how the artist could not see his work as a whole while creating and when the first section was complete and the scaffolding was removed, he realized when looking at the work from the floor it was hard to see all the small details. So he simplified his images, painted things much larger and the kids could actually see that change in the progression of the work from the front to back of the chapel ceiling.
We also talked about how long it took Michelangelo to complete this work and how impatient the Pope was with him.
And finally we talked about how difficult it must of been to paint a ceiling, which was the lead in to the project.
Now while I realize it is just a myth that Michelangelo painted the chapel on his back, that is what we did as it created a sense of just how challenging it must be to paint something from above.
Plus let's get real, the idea of painting on your back was just plain ol' exciting.
Without doubt I will say that each child had a great appreciation for Michelangelo's work at the end of the night and had a great time doing something very different.
As we were getting started, I asked each child what story they wanted to convey in their artwork.
Was there a favorite family story they wanted to illustrate?
A favorite book? Or movie?
Two boys, brothers, jumped right in and created works of their favorite television show.
6 year old, "weeping angel"
Are all you Dr. Who fans geeking out about now? I know my oldest daughter did when she saw these two pieces.
8 year old, "Dalek"
For the other students the idea of creating a story stumped them and so when one asked if he could just do an animal, I encouraged him to move forward with the idea.
8 year old, "tropical snake"
The other two students followed his lead and also chose animals to create on their plaster.
10 year old, "walrus"
8 year old, "komodo dragon"
My heart skipped a beat as the artist who created the dragon exclaimed, "Hey, I have to hold my brush up high like when we created the trees!
He was talking about the Matisse project we had done in December, where I put the paintbrushes on long sticks and asked them to create a tree. That he was pulling a skill and experience from a past project to apply to solving a problem on this project just made my night.
Because there was a big learning curve on how to paint while lying on your back!
The kids each had a palette of watercolor paint. I used tubed watercolors for this project, you truly need just the smallest of dollops of paint. I put their palette on a plastic lid to give you a sense of just how little paint is needed.
One paintbrush and a bit of water and kids are off to the races.
I like the tubed watercolor for this project because I don't have to worry about paint dripping on the kids. They can also hold the palette upside down and the paint stays on the lid. Plus since it's watercolor, I can create the palettes long before class starts without worrying about them drying out.
When they were finished and the plaster was off the bottom of the table, I gave them the opportunity to use a thumbtack to add line work if they wanted. This was much needed with the "weeping angel" artwork and helped bring back his original drawing.
And how did they put their original drawings on the plaster? Because you can't erase on plaster, if you make a mark it's there for good.
The kids created their sketches on copy paper. We then traced them on the plaster. I had carbon paper for them to use, but if they created carbon lines on the back of the paper by rubbing their pencil, I believe it would do the same thing.
Finally I cut away the excess burlap and they were done.
I know they will remember this night for a long time.
The project was a great lesson in learning to simplify and loosen up brushstrokes.
But most importantly, the night was exciting. Exciting to try something so different, exciting to paint on an unusual surface and most importantly exciting to paint under the table instead of on top.
Needless to say, Michelangelo was a big hit.
So cool
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