roosters for chinese new year

The drawing class last week focused on roosters since Chinese New Year was being celebrated the next day.

Each student chose a reference picture of their choice. They also made their own decisions on how they would compose their image on the paper.

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After a couple of warm up exercises using their reference material as a guide, we got started on the final drawings.

First using a water-soluble pencil, each student found the outside line shape that made up their image and put it on paper. They then went over the lines with a bit of water to start to create value.

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My goal this class was to focus on line and how it can be used to create texture and interest in an artwork. So after they went over their first lines with water, each artist could then choose to either use the water-soluble pencil again over the damp paper (creating some very ink like lines) or change to graphite to start adding detail lines.

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Once they had added a bit more detail to their first drawing, we stopped and looked for pattern of lines in the reference image and then each student interpreted their observations how they saw fit into their drawings.

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And finally because one student asked if we would only ever do drawings in black and white last week, I put out some chalk pastel so each child could add a little color.

By the end of class, each student had a lovely complex drawing focused on line and pattern.

Happy New Year!!!

enlarged animal eyes

The elementary class just finished these amazing acrylic paintings of animal eyes.

The project goal was to teach them how to use a grid to enlarge a reference picture from a small size onto their painting paper.

We took a square piece of 10x10 acrylic paper and a 4x4 reference picture of an eye and divided each into equal squares. Then starting with one square at a time, the students painted what they saw. Each child caught on very quickly and the results are lovely.

The artist were all given just primary colors along with black and white and mixed everything themselves. When finished I handed out some charcoal for them to finesse any lines they wanted to add that were to fine for a paintbrush.

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children's art camp exhibit

The last day of camp at Seymour Art Gallery was a bit of a whirlwind.

There were two projects I just didn't get a chance to record.

First, the "haiku animal"project. Along with the scratch board animals, children also had the opportunity to try sumi-e ink animals. We went over Haiku poems and how to count out syllables by clapping our hands together. The younger kids who were not aware of Haiku poems or syllables really enjoyed this part and caught on quite quickly. I then told them to try to create an animal line drawing with a brush and ink using either 5 or 7 strokes. Those that completed this quickly then had the chance to create a Haiku poem to go with the painting and then add it to the piece using a fountain pen.

They turned out quite cute. I especially loved the poem, "cluck cluck cluck cluck".......

The second project I am missing is the mixed media works of art.

I knew they would want the opportunity to do an acrylic painting and although that was not necessarily something they saw in Ben's exhibit, found a way to create a project that was still inspired by his work.

Some of the pieces from his days as a graphic designer showed his love of collaging paper so using newspaper, music sheets, and magazines, the kids created animals by cutting shapes out of the pages.

 They then adhered them to an acrylic painted background and added more paint as needed to complete the piece.

Yes it was messy, but a broom made quick work of the scraps of paper. The kids came up with some really great solutions using the magazines and newsprint to get the colors they wanted for their animals. And it was a great exercise in breaking animals down to shape, much like Ben Lim had done throughout the exhibition with his animal pieces.

I was so disappointed to realize I had forgotten to take pictures of the finished pieces. All I have is a picture of them on display during the Friday art show, which brings me to my favorite part of the camp at Seymour Art Gallery- the energy they put into creating a special exhibition of all the work created during the week for family and friends.

Seymour Art Gallery made the children feel so special by displaying all their work on the walls, just like they had observed all week walking through Ben's exhibit. Each piece had their name next to it and it was an amazing validation for them to see adults putting great importance on the time, energy, and imagination they had put into each project during the week. They were so proud and extremely excited to show off their art to the visitors.

Each child enjoyed pointing out their pieces to loved ones, along with telling them the techniques they had learned to create them.

There was punch, fruit, and the most amazing handmade cookies for everyone to enjoy while they toured the exhibit.

It is such a special part of the week to see the kids excited to watch a large group of people admire their artwork. 

But one of the most touching moments was letting the kids know that Ben Lim's family wanted them to have a token of Ben's clay work to always remember the week they spent learning and creating work inspired by his exhibit.

Each child had the chance to pick a piece of clay that Ben had created that spoke to them. There was a reverence each child displayed while carefully choosing a piece of Ben's art to keep forever. I know it was extremely special and moving to them because suddenly children wanted to share this feeling with me by gifting me pieces of their artwork to remember them by too.

I was so humbled that as many of the children said goodbye, they also handed me one of their clay tablet prints to keep. They will always be special keepsakes to me and displayed in my private studio for others to enjoy too.

What an amazing end to a week focused on such an amazing man. In the end, the children took home not only many beautiful artworks inspired by Ben Lim but also his kind and generous spirit thanks to his family.

What a beautiful tribute to a long and lovely life.

scratch board animals

Another project the kids did during the art camp at Seymour Art Gallery, focused on the Ben Lim exhibit, was scratch board.

Working off of one of Ben Lim's beautiful sketches from his sketchbook the gallery had used for promotional materials, it seemed like a really good match to have the kids focus on creating an animal using line.

The idea for the project is actually a combination from two different exhibits at the gallery.

In the spring, the gallery has an art exhibit strictly for children. It's my favorite yearly show and the artist who participate sell their work only to children sixteen and under. One of the artist this year whose work really stood out to me was a Vancouver artist named Andrea Hooge. I had filed away in my head the idea of creating an art history project influenced by her scratchboard work because I knew it would resonate with the kids.

But while looking at the promotional material for Ben Lim's exhibit with the gallery curator, I was struck that the project idea I had been thinking about inspired by Andrea Hooge married quite well with Ben's sketches. We both agreed it would be a nice match.

The stars aligned when I saw that our local art store, Opus Art Supplies, was having a workshop put on by none other than Andrea Hooge where she was presenting her method for creating the scratchboards. It seemed to me the stars (or Ben) was trying to tell me something and that I should indeed make sure I included this project in the camp.

Andrea was most gracious with sharing with me her techniques and spent time answering questions on ways I could create a clay board knock off that would allow the kids to experience the method without breaking the piggy bank.

So using small wooden boards I bought at the craft store, I covered each with three layers of white gesso- sanding between each layer. Then I covered the gessoed board with india ink.

That's it.

A bit of time and elbow grease on my part, but I now had a clay board knock off that would allow the children to experience a new technique and medium.

Each child created a sketch on copy paper. Other than the shape of the animal and key points (eyes, mouth, nose, wings, legs, or paws) there was not a lot of detail. That would happen when they began to scratch into the boards.

They transferred their sketches onto the boards by rubbing a bit of white charcoal on the backside of the drawing and then laying it over the board and retracing their sketch.

Once they had a carbon copy on the board, I gave each of them a scratch pen for drawing. (If you can't access scratch pens, a thumbtack would work just as well.)

I suggested they not outline their tracing but just start adding fur, feathers, or scales to the piece. I have no doubt I sounded like a broken record as I kept repeating to pay attention to the different direction of lines on their reference material...the same way I do at home when I continue to repeat over and over and over for my kids to put their laundry away! Only difference is these artist listened.

They all caught on quickly and really enjoyed scraping into the board.

The works were quite arresting when finished. I was especially thrilled to see that the initial scrapes they made were a grey and that the kids needed to go over a scrapes more than once to get a true white- which created some nice tones on the piece I had not seen kids be able to achieve just using scratch paper.

Could I have better photographs? yes. 

However this was the project I had saved for Friday morning while the children's art show was being set up. There was just not a lot of time to get great photos before these were on display in the show and then carried home. But the project had been so successful, I figure the blogging world will forgive me for the opportunity to learn about a project the kids found exciting.

It was great to see such a wide age range of children enjoy this medium. And I am eternally grateful and forever humbled by the graciousness of artists who not only share their talents with me, in this case Andrea, but also create art that inspires me, (Ben), which helps me hopefully create projects that ultimately inspire kids. 

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an entire art community to inspire and raise a lover of the arts. A fact proven in spades with this lovely little project.

Thank you Andrea Hooge and Ben Lim.

clay and paper collage assemblage

When the curator and I were first walking through the Ben Lim exhibit a couple of weeks prior to the Seymour Art Gallery summer art camp, one of the artworks I gravitated to quickly were Lim's clay and paper pieces.

I love them so much I had recently purchased one to give my daughter for her 19th birthday.

A panda, her favorite animal since she was in preschool.

(obviously not the panda artwork) Ben Lim

During the tour with the children, they discussed his subtle use of paper color to suggest the background along with other nuances they observed in the work- including using the clay to cut shapes out and layer to create the animals.....almost like paper.

These artworks are truly magnificent and were one of the first projects I conceptualized for the camp. The process seemed like such a natural draw for children.

Each child started off with a rectangular piece of wood that I picked up for under a dollar at the local craft store.

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Using matte medium, (Modge Podge or a glue/water mixture would work well too), the kids cut and began to layer tissue paper onto the wood surface to create a background. The only thing I really needed to stress during this part of the project was keeping the tissue paper contained within the board, easy to do since wrinkles were a great addition to the texture of the artworks and tissue is so light it is very easy for kids to manipulate with the glue.

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They quickly realized layering the same color added value and really seemed to understand and were inspired by the processes Ben had used in the pieces they observed during the tour.

8 year old

They really loved and got lost in cutting the papers, adhering them to the wood, watching how each layer added to the nuance of their background, and throughly enjoyed "painting with paper".

9 year old

It was a pure joy to see them enjoying this project as much as they did! I gave each child a small amount of oven baked clay in white. They rolled out the clay and began to cut shapes out to create their animals. They took time to add textures and seemed to really catch on and enjoy the abstract nature of Ben Lim's animals in the artwork they had spent time enjoying during the tour.

6 year old

Once it was baked and hardened, they kids lightly painted the clay with acrylic paint and we used some strong glue to place them on the wood boards with their tissue pictures.

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The kids were quite excited to see the artworks finally come together and were quite pleased with the final outcome.

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The curator, myself, the artist working with me and the gallery assistant were all quite excited about them too after camp finished when we looked at them as a group.

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This was a great project for a wide range of ages, very engaging and a great way to build their artistic confidence. There was not one child in this group of 12 who did not fall in love with this process.

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Each and every one of the kids were fully engaged in each step of this project and it is one I have already decided to do again this fall with a lunchbox program I am running at a local school. I felt it was that successful from beginning to end.

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But the part the kids were most excited about? Putting on those chops! They could not wait until everything was complete and it was time to stamp their artworks with their signatures.

The perfect end to a perfect project.

artist Ben Lim inspired animal sculptures

If you toured the Ben Lim exhibition at Seymour Art Gallery, Ben's love of clay was obvious.

There were an array of animal clay sculptures everywhere and the children had a wonderful time looking at them with the curator during the tour.

She was full of so many interesting facts in regards to the works.

Like how the original crane sculptures were created to represent his family.

Or his love to show majestic whales in motion, either using the surface they were sitting on to represent the water they were breeching from or these bowls that are incorporated to show them swimming.

The curator also pointed out how he created a clay slab that he made into a cylinder to create his sculptures and left clues for the viewer to see his process.

This polar bear was a great example to show the kids exactly how Ben Lim began his works of art.

The curator also highlighted the textures and patterns Ben added to his sculptures and let the kids spend time discussing their own observations they discovered in the works.

Then the kids headed back to the work area and began creating their own animal sculptures inspired by the Ben Lim exhibit. We created the clay sculptures out of air dry clay and the kids all tried their hand at creating their animals using the cylinder slab.

For a couple of the younger children, this was very challenging. As I saw a couple of them getting frustrated, I quickly found some aluminum foil and gave that to them to create an armature all the while praising them for their tenacity in continuing to try the cylinder slab.

It was so interesting to see what each child took away from the curator's tour of Ben Lim's clay sculptures in their artwork.

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This child was very moved by the whale fins she saw in the exhibit, but was also obviously moved by the story the curator told about how Ben had created the crane sculptures to represent his family because there is a fin here to represent each member of her family.....the smallest fin representing her.

How wonderful is that?

This young artist was obviously paying very close attention when the curator pointed out how Ben was able to use the table surface the sculptures rest on to represent the water as this whale is coming in and out of the water. 

I was so excited to watch her during the process of creating this piece.

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The fins were a big hit with the kids and it was interesting to watch how each interpreted Ben's textures and painting style on their own clay works.

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And we even had a child take the bowl idea and incorporate that with a fin, like I said, the fins were popular.

Then there were the animals.

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We had a lovely peacock.

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And this adorable penguin that is very reminiscent of Lim's birds she saw in the exhibit. If you look closely, you can see some of the textures she added in the wings inspired by what she saw during the tour also

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And then the lone wolf. I love that the artist was confident enough to follow her own path when everyone else was either doing whales or birds.

Once the clay was dry, the kids painting them with acrylic paint and I then set them with a high gloss varnish. They were so lovely when finished.

And without doubt, these clays were a highlight at the art show Seymour Art Gallery put on exhibiting their artworks for family and friends on the last day of camp. 

How could they not be when they are so wonderful?!