Clay Bird Vessels

These clay bird vessels were made by my grade 4 students recently, inspired by these bird vases from 'Be Creative Mary'. Students rolled a slab of clay and cut a basic bird shape. They then rolled a second slab and traced the first bird shape so they had two identical pieces. The pieces were joined at the head and the tail, leaving the middle section open and unjoined. 

The vessels were stuffed with newspaper for stability whilst texture and decoration were added to the bird using clay tools.

After firing, students added colour by rubbing oil pastels into the surface of the clay to pick up the texture and then painting with coloured inks and dyes. I later added a coat of spray varnish to each piece to seal it. 

 

Aboriginal Inspired "Bark" Paintings

Bark painting images via http://www.tribalmania.com

 

Aboriginal bark painting is an art form that has existed in Australia for hundreds of years and is still practiced by indigenous peoples in Western Australia's Kimberley region. My grade three students recently celebrated NAIDOC Week by creating aboriginal inspired paintings.

Students scrunched and creased a piece of brown paper to create a surface imitating the texture and softness of bark. They were then asked to draw an Australian animal for the focus of their design and to create line and pattern in their work inspired by images of various examples of traditional Aboriginal artwork. We discussed the innovative practices of the aboriginal peoples who used crushed rock and clay pieces, charcoal and mixtures of blood, feathers, fat and other organic material to create their paints, resulting in a variety of earthy colours. Students were asked to use a similar colour range when painting their design and were offered small paintbrushes as well as various sticks to use as painting tools.

The work was completed by gluing sticks collected from the school grounds to the edges of the painting and tying string to the top of each piece for display.

Monkey Portraits

My grade 2 students recently celebrated Chinese New Year with these monkey portraits for Year of the Monkey. These were inspired by the Pop Art Chimp paintings over at MaryMaking. 

After discussing portraiture and viewing some examples of famous portraits, students were given photos of many types of monkeys, chimps and apes and we discussed how to build up our drawings using basic shapes (e.g oval head, semi-circle ears, triangle nose etc).

Once the drawings were complete, students outlined them in permanent marker before adding wildly colourful painting using tempera paints. Some also worked back into their paintings with oil pastel once dry. 

I never stop being amazed at my very young students abilities to create faces full of such personality and use colour so fearlessly and expertly.