Here are samples of work from classes of eight or less that range in age from 5 to 12 yr olds. Projects are inspired by fine artists, nature or the materials themselves.
The Jackson Pollock style paintings below are a favourite with all age classes. We look at Jackson Pollock reproductions but the real inspiration happens when the paint starts to move! It's about the paint and the way it behaves in the air and on the paper- the colour, the viscosity, the unpredictable lines, the formation of layers.
I like to use a lot of paint because it is a medium that is harder for kids to use at home in large quantities. We will paint with tempera on large paper, do watercolour resist, paint recycled and found materials, sticks and rocks or papier mache.
Drawing exercises are used as a warm up or as a planning tool for projects using other media with older classes. I think of drawing as a kind of jogging. It keeps the eye and hand in good shape for other kinds of art. (it is also wonderful in itself) Exercises: blind contour, shading, gesture, cut paper (drawing with scissors), cropping, drawing mass instead of line, drawing negative space instead of positive.
With younger classes we draw inspired by a theme using a variety of tools: pencil, charcoal, marker, crayon or oil pastel, and different surfaces: mat board, big paper, cardboard, pavement
Often themes develop on their own and spread throughout a class. Young children are alway ready to play out their own ideas. A wood gluing project turns into a bowling alley production line or a clay session into a restaurant kitchen.
Most classes love 3D work. Everybody want to build and some want to build big! I use free play with a good set of unit blocks as part of classes focussed on building. 3D projects include: papier mache, wire sculpture, mobiles, clay, 3D paper, wood assemblage, box art, recycled sculpture and bookbinding. Basically if we can shape, tape it or glue it, we can make it into something!
Other projects:
collage
soft sculpture using fabric and stuffing
dolls
monoprints
blockprinting
