Collection, Connection and the Making of MeaningTitle: Art for Small HandsFor Grades K - 2By Valerie BatyiCleveland Elementary School

Introduction:In introducing children to artwork created by adults one must consider the age gap between the young audience and the older artist. Accepting that a child of five or seven has not the breadth of experience, education or cognitive development of the grown-up, educators must then draw upon elements in the artwork, with which the child can most readily connect with. Once the familiar element has been determined, it can be used as a springboard to experimentation, questioning and understanding beyond what the child initially brings to the artwork.

Jean McEwen’s non-representational work “Ni Plus, Ni Moins” offers children the pure expressive joy of making marks with their hands. The work then leads into a play with colourful shapes, and the puzzling of these shapes into a composition.

Traditional Maritime story telling is evident in David Blackwood’s “Wesleyville, Seabird Hunters Returning Home”. The enormous whale in the foreground of the cross-section ocean draws a young audience into the narrative and invites them to create a story of their own.

An ancient circle of life is represented by a contemporary composition in Bill Reid’s “Haida Sockeye Salmon”. The energetic lines of the salmon and their environment make a great introduction to the artwork of our indigenous peoples and to the incredible life cycle of the iconic Pacific salmon.

Lesson 1 – Hand in Hand

Jean McEwen ‘Ni Plus, Ni Moins’ (No More, No Less), 1993oil on canvas90” x 60”

Student Example

This project will take three sessions to complete. It requires drying time in between sessions and a drying rack or large dedicated space for drying work.

Objectives:Students will:• Work with primary colours• Create secondary colours• Use their hands to create textures with paint• Take an impression of texture• Work with torn or cut paper shapes to create

a non-representational composition

Vocabulary: • Primary colours (red, blue, yellow)• Secondary colours (orange, purple, green)• Texture• Contrast

Materials:12” x 18” Luna Gloss paper(or other clay based finger painting paper)

Tempera paint in primary, secondary colours and black

Wide sponge brushes or one (hand sized) cleaning sponge per student (sponges release paint easier than the sponge brushes, so clean up is easier!)

White glue

Set-up:Cover work surfaces with plastic (large garbage bags, plastic table clothes etc. Tape down or use large bulldog clips to fasten to table tops.)

Engage:• Read ‘Perfect Square’ by Michael Hall.• Discuss how coloured paper can be used in different ways to create a variety of pictures.

Respond and Reflect:• Compare the images in Perfect Square with McEwen’s ‘Ni Plus Ni Moins’• Can you tell what tools were used to create some of the pictures in ‘Perfect Square’?• What tools do you think Jean McEwen has used to create the texture in his painting ‘Ni Plus, Ni

Moins’?• Can you see places that might be fingerprints or handprints in the painting?• What kind of shapes has Jean McEwen used in his painting? • Why do you think he only used rectangles?

Create: Session OneThis step creates a bank of primary coloured paper• Students will work in pairs. Divide the class into 3 groups• Hand out one piece of paper per two students• Hand out one sponge per student• Give a squirt of yellow paint onto the paper of all the students in group 1. Group 2 gets a squirt of

red and group 3 get a squirt of blue .• Everyone use the sponges to fill their paper with paint. Notice the different textures a sponge can

make as opposed to a brush. Add more paint to those that don’t have enough to fill the page. • Remove papers to drying area

This next step creates all the Secondary colours• Hand out another sheet of paper to each pair

of students• Give each pair a squirt of the colour that they

just painted with.• Give half of the yellow students a small squirt

of red. The other half get a small squirt of blue.• Give half of the red students a small squirt of

blue and the other half get a large squirt of yellow

• Give half of the blue students a large squirt of red and the other half get a large squirt of yellow.

• Everyone uses their sponge to mix the paint on their paper. You may add some bottled tempera to those whose colour needs a boost.

• Encourage students to let a variety of shades of colour remain on the paper rather than mixing until the two paint colours are one.

• Remove papers to drying area

Session Two• Cover tables with plastic.• Students work in pairs• Put a squirt of black paint on the plastic between each pairs• Finger paint on the plastic covered table top using the black paint. Have students experiment with

creating different textures. A little more paint or a mist of water extends the finger-painting fun.• Instruct students to dry not wash their hands. Place a dry painting from session one, paint side

down, onto the fingerpainted table. • Have students rub the back of the paper to make an impression of the fingerpainting on the

coloured paper. • Remove to drying area. • Repeat process until all primary and secondary colour paintings have black texture imprinted on

them.

Session ThreePrior to this session cut each painting in half and have students choose one piece for the backgrond of their composition. The remaining papers can be cut or torn, by the teacher, into rectangular (or other) shapes and then sorted into colour groups.• Students choose up to five pieces of paper

from the rectangular colour bank. • Chosen rectangular pieces must contrast the

background paper. High contrast colour pairs are: yellow purple, orange blue, and red green.

• Arrange the cut out shapes so they do not touch or overlap. The shapes should be arranged in a way that there is still a 1-2 inch border of background colour showing.

• If the pieces do not fit remove and replace until they do. Alternately students may want to cut or tear a piece so that it is smaller.

• Use white glue to affix shapes once composition is completed

Assessment: (student and/or teacher led)Display all artwork• Ask students to identify those compositions that show a strong contrast between the background

and the glued on shapes• Can students identify all the primary and secondary colours within the compositions.• Ask students to comment on how the finger-painted texture changes the artwork. What would the

artwork look like without the texture?

Enrichment Extensions:Create compositions that focus on shapes other than rectangles

Resources:• http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=3656• http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Perfect-Square-Michael-Hall/?isbn=9780061915130• http://www.artlex.com/

Lesson 2 – Whale’s Tale

David Blackwood, 1991Wesleyville, Seabird Hunters Returning Homeetching15” x 36”

Student Example

This project will take three sessions to complete.

Objectives:Students will:• Create a narrative artwork • Use a variety of line• Use colour to highlight areas of the

composition• Use collage elements

Vocabulary: • Line: scribble, jagged, wavy, diagonal, flowing,

thin, thick, etc. • Narrative• Horizon• Cross-section • Foreground, mid-ground, background

Materials:• 12 x 18 white construction paper or Opus

Opaque Vellum, • 8 x 10 drawing paper,• variety of different tip sized black felt markers,

permanent or water soluble• variety of coloured felt markers (blue, purple,

orange, yellow, and pink)• glue sticks

Set-up: • Display pictures of whales

Engage: Read, ‘Peg and the Whale’ by Kenneth Oppel or ‘The Three Fishing Brothers Gruff’ by Ben Galbraith

Respond and Reflect:• View Blackwood’s image ‘Wesleyville, Seabird Hunters Returning Home’. • Identify the main focus of the picture (whale) and whether it is in the background, mid-ground or

foreground (front) of the picture. • How has the artist allowed us to see above and below the water? • Can you identify the line that indicates the border of above and below the water?• Can you find the horizon line? What is on the horizon?• Look carefully at the mid-ground. What detail has the artist put on top of the water?• How has the artist used colour in the picture? • What time of day do you think it is?• Observe the lines used in Blackwood’s artwork. Some are long and take you from one place to

another. Some are short, wiggly, choppy, and repeated to create texture within a space.• Have students use pencils to create a collection of short lines that represent these adjectives:

scribble, jagged, wavy, diagonal, flowing, thin and thick.• If the picture was illustrating a story, what part of the story would it be: Beginning, middle or end?

Why?• Write your own short story about this picture. Use sentence frames, or create a list of key words,

as is grade appropriate.

Create: Session One• Using the orange, yellow and pink felt markers

one at a time, have students scribble all over the front of the 8 x 10 cartridge paper

• Repeat with black marker until the front of thepaper is well covered.

• Using the images of whales from Blackwood’s work, picture books, etc have students draw a whale on the back of their scribbled paper. Cut out and put whales aside. Save all the scribbled scrap paper.

Session Two: (Resource Folder for diagram)• Using black marker have students draw a line

across the 12 x 18 background paper. This will be the horizon line. Like Blackwood’s horizon this line could be drawn at an angle.

• Using pink, yellow and orange marker have students draw repeating lines above the horizon.

• Using a black marker draw on top of the coloured lines. Your sky should be light and colourful close to the horizon line and darker near the top of the paper.

• Use black marker to draw a wavy line about half way between the horizon and the bottom of the paper. This will be the mid-ground line.

• Use the coloured markers to draw wavy, choppy lines just below the horizon.

• Use black marker to draw wavy, choppy lines from the horizon to the mid-ground line. Draw on top of the coloured lines and increase the use of black towards the mid-ground line. This will create the surface of the mid-ground water.

• Using black marker draw about five flowing lines across the foreground section of the paper. This will create the cross-section underwater foreground

• Draw an uneven, jagged line a little above the horizon line. Use black marker to colour in the space between the horizon and the jagged line. This will create the effect of land in the distance.

Session Three:• Glue the whale from session one onto the underwater, foreground section.• Cut a boat shape from the scribbled scrap paper and glue on the surface mid-ground. Use white

paper for sails if desired.• Use pencil to print short story, key words or other desired text around the whale on the flowing

lines of the underwater, foreground section. Go over top of the pencil words with fine black marker.

Assessment: (student and/or teacher led)• Pause work and encourage student reflection at each stage of the artwork’s development. • Discuss the effects and results of each stage using the appropriate vocabulary

Resources: (Literature links, videos, web sites)http://www.davidblackwood.com/http://www.bengalbraith.co.nz/illustration/http://www.kennethoppel.ca/pages/peg&thewhale.shtml

Lesson 3 – Whale’s Tale

Bill Reid, 1981Haida Sockeye Salmonserigraph on paper22” x 30”

This project will take four sessions to complete. It requires drying time in between sessions

Objectives:Students will:• Create a co-operative mixed media mural • Be introduced to the art and design of the

north west coast first nations• Experiment with blending colours using oil

pastel and paint• Create texture with paint

Vocabulary: • Blend• Shape: circle, oval• Size: small, medium, large• Texture• Motion/movement

Materials:• White bonanza (or other) roll paper 36” x 8’

(longer if desired)• Plastic (garbage bags or other sheet plastic) • 18 x 24 cartridge paper or finger painting

paper• 4” wide sponge brush and a stick to affix

with tape to make a long handled brush

(Alternately use a child’s broom, it makes great texture!)

• liquid tempera paint: White, light blue, blue green, black, brown

• 12”x 18” white and black construction paper• five inch diameter circle tracers• oil pastels: red, orange, grey, white• drawing boards only if available• Haida art eyes• Scissors• Glue

Set-up: For session one:• Tape wide sponge brush securely to a

doweling, pointer or other handle tool• Cover floor area designated as painting area

(plastic or tarp)• Lay down the length of roll paper

For session two;• Cover student work space with sheets of

plastic• Cut paper in half once dry

For session three:• Print Haida Eye example page (see resources

folder)

Student Example

• Tape construction paper to drawing boards or directly to desk. (Young students can more easily put pressure on pastels and other colouring mediums if paper stays in place. Having students stand while colouring also encourages the pressure needed to get colour coverage and intensity)

Engage: Read ‘Salmon Stream’ by Carol Reed-Jones, ‘My River’ by Shari Halpern, or similar stories to give background info about salmon life cycle and river environment.

Respond and Reflect:• Look at Bill Reid’s Haida Sockeye Salmon• Determine how the artist has made it look like

the salmon are in water (blue background and wavy lines)

• Compare the artwork with a picture of a real spawning salmon

• Discuss how the fish are not painted like real salmon but have designs and patterns on them. Why do you think the artist would represent the fish like this?

• Can you see any similarities between the designs and parts of the real fish?

Create: Session one:• Squirt lines of blue, green and white tempera

paint on length of bonanza background paper• Have students take turns dragging the

extended paintbrush across the paper to create undulating lines of blended colour that represent the movement of water

• Let background dry

Session Two• Cover tables with plastic• Squirt white, brown and a small amount of

black paint onto the plastic• Students work together to mix paint with their

hands, creating texture on the plastic.• Use paper towel to dry hands• Place 18 x 24 inch paper on top of painted

plastic. Rub back of paper to take an impression of the texture.

• Wash hands. Let paper dry. Cut paper in half

Session three:• Tape black construction paper to table• Cover paper well with red and orange oil

pastels• Use a circle tracer and a white pastel to draw

three circle on the red covered construction paper. Use a finger to blend the white pastel in a little. These will be the salmon eggs

• Use a grey oil pastel to colour on top of the rest of the construction paper. These colours reflect the original silver of the salmon and the red colour of the spawner.

• With considerable direction and observation of salmon pictures, use pencil to draw the outline of a salmon on the grey/red part of the construction paper.

• Cut out the eggs and the salmon• Cut out eye shapes from the Haida eye

template (see resource folder for template). Glue one eye shape onto each egg and the salmon.

Session four:• Hand out one texture impression paper from

session two to each student• Have students draw a large, medium and

small oval shape on the back of their paper.• Cut out each oval and make more if there is

paper left over.• Put glue in centre of each oval and glue to

bottom edge of background bonanza paper. Build up the ovals so that they create a rocky bottom or ‘redd’ for the salmon eggs.

• Put glue on the back of each egg and tuck them slightly behind and between the rocks of the redd

• Put glue on the back of the salmon and glue on the water above the eggs and rocks.

Assessment: (student and/or teacher led)Pause work and encourage student reflection at each stage of the artwork’s developmentDiscuss the effects and results of each stage using the appropriate vocabulary

Resources: (Literature links, videos, web sites)http://www.artlex.com/http://www.billreidfoundation.org/http://www.sharihalpern.com/http://www.carolreed-jones.com/‘Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast’, Hilary Stewart. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1979.