The spirit in which we give sketchbooks to children changes the way that pupils (and teachers) view the sketchbooks, and sets the scene to enabling children to use them to be best creative potential. Read this post to see how sketchbooks should be treated as a safe, special place.

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Session Recording: Exploring Charcoal

Curriculum Links

History: World War II

Science: Rocks, Electricity, Environmental changes

PSHE: Supports Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.

I Can…

I can explore how artists sometimes make art inspired by certain places/experiences
I have experimented with the types of marks I can make with charcoal
I can use light and dark tonal values to create atmosphere in my work
I can construct a model using cardboard and paper, combining drawing and making to make my own creative response
I can talk about the work I have made with my classmates, sharing the things I thought were successful and thinking about things I would like to try again
I can appreciate the work of my classmates and I can share my response to their work, identifying similarities and differences in our approach and outcomes.
I can take photographs of my work thinking about presentation, focus and lighting.

Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.

Materials

Medium/large cardboard box, newsprint, charcoal (ideally both willow and compressed), erasers, black and white chalk, rags.

Construction Materials (see list here )

Pathway: An Exploration of Coal Mining

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

Aims of the Pathway

In this pathway pupils explore the work of Henry Moore made in response to working in a coal mine. Pupils explore how they can create atmospheric marks using charcoal, and use their own drawings as collage material when constructing a model.
Week 1: Introduce

Explore Henry Moore Drawing in The Dark

In 1942 Henry Moore spent one week creating observational drawings down the same coal mine that his father had worked in.

Use the “Talking Points: Henry Moore Drawing in The Dark” resource to open up discussions about Moore’s coal mining drawings. Invite children to create “Visual Notes” inspired by the work that they see and the discussions that result on loose paper.
Week 2: Drawing and Sketchbooks

Drawing Coal Mines

Use the “Drawing Source Material: Coal Mines” resource to get pupils to create drawings of coal mines using charcoal, focusing on light and dark areas.

Choose stills from the videos and give children time to capture the environment of the miners. Consider how erasers might help to create lighter areas or highlight structures. Explore “Talking Points: What is Chiaroscuro?” to find out how artists use light and dark to create an atmosphere.

Work on loose sheets of paper and finish the session by creating a “Backward Sketchbook” from all of the work created in the first two weeks.
Choose…

Choose a Stimulus

Decide if you would like to use visual prompts or a quote as the stimulus for the coal mine structure…
Option 1: Weeks 3 & 4: Inspired by Imagery

Charcoal Cave

Use and adapt the “Charcoal Cave” resource to create a coal mine.

Refer back to sketchbook drawings and notes to help capture the sense of place.

Provide pupils with stills from the films in the “Drawing Source Material” while they build their sets. Encourage children to build their own props.

Consider the structure of a mine, thinking about the layout and equipment used to ensure the workers were safe.
Or…
Option 2: Week 3 & 4: Inspired by Quotes

Set Design

Use and adapt the “Set Design with Primary Aged Children” resource and give children the opportunity to build a set using quotes from the “Talking Points: Drawing in The Dark” as a starting point.

Combine this activity with part 1 of the “Charcoal Cave” to explore mark making with charcoal. Use the charcoal drawings to create an impactful space inspired by a quote.
Optional:

Add Figurative Drawings

Use and adapt the “Exaggerating to Communicate” resource. Invite pupils to adopt the poses that miners had to squeeze into, to access smaller areas within the mines. Ask them to draw how it feels.

Cut out the drawings and add them to the charcoal coal mining sets.

Or use and adapt the “Drawings with Mass” resource to create a sense of weight in drawings.
Week 5: Photography

Photograph

Invite children to take photos of their sets in a dark room, using a torch to highlight areas of their coal mines and to capture the sense of space.

Use and adapt this resource to find out how children can take high quality photographs of “3D Artwork“.

Ask children to select their favourite images to print and add to sketchbooks.
Week 6: Present & Share

Share, Reflect & Discuss

Clear a space and present drawings, sketchbooks, models and photographs.

Walk around the space as if it were a gallery. Enable a conversation about the journey and skills learnt.

Reflect on the work that has been made by running a class “crit“.

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Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Ruth From Carden Primary School, Brighton

Year 6, Ruth at Carden Primary School

Discipline: Drawing, Collage, Set Design

In this pathway, suitable for ages 11 to 14, we explore a series of coal mining drawings made by Henry Moore. Use his work as the basis for conversation in the classroom, and then use the AccessArt resources below to enable a contextual exploration of figurative drawing, mark-making and collage, or scratch model design, inspired by Moore’s work.

This pathway has been made in response to the exhibition Drawing in The Dark, a curation of Henry Moore’s coal mining drawings, inspired by the release of a new book written by art historian (and AccessArt Trustee), Chris Owen.

Theme:
Mining

Medium:
Paper, Charcoal, Cardboard

Artist:
Henry Moore

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Four Studies of Miners at the Coalface, 1942, drawing. (HMF 2000a). Photo Michael Phipps. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation copy

1942 Henry Moore sketching two miners at Wheldale Colliery Henry Moore Foundation archive 7 x 8'' black and white print

1942 Henry Moore sketching two miners at Wheldale Colliery Henry Moore Foundation archive 7 x 8” black and white print. Photo: Reuben Saidman

ages 11-14

Explore an Artist…

Talking Points: Henry Moore

Explore “Talking Points: Henry Moore” to introduce the artist and his ‘Pit Project’ to students. Use the questions to prompt discussion about the processes used by Moore and the work he created.

Invite students to make some “Visual Notes” as they watch the video.

A Brief History of Coal Mining

Watch some videos depicting the day-to-day life of a coal miner at “Drawing source Material: Coal Mining“.

Pause the films on interesting compositions and invite students to draw in sketchbooks. Take inspiration from the “Show Me What You See” resource to guide the session.

Pit Boys at Pit Head 1942 by Henry Moore, Wakefield Permanent Art Collection Image Courtesy of The Hepworth Wakefield LR copy

Miranda's pages

Figurative Drawing

Henry Moore created drawings of coal miners as they worked. You may want students to create some figurative drawings of classmates in sketchbooks.

A photographer once captured images of Moore drawing the miners as they worked. Use the “Drawing Someone Drawing Something” resource to emulate this idea.

Focus on drawing faces using the “Portrait Club” resource as inspiration for a classroom set up.

Mark-Making and Collage

In this resource, artist Laura McKendry demonstrates different ways to make expressive marks using charcoal, in order to create a collage of a coal mine scene.

Use the “Expressive Charcoal Collage: Coal Mines” to encourage students to explore ways of working expressively and abstractly using charcoal, and explore different mark-making processes to portray the enclosed space of a coal mine.

Set Design

Use and adapt “Introducing Set Designing – Exercise to Respond to Text” to create scratch set designs inspired by texts about Henry Moore’s coal mining experience.

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Key Differences Between Sketchbooks and Exercise Books

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Pathway: An Exploration of Coal Mining, Inspired By Henry Moore

Pathway for Years 4 & 5

Disciplines: Drawing, Sketchbooks, Construction

Key Concepts:

That when we draw, we can use expressive marks to create tonal variety.

That we can use both images and words as a starting point to create work.

That we can combine drawing and making to make a creative response.

That when we photograph 3D work, we can use light and tonal value to capture a sense of space, and we can use the qualities of the material (charcoal) to capture the atmosphere.

In this pathway, children discover how they can combine drawing and making to capture a sense of enclosed space using charcoal and model making materials.

Children are freed from the constraints of creating representational drawings based on observation – instead they use the qualities of the medium to work in dynamic ways. They will also see how 2d drawing can be combined with 3d making to create a sense of space.

Theme: Coal mining, Relationship of Body to Place, Enclosed Spaces

Medium:Charcoal, Construction Materials

Artists: Henry Moore

This pathway will take approximately half a term, based upon a weekly art lesson.

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

This pathway has been made in response to the exhibition Drawing in The Dark, a curation of Henry Moore’s coal mining drawings, inspired by the release of a new book written by art historian (and AccessArt Trustee), Chris Owen.

Additional Pathway

This pathway is an additional pathway to help you extend, develop or further personalise the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum.

We suggest this pathway is used to replace a “Working in 3 Dimensions” (Blue) or a “Drawing and Sketchbooks” (Orange) pathway for ages 7 and above.

It could replace the drawing pathway “Gestural Drawing with Charcoal” pathway or making pathway “Set Design“.

You may also like to use the activities in this pathway with a smaller group of children in an after school club or community context.

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Session Recording: Exploring Charcoal

Curriculum Links

History: World War II

Science: Rocks, Electricity, Environmental changes

PSHE: Supports Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.

I Can…

I can explore how artists sometimes make art inspired by certain places/experiences

I have experimented with the types of marks I can make with charcoal

I can use light and dark tonal values to create atmosphere in my work

I can construct a model using cardboard and paper, combining drawing and making to make my own creative response

I can talk about the work I have made with my classmates, sharing the things I thought were successful and thinking about things I would like to try again

I can appreciate the work of my classmates and I can share my response to their work, identifying similarities and differences in our approach and outcomes.

I can take photographs of my work thinking about presentation, focus and lighting.

Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.

Materials

Medium/large cardboard box, newsprint, charcoal (ideally both willow and compressed), erasers, black and white chalk, rags.

Construction Materials (see list here )

Pathway: An Exploration of Coal Mining

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

Aims of the Pathway

In this pathway pupils explore the work of Henry Moore made in response to working in a coal mine. Pupils explore how they can create atmospheric marks using charcoal, and use their own drawings as collage material when constructing a model.

Explore Henry Moore Drawing in The Dark

In 1942 Henry Moore spent one week creating observational drawings down the same coal mine that his father had worked in.

Use the “Talking Points: Henry Moore Drawing in The Dark” resource to open up discussions about Moore’s coal mining drawings. Invite children to create “Visual Notes” inspired by the work that they see and the discussions that result on loose paper.

Drawing Coal Mines

Use the “Drawing Source Material: Coal Mines” resource to get pupils to create drawings of coal mines using charcoal, focusing on light and dark areas.

Choose stills from the videos and give children time to capture the environment of the miners. Consider how erasers might help to create lighter areas or highlight structures. Explore “Talking Points: What is Chiaroscuro?” to find out how artists use light and dark to create an atmosphere.

Work on loose sheets of paper and finish the session by creating a “Backward Sketchbook” from all of the work created in the first two weeks.

Choose a Stimulus

Decide if you would like to use visual prompts or a quote as the stimulus for the coal mine structure…

Charcoal Cave

Use and adapt the “Charcoal Cave” resource to create a coal mine.

Refer back to sketchbook drawings and notes to help capture the sense of place.

Provide pupils with stills from the films in the “Drawing Source Material” while they build their sets. Encourage children to build their own props.

Consider the structure of a mine, thinking about the layout and equipment used to ensure the workers were safe.

Or…

Set Design

Use and adapt the “Set Design with Primary Aged Children” resource and give children the opportunity to build a set using quotes from the “Talking Points: Drawing in The Dark” as a starting point.

Disciplines:
Drawing, Sketchbooks, Construction

Medium:
Charcoal, Construction Materials

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Theme:
Mining

Medium:
Paper, Charcoal, Cardboard

Artist:
Henry Moore