As part of our Pedagogy in 250 Words series, explore the ‘show me what you see’ method and encourage children to respond to what they are seeing through drawing. Become a member to watch the video below.

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A collection of sources and imagery to explore the ancient tradition of drawing Kolam.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

‘Every morning at sunrise all across Southern India women practice the ancient art of drawing kolam on the thresholds of their properties. A physical form of prayer and symbol of protection, a daily exercise, and a moment of intense concentration and meditation, drawing kolam is an important household ritual that has a lot more to it than may first meet the eye.

Two very different women living in Chennai explain their shared passion for kolam, and their involvement in the local kolam competition.’ – BBC

Questions to Ask Children

What do you like/dislike about kolam drawings?

Do they remind you of anything?

What are some of the rituals do you take part in every morning?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Spirals

This is featured in the ‘Spirals’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the question ‘what is composition?’

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Composition is the arrangement of different elements in a piece of artwork.

As well as positioning, elements like shapes, lines and colours can have an impact on composition.

Composition addresses the relationship between these different elements. Some artists aim to create a balanced composition in their artwork whilst others may choose to bring things to the viewers attention by creating imbalance.

Why is Composition Important?

Whether it is a painting, drawing, photograph, print or even a piece of sculpture, the way the elements are arranged impact upon how we respond to the piece of art. The artist might be trying to convey an emotion, or communicate a message, and artists use tools they have through composition to help sell those “messages”. 

Throughout history, composition can be seen as an indication of the period or artistic movements that a piece of art has been created in. 

Focal Point

The focal point is the area of the artwork which your eye is drawn to. The artist might use placement to draw your eye to an object (i.e. where the object is on the page), or they might use colour or value to draw your eye in. 

How goes the artist draw your eye to a focal point in the illustration below?

Interior of the Temple of Aboo Simbel Nubia illustration by David Roberts (1796–1864)

What is the focal point for you in the paintings below? You might have a different focal point to your friends, or you might even have more than one? Where are your eyes drawn?

Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878) by Mary Cassatt.

Johannes Vermeer’s The Lacemaker (ca.1669–1671)

Balance / Imbalance

Sometimes the elements of an artwork lend to a sense of calm. This is usually because the artist has intentionally balanced colours, shapes and values. 

In other artwork the artist deliberately makes us feel uneasy by throwing us off balance, by creating a sense of chaos…

Improvisation 35 (1914)  Wassily Kandinsky

Rule of Thirds

Sometimes artists divide rectangles into a grid of 9 – 3 rows and 3 columns.

When working with landscape for example, artists might choose to place the horizon along one of the grid lines. 

Jalais Hill, Pontoise (1867) by Camille Pissarro.

Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio is a spiral and it can be found in nature and art. 

Can you spot how the Golden Ratio is used in the “Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave” above?

Classical Composition

Within the classic tradition, artists would create a sense of balance by arranging elements in geometric shapes such as triangular compositions.

Foxhound (1760) painting in high resolution by George Stubbs. Original from The Yale University Art Gallery. 

Questions to Ask Children

What can you see in the foreground/background of the painting?

How do the colours vary from the foreground to the background? Why do you think these choices were made by the artist?

Where is your eye drawn to in this painting? What do you see next?

Can you see any triangles in the composition? 

Symmetry 

Can you see how symmetry has been used in the still life below by by Camille Pissarro?

How does this image make you feel? 

Think about the colours AND the shapes, and where they are placed. 

Still Life with Apples and Pitcher (1872) by Camille Pissarro

Abstract Art

Art movements such as cubism and abstraction redefined the rules of composition.

Artists such as Jackson Pollock opted for ‘allover composition’ which considers using the whole canvas instead of top, bottom and centre.

Watch from moment 2:29 to find out how ‘allover’ painting differed to more classic painting styles. 

Questions to Ask Children

How does this vary to the classical way of painting?

Can you see a foreground or background?

Which part of the painting is your eye drawn to first? Where does it travel to after?

Which style of composition do you prefer and why?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Explore and Draw

This is featured in the ‘Explore and Draw’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Pathway: Exploring Still Life

This is featured in the ‘Explore Still Life’ pathway

Show me what you see

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Pathway: Fashion Design

This is featured in the ‘Fashion Design’ pathway

Talking Points: Hormazd Narielwalla

Talking Points: Alice Fox

Talking Points: Tatyana Antoun

Talking Points: Rahul Mishra

Talking Points: Pyer Moss

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Pathway: Cloth, thread, paint

This is featured in the ‘Cloth, Thread, Paint’ pathway

Talking Points: Frank Bowling

Talking Points: Hannah Rae

Talking Points: Alice Kettle

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Pathway: Stick Transformation project

This is featured in the ‘Stick Transformation Project’ pathway

Talking Points: treehouses

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the sculptures of Thomas J Price.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Thomas J Price

Thomas J Price is a sculptor who questions the types of people that have traditionally been made into a sculpture and displayed on a plinth. Price is interested in making sculptures of anonymous people – people who are no one and everyone at the same time. By doing this he asks us as viewers to question: What is the purpose of sculpture? How do my figures speak to you? 

Reaching Out

The Space In-Between 

Ordinary Men

Questions to Ask Children

What do you think that the artist is trying to say with the sculptures?

Do you like the sculptures?

How do you think the artist makes the sculptures?

Describe the different types of plinths that the artist uses.

Why do you think the artist has chosen different plinths for different sculptures?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: The Art of Display

This is featured in the ‘The Art of Display’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Find out how pupils can respond to artists work in sketchbooks

Show me what you see

Enable close looking and drawing with this exercise

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Sculpture, Drawing, Collage

Key Concepts:

• That there is a relationship between drawing & making – we can transform 2d to 3d.

• That we can use observational drawing and experimental mark-making together to make art.

• That we can work from similar stimulus or starting point but end up with very different individual results.

• That the individual results can then be brought together to make a whole artwork. 

In this pathway children continue to develop their understanding of sculpture and build their making skills.

The exploration starts with careful looking and drawing, and from this “grounded” basis children are encouraged to take creative risks by using experimental mark-making with a variety of media.

Children are then invited to explore how they can manipulate their drawings in an intuitive way to make 3d forms. Paper is twisted, folded, crumpled to become 3d and added to a simple structure. Children explore balance to finally created an individual bird.

The class birds can then be brought together to make a “flock” – with each child’s artwork valued as part of the whole.

Themes:
Birds, Wildlife, Local habitat

Medium:
Paper (sugar and cartridge), Soft pencils, wax crayons, watercolours, pastels, graphite, scissors, glue sticks, cardboard or foamboard, paper clips or wire.

Artists:
A variety (see resource)

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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Please find the CPD session recording of the Making Birds pathway here.

Find an In The Studio session recording exploring observational and experimental drawing of feathers here.

Curriculum Links

Geography: Use language which supports understanding about continents (migration), maps, habitats.  

Maths: Explore the relationship between 2D/3D shapes, weight, measuring. 

Science: Explore birds, habitats, seasons, food chain 

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

I Can…

• I can look carefully at photos and films of birds, take in the details and overall shapes, and then made drawings of what I have noticed.

• I can drawn from life looking closely.

• I can experiment with a variety of drawing materials and test ways to make marks that describe what I see.  

• I can use colour in my drawings and mix two or more different media together.

• I have looked at the work of other artists who have been inspired by birds and I can share my response to their work.

• I can fold, tear, crumple and collage paper to transform it from 2d to 3d.

• I can use a variety of materials to make my own sculpture, and I have taken on the challenge of making my sculpture balance and stand.

• I have seen how my sculpture can be part of a class artwork. I can see how all our sculptures are individual.

• I can share my work with my classmates and teachers, and consider what was successful for me.

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

Sketchbooks, soft pencils, coloured pencils, handwriting pens, oil/chalk pastels, feathers, A2 cartridge, sugar paper, newsprint. 

Project 1: Rubbings- Small objects, wax crayons. 

Project 2: Drawing Fur (adapt to feathers) – Feathers, pastels, soft pencils.  

Corrugated card or foamboard, wire or paper clips, glue sticks.

Pathway: Making Birds

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway aims to help children begin to understand the relationship between drawing and making, 2d and 3d. Pupils explore how to transform materials into sculpture, moving from mark making to balance and structure. 

• Week 1: Drawing as Research
  

  Drawing from Photographic Sources

  

  Visit the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Birds” resource to find films of birds shown in close-up.

  Pause the films at various points so that children can work in their sketchbooks to make drawings of birds.

  Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to features of the bird.

  Create momentum with the drawing by inviting pupils to make drawings of various timed lengths, before moving on to the next paused image/drawing.

  Experiment with a variety of media: soft B pencils, handwriting pens, pastels.

• Week 2: Developing Skills
  

  Drawing from Observation & Experimental Mark-Making

  

  Explore the “Feathers: Perfect for Mark-Making” resource.

  This time working from real feathers rather than photographic imagery, encourage the children to take creative risks and explore how they can draw feathers using a variety of mediums.

  Work in sketchbooks or on larger pieces of paper (A3) and experiment with how the paper size changes the nature of the mark-making (for example use sugar paper and cartridge paper).

  You might like to show pupils this work by artist Andrea Butler, in which Andrea shares how she uses the textures and colours within birds to inspire her artwork. 

• Week 3: Working Slowly Towards 3d
  

  Manipulating Paper from 2D to 3D

  

  Still working on paper, but this time on sheets of newsprint, sugar and cartridge paper, pupils will explore what happens when you fold, tear, crumple paper and start to manipulate it towards 3d forms. 

  Explore these three resources and decide which elements you would like to explore with your children:

  • Making Rubbings

  • Turning Paper Into Fur (adapt to feathers)

  • Manipulating Paper 2d into 3d

  Make sure you encourage playful exploration and celebrate invention. Pupils are not working towards a fixed outcome, instead they are developing making and creativity skills. 

• Week 4, 5: Watch & Make
  

  Explore Sculpture

  Pupils are now going to start making their sculptures.

  

  Watch the “What Is Sculpture” animation if you didn’t watch it with the class earlier in the year.

  

  Take a look at the free to access “Talking Points: Inspired by Birds” resource if you’d like to talk about how other artists have been inspired by birds. Work in sketchbooks guided by the “Show Me What You See” resource.

   

  

  Use the “Making Birds” resource to enable children to pull all their learning together and make small sculptures. 

• Week 6: Celebrate
  

  Reflect & Share

  Finally make time to display the birds as a “flock”. Here is an opportunity to talk about many pieces made by separate people can be exhibited as a single artwork.

  Use the “Crit” resource to help you explore how to talk about the work.

  

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Transform materials into birds

Challenge students to create sculptural birds

swoop

Explore birds and migration

flock

Create a school installation featuring a personalised bird from each child

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Sculpture, Drawing

Key Concepts:

• That when we make art in 3 dimensions it is often called Sculpture.

• That we can generate ideas through playful exploration.

• That we can build understanding of the properties of materials through manipulation.

• That making sculpture is a partnership between materials, ideas, hands and tools.

• That we can reflect upon our intention when we see our ideas made physical.

In this pathway children are introduced to what sculpture can be, and invited to explore the work of other sculptors whilst taking a playful and inventive approach to making their own sculptures.

The pathway encourages children to start voicing their response to sculptural artworks, including their own, and to give them time and space to explore properties of materials, and what happens when you join one or more materials together to construct new forms.

Theme:
Transformation & Invention

Medium:
Construction Materials (card, paper, wood, wire, string, fabric including recycled and found objects)

Artists:
Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Faith Bebbington, Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett

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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

Geography: Adapt the playful making approach to make sculptures of ports and harbours, towns, cities, villages, The Great Wall of China etc.

Maths: Uses language to support understanding of 2D/3D shapes, sequence, measuring, position & direction.

Science: Uses language to support understanding of properties and manipulation of materials.

PSHE: Collaboration, responsibility to the planet.

I Can…

• I have explored what we mean by “sculpture” and I thought about what I like about different pieces of sculpture.

• I can use my sketchbook to make drawings inspired by sculptures I have seen, to help me think about what I like, and to remember what I have seen. 

• I can use my hands to make small sculptures out of lots of different materials. I can bend, twist, fold, cut and fasten. 

• I can use my hands to make sculptures without designing first. I can just see what happens if…

• I can discover that sometimes working with materials is hard work – things break or my fingers hurt – but that is all ok!

• I can share my work and listen to what other people like about it. 

• I can look at other people’s work and sometimes share what I like about it with them. 

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

A3 Sugar paper, handwriting pens.  

Construction Materials (see list here )

Pathway: Playful Making

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway aims to introduce children to the idea of Design through Making: a playful approach to exploring materials and constructing sculpture. 

• Week 1. Introduce the idea of “Sculpture”
  

  What Is Sculpture?

  Use the “What Is Sculpture?” resource to introduce children to the idea that when we make art in 3 dimensions it is often called Sculpture.

• Talk
  

  Enable Children to Be Curious & Articulate

  Use the animation above as a starting point to talk about Sculpture made by Sculptors.

  Use the artworks and questions on the free to access “Talking Points: Introduction to Sculpture” to help children explore sculpture made by other artists. 

  

  Explore the work of artists Linda Bell and Nnena Kalu through free to access “Talking Points: Linda Bell” and “Talking Points: Nnena Kalu“.

• Work in Sketchbooks
  

  Show Me What You See

  Invite pupils to make drawings of the sculptures using the free to access “Talking Points: Introduction to Sculpture” resource above. Create drawings in sketchbooks inspired by the videos and images using “Show Me What You See“. 

  

  Remember that children are using drawing as a way of collecting information and adding their own thoughts. They can also add words etc (no need for sentences). 

  Remember there is no need/requirement to add learning objectives to sketchbooks or to mark the pages in any way. 

• Week 2. Start Making
  

  The AccessArt Making Prompt Cards

  Time to let the children explore materials and tools and connect hand, heart and head. Before you introduce children to this activity, watch “Design through Making“.

   

  

  In this warm up session, introduce children to “The AccessArt Making Prompt Cards” a wide range of materials and invite them to make in a playful way without a predefined outcome in mind. 

  Openly invite the children to explore the materials without “knowing” what they will make (“We are going to be explorers and inventors…”). This comes easy to young children and we tend to grow out of it as we get older – but it’s an important skill to acknowledge and retain. 

  Collect together materials on the materials list in the Teacher notes column, and choose one or more of the prompts. 

  

  At the end of the session, tidy the room and clear a space to show the “sculptures” made. Remember these are just “doodles” of materials – and are the first stage in exploring the properties of materials, and how we can connect and combine to make new objects. 

  Ask the children to try to guess the prompt card used, and to talk about the sculptures as a class. 

• Week 3 & 4. Find Your Focus
  

  Make Your Sculpture

  Choose from one of the projects below, or adapt a similar approach to your own area of focus/curriculum theme.

   

  

  All the resources below share the common aim of enabling children to explore materials, simple tools and their ideas, with plenty of freedom to play and invent. 

  Give children plenty of time and space to explore, take creative risks, discover and share, without working towards a predefined outcome. Encourage and celebrate individuality.

  Have sketchbooks open on tables and encourage children to make notes (whatever form they take), and record and reflect.

• Project 1
  

  Creativity Medals

  

  Jan Miller is an Art and Design Technology teacher and magazine editor with 25 years’ experience. Invite children to create imaginative and unique “Creativity Medals” using recycled materials.

• 
  

  Or…

• Project 2
  

  Making a Roller Coaster

  

  KS1 children use their imaginations and sense of fun to collaborate to create a “Model Roller Coaster” with moving parts. 

• 
  

  Or…

• Projects 3 & 4
  

  Boats That Float & Sea Creatures

  Both these projects were illustrated with older children, but they follow the same playful making approach. Adapt by keeping tools simpler (ie scissors, but no pliers or glue guns).

  Boats That Float 

  Sea Creatures

• Week 5/6
  

  Presenting, Talking, Sharing, Documenting & Celebrating

  

  Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

  Invite children to display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they are in a gallery. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hardwork.

  If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams. Think about how the work is lit and what it is displayed on. Encourage them to feel able to change the background, turn the sculpture around etc. Explore how children can take high quality photographs of 3d artwork with this resource.

  Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project. 

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

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Making shells

Create shells out of recycled materials

Cardboard challenge

Get children thinking about how they can make something stand

See This Resource Used in Schools

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Pathway: Expressive Painting

This is featured in the ‘Expressive Painting’ pathway

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Drawing, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

• That drawing is a physical and emotional activity. That when we draw, we can move our whole body.

• That we can control the lines we make by being aware of how we hold a drawing tool, how much pressure we apply, and how fast or slow we move.

• That we can draw from observation or imagination.
  

• That we can use colour to help our drawings engage others.

In this pathway children are enabled to build an understanding about the way they can make marks on a drawing surface. They explore how the way they hold a drawing tool, and move their bodies, will affect the drawings they make. 

Children will begin to explore mark-making and experiment with how they can use the marks they make in their drawings. 

They are introduced to the fact that they can make drawings as a result of observation, without a seen subject matter. (i.e. from action or imagination) and that they can make drawings as a result of observation. Through their drawings children are able to talk about what they can see and how it makes them feel. 

The focus of the exploration is around spirals – an ancient symbol which we all recognise, and which lends itself to conversations around growth, movement and structure. 

Children are introduced to sketchbooks as a place of personal exploration, and enabled to make a sketchbook or personalise a bought sketchbook. 

Themes:
Pattern, Structure, Movement, Growth, The Human Body, Sound 

Medium:
Graphite stick or soft B pencil, Handwriting Pen, Pastels & Chalk, Paper, (Sketchbook Making Task: Paper, string, elastic bands, glue)

Artists: Molly Haslund

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!

“To paint a line for a minute and walk with it was something I had never done before, and it made me think a lot about how good simple things can be.” Chris Ofili

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

See the recording of the hour long zoom CPD to introduce teachers to this pathway.

Curriculum Links

Science: Uses language to support understanding of concepts of growth, human body and natural forms.

Maths: Explores pattern, symmetry.

PSHE: Peer discussion, collaboration

I Can…

• I can draw from my finger tips, my wrist, my elbow, my shoulder, my body.

• I can make a drawing using a continuous line for a minute or two.

• I have made a sketchbook (or perhaps decorated the cover of a bought sketchbook) and I feel like it belongs to me.

• I can draw from observation for a few minutes at a time.

• I can make different marks with different drawing tools. I have seen the different marks I can make with a soft pencil, a graphite stick and a handwriting pen.

• I have explored how water affects the graphite and pen, and explored how I can use a brush to make new marks.

• I can make choices about which colours I’d like to use in my drawing.

• I have seen the work of an artist and listened to how the artist made the work. I have been able to share how I feel about the work. 

• I can talk about what I like in my drawings, and what I’d like to try again.

• I can take photos of my artwork.

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

A2 newsprint, A2 cartridge or black paper, sugar paper (torn into squares), soft pencils, graphite sticks, chalk, handwriting pens, or graphite, sticks, coloured card, cardboard, recycled/scrap paper, elastic bands.

Pathway: Spirals

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway aims to introduce children to the idea that making a drawing is a physical activity which uses the whole body and connects head, hand and heart. 

   

• Week 1: Make drawings using your body
  

  Making Spiral Drawings

  

  Invite children to use their whole body to create large scale “Spiral Drawings“.

  Use soft B pencils or graphite sticks. Work on large A2 sheets of paper (newsprint is fine).

  Invite students to experiment with different materials – graphite sticks, soft B pencils, handwriting pens, chalks.

  • Create large scale drawings.

  • Make spiral drawings to music.

  • Stand up and work in the playground using chalk. 

  • Juxtapose emotions eg.  ‘Create a quiet spiral… then create a LOUD spiral.’ Invite children to tune into how they are feeling and create a spiral that reflects their mood.

• Look & Talk
  

  Molly Haslund: Outdoor Drawings

  

  Explore our free to access “Talking Points: Molly Haslund” to discover an artist who makes drawings outside using her body as a drawing tool. Pause the videos and invite children to create drawings using the “Show me what you See” method.

  Fast engineering challenge: Respond to Molly Haslund’s work by asking children to make a tool that creates a circle when it has a drawing material attached. Use sticks, card, cardboard, tape, twine, straws etc.

  Juxtapose children’s exploration by looking at the work of women who make kolam in front of their homes every morning in the “Talking Points: The Ancient Art of Kolam” resource.

• Week 2: Develop your drawings
  

  Make Snail Drawings

  

  Create a “Snail Drawing” on a large square of white cartridge paper or black sugar paper, using chalk and oil pastels.

  This exercise explores different qualities of line, colour blending, mark making and makes a wonderful mounting piece. 

• Week 3: Introduce sketchbooks and either make your own sketchbook or personalise a bought sketchbook
  

  Make an Elastic Band Sketchbook

  It’s important that children feel a sense of ownership with their sketchbooks. Invite children to create their own elastic band sketchbooks using recycled paper and card. These sketchbooks will create an ideal platform for exploration and creative risk taking. Ask children to decorate the cover using collage.

• Or personalise a bought sketchbook to nurture ownership
  

  Making Spaces and Places in a Sketchbook

  “Make Spaces and Places in a Sketchbook” to change the way children use their sketchbooks and help to develop sketchbook techniques in future sessions.

  In the next session children will start working in their sketchbooks. 

• Week 4 & 5: Two drawing exercises
  

  Two Exercises to Encourage Close Looking & Experimental Mark-Making

  Working in a sketchbook, invite children to try the following two drawing exercises below.

  Continue with the spiral exploration by applying drawing skills to making observational drawings of shells.

  Where possible work from real shells, making sure each child can clearly see what they are drawing. If you do not have real shells then you can work from “Drawing Source Materials: Shells“.

  Do the exercises alongside the children (to model your own open exploration), or before the lesson so that you understand how it feels.

  By the end of this session children will have completed a number of  line drawings in their sketchbooks. 

• Exercise One
  

  Observational Drawing: Continuous Line

  Start the session by creating a calm meditative environment. Use this exercise to create “Observational Drawings using Continuous Line“. Encourage careful observation and intentional mark making. 

  Depending on how much time you would like to allocate to the warm up, you may want to ask children to experiment with scale, different materials, dominant and non dominant hand. 

• Exercise Two
  

  Experimental Mark-Making with Water Soluble Pens

  Adapt this resource and experiment with “Mark Making with Water Soluble Pens“

  Rather than try the whole resource which was originally written for older children, focus upon enabling the children to see what happens when they add water to observational drawings made using a handwriting pen (check first that the pen you use is water-soluble) or water-soluble graphite. How are the marks changed by the water? 

  As the children may not have experience of the colour wheel yet, strip this activity back to focus on the line, texture, and light and dark areas. 

• Week 6: Celebrate
  

  Share, reflect, discuss

  

  Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

  Invite children to display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they are in a gallery. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hardwork.

  If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams.

  You might like to get children to assemble the snail drawings made in Week 2 into a “class” Backwards Sketchbook.

  Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit”.

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Letting shape and colour co-exist

Layer chalk, pastel and pencil to use shapes intuitively

Backwards forwards drawing

Develop understanding and knowledge of subject matter through careful observation

A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing in schools and community groups. 

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

Shells

Use the films below to enable children to explore drawing shells. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause the video 4 times and ask the pupils to make a 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute drawing at each pause. 

Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to qualities of the shells.

Try the same exercise using different materials, ie handwriting pen, ink and nib, pastel, watercolour…

Charles Dessalines

Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt

Common Triton Horns, Charonia tritonis (1596-1610) by Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt. Original from the Rijksmuseum. 

George Shaw

Tritonian murex or Sea trumpet illustration from The Naturalist's Miscellany (1789-1813) by George Shaw (1751-1813)

You May Also Like…

Pathway: Spirals

This is featured in the ‘Spirals’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the ways in which artists are inspired by birds.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Artists often draw parallels with other lives/beings to help us learn about ourselves. The resources below explore how artists take inspiration from birds, not so much visually but by drawing parallels between behaviour of birds and ourselves.

Conference for the Birds by Marcus Coates

Conference for the Birds celebrates the lives of the birds Thomas Bewick depicted in his wood engravings. His book ‘A History of British Birds’ first published in 1797 was a comprehensive guide to both the appearance and behaviour of birds.

The birds, played by wildlife experts, discuss topics from migration to predation, with each species speaking about the challenges they face day to day. By exploring the lives of the birds that Bewick studied and depicted, this artwork attempts to reveal how we, when speaking from the position of another animal like a bird, rely on subjective experience to relate across to this alien perspective. –  Kate Macgary

Marcus Coates, Conference of the Birds, 2019, (excerpt) Film by Kate MacGarry

Questions to Ask Children

What kinds of challenges might birds face?

How do you think it would feel to be sharing a space with the installation?

How does it make you feel? What does it make you think? 

How do you think the artist made the heads?

Migrations: Open Hearts Open Borders

The Migrations project started when word was sent out to illustrators asking them to create an image for the front of a postcard (plus appropriate text on the reverse) on the theme of ‘migration’. The project’s aim was to ‘express support for and solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of human migrants who face immense difficulties and dangers in their struggle to find a better and safer place to live.’ When asking for postcards, the organisers stated ‘Do not be concerned about possible damage to the card that you will mail to us. The stamp, the journey of the mail and all it entails will reflect the fragility and the precarious nature of migration.’ – AOI

Questions to Ask Children

Why do you think that birds were used as a symbol in this project?

What do you like about this project?

Why do you think that they asked lots of illustrators across the world to join in with this project?

How does it make you feel? What does it make you think?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

This is featured in the ‘Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Find out how pupils can respond to artists work in sketchbooks

Show me what you see

Enable close looking and drawing with this exercise

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Printing, Collaging, Drawing

Key Concepts:

• That artists can use art as a way to express their opinions, using their skills to speak for sectors of society.

• That artists acting as activists often use print because it allows them to duplicate and distribute their message.

• That a carefully chosen image can be a powerful way to communicate as it is direct and crosses boundaries of language.

• That through art as activism we can come together. 

In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that they can use art as a way of sharing their passions and interests with their peers and community. We start by introducing pupils to artists who are activists, and then we go on to help pupils identify and voice the things they care about as individuals. 

There is then a choice of projects: the class can either make posters or zines, using using collage, print and drawing.

Medium:
Paper, Pen, Paint

Artists: Luba Lukova, Faith Ringgold, Shepard Fairey

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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

History: Look at the messaging from WW2 posters.

Science: Environmental changes, deforestation.

PSHE: Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion, Different Religions, Ethnic Identity.

I Can…

• I have seen how artists use their skills to make art which speaks about things which matter, often on behalf of whole communities.

• I have explored how I can find out what I care about, and find ways I might share my ideas with us.

• I have seen how my classmates may have different things they care about, or share things we care about, but they are all valid.

• I can create visuals and text which communicate my message.

• I can use line, shape and colour to make my artwork.

• I can use typography to make my messages stand out. 

• I can combine different techniques such as print, collage and drawing.

• I can reflect and articulate about my own artwork and artwork made by my classmates.

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

Soft B pencils, handwriting pens, sharpies.

Option 1: Make a Poster – Wall paper samples, white acrylic paint, PVA glue.
(For the screen printing) – Masking tape, silk screen mesh, printing ink, printing medium, newsprint, cartridge paper or other printable surface, pen/pencil, craft knives (optional), masking tape, cardboard for palette and squeegee, bucket, A4 Acetate sheets and pva glue (optional).

Option 2: The Art of Zines – Large sheet of cartridge paper, collage papers, newspaper, PVA glue.

Pathway: Print & Activism

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway introduces pupils to the idea that artists can use their skills, vision and creativity to speak on behalf of communities, changing the world for the better. 

• Week 1: Introduction
  

  The Relationship Between Print & Activism

  We begin by introducing pupils to the idea that art can be used to express the opinions of artists, who in turn speak for sectors of society. Artists can be activists, and many artists choose print as a way to make their art, as it allows them to reproduce their artwork so that it can reach many people. 

  Choose one or more of the artists below to introduce to your class, depending on the project option you choose. 

• Introduce an Artist Activist
  

  Luba Lukova

  Use free to access “Talking Points: Luba Lukova“ to explore a designer who uses posters as a way to address injustice in the world. Use the questions at the bottom of the resource to help guide a discussion about the artists approach. 

• Introduce an Artist Activist
  

  Faith Ringgold

  Use free to access “Talking Points: Faith Ringgold” resource to explore an artist who makes painted quilts to communicate personal narratives, history and politics. Use the questions at the bottom of the resource to help guide a discussion about the artists approach.

• Introduce an Artist Activist
  

  Kate DeCiccio

  

  Use the free to access “Talking Points: Kate DeCiccio” to explore how posters can be used to communicate important messages within different communities.

• Find Your Voice…
  

  What Do YOU Care About?

  

  What do you care about? What is your message to the world? Sometimes it can be hard to find the right words, or be brave enough to say them outloud.

  The “Find Your Message” resource will help pupils to find their passion and their message, and enable them to communicate it in their own way. 

  Work in sketchbooks or on large sheets of paper. Work alone or in small groups of people you trust. 

  This activity will encourage children to start exploring who they really are, before they take their next steps to secondary school.

• Week 2,3,4 & 5
  

  Find your focus

  Decide whether you would like to explore pupil voice by making posters or making zines, and follow the pathways below.  

• Option 1
  

  Make a Poster

  This pathway shares how you can make a poster about something you care about. 

• Look and Talk
  

  Shepard Fairey

  

  Introduce discussions about street art and activism in the classroom using free to access “Talking Points: Shepard Fairey“.

• Make
  

  Create a Poster Inspired by Shepard Fairey

  

  Use the “Creating a poster inspired by Shepard Fairey” resource. Children will begin by collaging their own canvas and go on to create their poster design, through stencil, collage or screen print.

• 
  

  Screen Print Hack

  

  If you decide that you’d like to revisit screen print with the children or they haven’t had the opportunity to screen print before, here is a video for our “Screen Print Hack” to support this facilitation. 

  Children can also use collage and stencilling as a way to create their posters.

• 
  

  Or…

• Option 2:
  

  Make a Zine

  Use the following resources to inspire pupils to make a zine.

• Introduce
  

  Talking Points: What is a Zine?

  

  Use the free to access “Talking Points: What is a Zine?” to explore the purpose of Zines. 

• Be Inspired
  

  The Art of Zines

  See how older pupils made zines about things they cared about in the “Art of Zines” resource.

• Make
  

  Make a Simple Folded Sketchbook

  

  Use the “Simple Folded Sketchbook” resource as basis for your zine.

• Collage
  

  Fill your Zine

  

  Children may want to begin their zines by “starting with magazine imagery“.

  Supply children with a variety of magazine imagery which can be used to communicate their message.

  Invite children to modify their chosen imagery, by cutting, folding, sticking and juxtaposing whilst thinking about the composition of their zine pages. Images can be photocopied in black and white and drawn/painted over.

  Encourage experimentation and exploration of how best to communicate their message through text and word. 

• Week 6
  

  Share, reflect, discuss

  

  Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

  Invite children to display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they are in a gallery. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hardwork.

  Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project. 

See This Pathway Used In Schools

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

an exploration of artwork by Shepard Fairey

Take inspiration from Fairey’s methods of production and use of imagery to make work

Screen Prints Inspired by Shepard Fairey

Enjoy these examples of activist screen prints

Screen Prints Mesh Hack in Action

See the screen print mesh hack in action

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the fashion label Pyer Moss.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Pyer Moss

Pyer Moss (pronounced ‘Pierre’) founder Kerby Jean-Raymond grew up in Brooklyn, the son of Haitian immigrants, and has been engaging with the fashion industry since his teenage years, interning at 14, starting a label at 15. Now in his 30s, Jean-Raymond has been at the helm of Pyer Moss since 2013, naming it for his mother. After a long-standing collaborative relationship with Reebok, Jean-Raymond was announced as the vice president of creative direction for the sportswear behemoth in late September 2020. 

See more collections on the Pyer Moss website.

Please be aware that the Pyer Moss website contains some inappropriate language for Primary ages so ensure that you check pages and content before showing the class.

Questions to Ask Children

What do you like/dislike about the garments in Pyer Moss’ collection?

Where might you wear these clothes?

How do these clothes differ from the other garments you’ve explored throughout this half term?

Would you like to wear these clothes?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Fashion Design

This is featured in the ‘Fashion Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of fashion graduate Alice Fox.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Alice Fox

Alice Fox is a Fashion Graduate from Norwich University of the Arts.

Her final year collection is inspired by 1960 seaside resorts. Alice’s garments are influenced by old family photos, deckchairs and fairground rides. These items informed the shapes and fabrics used within the collection.

Questions to Ask Children

How does this collection make you feel?

How would you describe the colour palette?

What do you like/dislike about the garments?

Which materials do you think Alice used to make her collection?  How/why do you think she made these choices?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Fashion Design

This is featured in the ‘Fashion Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of fashion designer Rahul Mishra.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Rahul Mishra

Rahul Mishra runs a sustainable couture brand that works with handmade techniques to empower the craftsmen in New Delhi.

Rahul Mishra is the first Indian designer to showcase at the Paris Haute Couture Week. 

Explore more garments on Mishra’s website.

Questions to Ask Children

How does this fashion film make you feel?

Why do you think that designers create fashions films?

Which outfit did you like in particular and why?

What kind of atmosphere does Mishra’s collection capture?

Did you see any details on the garments? What do these add to the overall garment?

What materials do you think Mishra has used in the collection?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Fashion Design

This is featured in the ‘Fashion Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of fashion designer Tatyana Antoun.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Tatyana Antoun

Tatyana Antoun is a fashion designer from Beirut, Lebanon. Tatyana’s collection ‘Vamata’ explores the social restrictions in Lebanon. Her work is heavily influenced by 80’s power dressing and the Club Kids of New York during the 90’s.

Find out more about Tatyana’s collection in her “Which Artists?” post. 

Questions to Ask Children

Which garment is your favourite? Why?

Why do you think that Tatyana Antoun selected the chosen fabrics for her garments?

What do you think about the shapes that have been created in the garments?

Would you wear any of these garments? Where might you wear them?

What atmosphere does the fashion video capture?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Fashion Design

This is featured in the ‘Fashion Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see