A collection of sources and imagery to explore the tradition of Guatemalan Worry Dolls.
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.
Guatemalan Worry Dolls
You may wish to show pupils the video above from 2.25 minutes onwards if there are any anxious children in the class.
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of animation directors Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata.
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.
Tiny Inventions
Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata are award-winning animation directors. They often combining handcrafted art, CG animation, drawn animation, stop-motion and photographic effects. Since 2008, Max & Ru have been working together as “Tiny Inventions”.
Watch this video to see how Max and Ru made the animation Negative Space.
(The animation below contains themes of death.)
See the main animation to find out how the set came to life.
Questions to Ask Children
How does the set make you feel?
Do you like like the set?
What about the set draws your attention?
What materials do you think the directors may have used to make the set?
How long do you think it might have taken to build this sets for an animation?
How many different sets can you spot in the animation?
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of set designer Rae Smith.
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.
Rae Smith
Rae Smith is a British set and costume designer.
Smith worked as set designer on War Horse, a stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel about a horse on the Western Front of the First World War.
To prepare for the role Smith reviewed personal recollections, photographs and archives from the period, held at the Imperial War Museum. A key theme was the use of the backdrop as a giant sheet of paper from one of the characters sketchbooks, onto which she projected images that might have been drawn by the character.
Please Note: If you ask students to research the artist on computers, the ‘sketchbooks’ section of her website contains some inappropriate content for children.
Find the drawings and mock ups of Rae Smiths set here.
Watch this video to find out how Rae Smith starts work on a new project.
Warhorse Animation Montage
“Working with the drawings by show designer Rae Smith, and creating new digital content, we were able to create an animated sketch book that travels from idyllic Devon to the horror of WWI battlefields.” – Peter Stenhouse, Animator
Questions to Ask Children
How do Smith’s drawings make you feel?
Describe the atmosphere of the set. How do you think this has been achieved?
What materials do you think the artist used?
Does this make you think of set design in a different way?
What do you think the role of ‘set designer’ entails?
That watercolour paint has special characteristics.
That we can use the elements of surprise and accident to help us create art.
That we can develop our painting by reflecting upon what we see, and adding new lines and shapes to help develop imagery.
In this pathway children are introduced to watercolour. Through an open and exploratory approach, children not only discover what watercolour can do, how it acts and how they can “control” it, but also how the watercolour itself can help reveal the “story” of the painting.
Themes: Exploration, Discovery
Medium: Watercolour
Artists: Paul Klee, Emma Burleigh
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!
Geography: Adapt by choosing colour palettes which link with topics, e.g. blues/greens, for an exploration of imagery which evokes oceans. (The emphasis should remain on exploration of material, so any theme link should be applied lightly).
Maths: Explore identifying 2d shapes.
Music: Explore the connection between art & music and being in a mindful space.
I Can…
I can explore watercolour and understand the different effects I can achieve.
I can work without an end goal in mind – letting the paint lead me.
I have had the opportunity to see the work of other artists who use watercolour and share my thoughts about their work.
I can name and use primary colours and begin to understand how colours mix to make secondary colours.
I can understand that we all see different things in the artwork we make. We all have a different response.
I can think about the marks I make and develop them further.
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.
This pathway aims to enable children to enjoy a freeing exploration of watercolour, building their understanding of the properties of the medium, and opening minds as to how imagery can be created.
Week 1: Exploring Watercolour
Hands-On Exploration: What Can Watercolour Do?
Working on sheets of paper or in sketchbooks, start with an exploration of what watercolour can do. Give children the opportunity to discover for themselves the way watercolour acts, and to decide what they like about it as a medium.
Take the opportunity to remind children about the names of colours, and to highlight primary colours, BUT let them explore all colours – they will start to understand colour mixing through casual experience and accident.
In the first instance the children aren’t drawing anything, instead they are just mark making with watercolour on paper. The journey is as important as the outcome.
To aid your exploration take a look at the following resources:
The two videos above are made for slightly older children. Watch as a teacher to build your skill, and decide if you want to show any sections directly to your pupils.
Temple Gardens (1920) by Paul Klee. Original from The MET Museum
Explore our free to access “Talking Points: Paul Klee” resource, and see the work of Emma Burleigh (who made the videos above). Talk as a class about your shared and individual responses to the work.
Use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to encourage children to fill a couple of sketchbook pages with their personal responses to the artworks.
Week 3: Developing Skills
Building Imagery Through Watercolour
Working on larger sheets of cartridge paper, children will continue to explore the kinds of marks that can be made with watercolour and the various techniques that can be used, this time working towards developing imagery from the imagination.
Depending upon your pupils, develop the work and skills in the following ways:
If pupils need more time, allow them more time to work on the paintings they did in the previous week.
If pupils have “finished”, invite them to make another painting using the same exploratory method, this time perhaps choosing different colours as a starting point.
Consider playing music in the classroom as the children paint. How does it change the energy levels and mood of the work?
If you are connecting this pathway to a curriculum theme, such as Continents, Oceans, Maps, Weather, Cities, Villages, Plants, Animals etc, then you may want to introduce the idea that children can explore these themes through watercolour painting BUT keep the exploration loose and open: don’t try to resist their exploration of the medium by controlling a desired “recognisable” end result.
If you have some pupils who might like to push it further, watch “Part Three” from Emma Burleigh in which she works into dry watercolours with pen, pencils, crayons etc to build the image further.
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.
If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams.
A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to the work of Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky.
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.
Kandinsky and Responding to Music
Teacher’s Notes
“Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” – Vassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter born in 1866. Kandinsky was gifted with the neurological phenomenon ‘synesthesia’ which allowed him to associate music with colours. Kandinsky is considered a pioneer of abstraction in western art.
Take a close look at these paintings, talking about them as a class, and using the questions to help deepen looking.
That there is a relationship between plate and print: e.g. negative / positive.
That we can use print to create “multiples”
That we can explore line, shape, colour and texture to explore pattern, sequence, symmetry and intention.
This pathway invites children to explore the world about them as a way to begin to understand the concept of “print”.
Children use their own bodies, then things they collect around them, to create a variety of prints. They use their hands and feet to make prints, and they take rubbings of textures from the environment around them. They make “plates” by making impressions in plasticine, and then by using printing foam.
They explore how they can build up images by creating multiples, and use line, shape, colour and texture to explore pattern, sequencing and symmetry.
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!
Science: Adapt and use plants, trees, leaves, food chains, animals as inspiration to draw and make printed patterns.
PSHE: Peer discussion.
I Can…
I can make simple prints using my hands and feet.
I can explore my environment and take rubbings of textures I find.
I can use my rubbings to make an image.
I can push objects I find into plasticine and make prints.
I can cut shapes out of foam board and stick them on a block to make a plate. I can print from the plate.
I can draw into the surface of the foam board and print from the plate.
I can use colour, shape, and line to make my prints interesting.
I can create a repeat print.
I can create a symmetrical or sequenced print.
I can use my sketchbook to collect my prints and test ideas.
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
Ready mixed paints, large sheets of cardboard (maybe primed with white paint), brushes, trays, soft pencils, handwriting pens, chalk, flowers for observation, collected objects (shells, leaves, twigs etc), wax crayons, plasticine, ink pads, printing foam, water soluble printing ink, small pieces of thick card, scrap sugar paper, glue, rollers.
This pathway aims to introduce children to the idea that we can make single or multiple copies of an image through print.
Using simple methods to obtain relief prints, pupils explore the materials around them to understand how we can use repetition, pattern, colour, line, shape, and texture to make images.
Week 1: Printing with your Body
Hands, Feet and Flowers
Begin an exploration of printmaking using the “Hand, Feet and Flowers” resource to explore other ways of printing patterns using our bodies. This activity can work outdoors on a large scale but can also work well on tables in small groups.
Through this activity pupils directly experience what it means to make a “print”, discover how much paint they need and how much pressure they might apply. Children can use primary paint colours, start using the names of the colours, and they can also use ready mixed paint in other colours.
In this resource, pupils overlay their printed imagery with drawn imagery based upon flowers. You can choose if you proceed to this second activity, or if you prefer to leave the work as prints only, or if you wish to apply another theme or focus, i.e. draw hands, insects, etc.
Week 2: Making Rubbings
Taking Rubbings & Making Compositions
This week focus upon how you can make prints by rubbing dry materials such as wax crayon or pencil crayon, over textured objects.
Encourage children to “think like an explorer” and venture into the classroom and playground to collect textures and objects which they can take rubbings from. Make sure children take rubbings from things around them like the ground, as well as from things which you can lift up and bring back to the classroom, like leaves.
Invite children to use the rubbings to make a composition, working in a sketchbook or on large sheets. Adapt the “Taking Rubbings & Making Compositions” Resource.
Week 3, 4 & 5: Explore & Develop
Exploring Relief Printing
Over the next few weeks, explore the following printing methods, continuing as far into the exploration as pupils are able.
Give pupils plenty of time for discovery, experimentation and practice.
As pupils travel further along the journey they will learn new skills and discover more about how to use their prints to explore pattern and intention.
Method 1: Plasticine Print
Explore How Plasticine Can Be Used to Print
Use the “Printing with Plasticine” resource to further explore how we can use the things we find around us to create impressions in plasticine which we can then print from.
Collect shells, feathers, leaves, twigs, string, coins, lego etc, and invite the children to explore what happens when we push them into plasticine. What kinds of marks does each object leave in the plasticine?
Using ink pads with which to print means the plasticine will pick up even fine detail.
Once children have created a number of “prints” they can cut them out and stick them in their sketchbooks.
Once pupils have created a number of prints, they can then cut into their prints and collage with them on a larger sheet of paper, thinking about more abstract concepts like pattern and repetition, or using the printed elements to build an image related to a theme, such as architecture or insects or plants.
Support with Drawing
Observational Drawing
Support the creation of prints with close observation and careful drawing using the “Continuous Line Drawing Exercise“. Invite pupils to use a subject matter which informs the creation of prints, and work in sketchbooks.
Invite children to display the work in a clear space on tables or on the wall. Encourage positive language and a celebration of all their hard work! Recap with children about the exploration – where they started, what they discovered and what they enjoyed.
If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams.
See the Pathway Used in Schools…
If You Use AccessArt Resources… You might like to…
That artists use a variety of media often combining it in inventive ways, to capture the energy and spirit of land or city scapes.
That artists often work outside (plein air) so that all their senses can be used to inform the work.
That as artists we are able to experiment with materials, combining them to see what happens. We can feel free and safe to take creative risks, without fear of getting things “wrong”.
We can share our artistic discoveries with, and be inspired by each other.
We can use sketchbooks to focus this exploration and we do not always need to create an “end result” – sometimes the exploratory journey is more than enough.
In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that artists don’t just work in studios – instead they get out into the world and draw and paint from life, inspired by the land and city scapes where they live. Pupils also see how artists use their creative freedom to explore ways of working which involve different materials and media.
Pupils extend and adapt existing sketchbooks so that they can make drawings/paintings at different scales and ratios. They are enabled to take creative risks, explore and experiment, without the pressure of having to “produce” an end result.
Pupils are given the freedom to use mixed medium in ways which suit them and their subject matter.
Medium: Graphite stick or soft B pencil, Handwriting Pen, Pastels & Chalk, Paper, (Sketchbook Making Task: Paper, string, elastic bands, glue)
Artists: Vanessa Gardiner, Shoreditch Sketcher, Kittie Jones, Saoirse Morgan
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!
Geography: Link your landscapes to your chosen topic e.g. cities in the Northern hemisphere, settlements and land use, digital mapping.
Science: Local habitat, Environmental changes.
PSHE: Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.
I Can…
I have seen how artists respond to land and city scapes in various ways by using inventive mixed media combinations.
I have seen how artists work outside amongst the land and city scapes which inspire them, and how they use all their senses to capture the spirit of the place. I have been able to share my response to their work.
I can extend my sketchbook thinking creatively about how I can change the pages giving myself different sizes and shapes of paper to work on.
I can use my sketchbook to explore and experiment. I have taken creative risks and been able to reflect upon what worked and what didn’t work.
I have continued my exploratory work outside the sketchbooks, bringing my “sketchbook way of thinking” to larger sheets of paper.
I can share my journey and discoveries with others and am able to reflect upon what I have learnt.
I can appreciate and be inspired by the work of my classmates, and I can share my response to their work.
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
Soft B pencils, handwriting pens, sharpies, coloured pencils, oil/chalk pastels, charcoal, water colour, acrylic paint, ink, assorted papers and envelopes, glue.
Use “Making Visual Notes” to help pupils record and reflect on the artists’ work, and identify the things which might be of interest in their own work.
The idea here is to add pages of different sizes and ratios. Use cartridge paper or neutral sugar paper so that it can take a variety of media next week.
Make some pages which are long and thin and can fold back into the book accordian style. Make other pages fat and wide. Encourage pupils to think creatively about how they can extend their sketchbook ready for the next few weeks.
Again use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to get pupils to think about the chosen artists approach approach in sketchbooks.
Time to Experiment & Create
Exploring Mixed Media
With the emphasis on exploration and experimentation, ensure pupils work in sketchbooks, or if it feels right towards the end of the project on larger sheets of paper, to discover how they can use different combinations of media to capture the energy and spirit of place.
Use the “Mixed Media Landscape Challenges” resource to inspire and enable their exploration. Allow children to take their time and give them the space to explore as many of the challenges as feels right. We recommend structuring the challenges so all pupils do the same challenge at the same time.
Ideally pupils will be able to draw outside, in whatever your local habitat is – the school grounds, or a local park. Try to work outside for at least one session, but if this is not possible or you wish to draw from a different kind of land or city scape (for example to link in with a curriculum theme) then pupils can draw from image or film.
You may like to use the free to access resources below as source imagery – or find your own.
Take inspiration from the ‘Graphite Sketches‘ resource and encourage pupils to explore perspective, tone and mark-making using water-soluble graphite and brushes.
If you wish to extend or challenge:
Introduction to Watercolour
You may wish to use the “Introduction to Watercolour” resource if you wish to steer pupils towards a final outcome using watercolour. However, we’d emphasis that this isn’t necessary and a great deal of skills will have been learnt through the above exploration.
Week 6: Present & Share
Share, Reflect, Discuss
Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.
Display the work in a clear space, with sketchbooks open on desks – encouraging pupils to carefully and respectfully look in each others books. Walk around the work as if you were in a gallery. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hard work.
If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work.
You might like to assemble any loose drawings made on sheets into a Backwards Sketchbook.
That artists sometimes use sound to inspire their work.
That artists sometimes work in partnership with musicians.
That we can use both aural and visual senses to make art.
That we can draw from our imagination, using lots of different kinds of abstract marks to express our feelings, whether they are quiet and focussed, or loud and expressive.
That we can be inventive and make objects in 3 dimensions which make sounds, and which we want to interact with as humans.
In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that artists often work in partnership and are often inspired by other art forms – in this case music and the visual arts.
Children explore how other artists have used sound to inspire their artwork, and then go on to experiment with how they can use their mark making skills to both be influenced by, and to capture, the expression in music.
Children then explore making skills to collage or make inventive instruments, creating a class “orchestra”.
Medium: Paper, Drawing Materials, Paint, Construction Materials
Artists: Kandinsky, Various “Projection Mapping” artists
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!
Geography: Adapt the music you listen and draw to, according to geographical region or continent to help develop sense of place.
Science: The 5 senses, the human body, materials.
Music: Rhymes and chants, musical instruments, combining sounds.
PSHE: Explore the music made from instruments from other countries, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.
I Can…
I have seen how some artists are inspired by other artforms such as music. I can share my response to their work, and listen to others.
I can listen to sounds, and use my mark making skills to make marks in response.
I can draw from observation whilst listening to a piece of music, and let the music inspire my drawing.
I can use my imagination and work on a larger scale to make drawings of imaginative instruments, or I can use my hands to invent musical instruments made from construction materials.
I can share my work with the class.
I can reflect upon what I have made and share my work with the class. I can listen to their responses to my work, and talk about my response to their work.
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
Soft B pencils, coloured pencils or pastels, handwriting pens.
Project 1: Paint an Imaginary Orchestra – Large (A1 or A2) cartridge paper or thin card, coloured paper, foil or metallic paper, marker pens, scissors, tape, paint, brushes.
Project 2: Making Musical Instruments – cardboard, wood, buttons, lids, shells, string, ribbons and other construction materials.
The aim of this pathway is to introduce pupils to some of the links between art and music. Pupils use rhythm and sound to inspire artwork.
Week 1: Slow Drawing
Drawing to a Metronome
Settle students with some “Drawing to the Slow Rhythm of a Metronome“. Invite children to make careful, slow drawings with a sharp graphite pencil. Work in sketchbooks and introduce to children the idea that making drawings can be a quiet, slow, thoughtful activity.
Introduce an Artist
Wassily Kandinsky
Explore the work of Kandinsky who was a pioneer in abstraction. Use the free to access “Talking Points: Wassily Kandinsky” resource to find out what synaesthesia is, and how it helped him to paint music. Encourage children to have their sketchbooks open to make some “Making Visual Notes“.
Week 2: Work in Sketchbooks
Mark Making and Sound
Enable learners to develop their mark-making skills with these 3 “Mark Making and Sound” exercises.
This activity explores how we can use sound as a stimulus to develop the kinds of marks we can make.
Children will find out how abstract mark making can capture the spirit of a piece of music.
Children will then take what they have learnt about rhythm and mark making into observational drawing.
Introduce an Artist
Tomoko Kawao
Explore the free to access “Talking Points: Tomoko Kawao” resource to discover an artist who makes large scale work using one unbroken movement of a brush.
Use the questions at the bottom of the resource to help guide your class conversation.
During the exercise, draw the children’s attention to the visual elements of the artwork, including talking about shape, colour and composition. As well as using line in sketchbooks to describe shapes, also use colour (pastel, crayon, pens etc).
By the end of the session sketchbooks should be full of pupil’s interpretations of different elements (shapes, lines etc) from the video.
Take a Break & Inspire
Exploring Projection Mapping
If you feel your pupils would benefit from being inspired by more art made by artists, introduce them to Projection Mapping and music with this video by Light Odyssey in our free to access “Talking Points: What is Projection Mapping“.
Use the questions at the bottom of the resource to help guide your class conversation.
This workshop brings together mythical beasts and musical notes, however it can be adapted to link with curriculum topics such as animals or food.
Encourage children to draw large and fast so that they can explore a range of materials to create the details.
This resource is split into 3 different parts. Depending on time you can pick and choose which activities you’d like your class to do.
The first part of this resource explores inventing instruments. This is followed by responding to music with narrative. The final part of the activity entails children creating a self portrait of themselves playing an instrument.
By the end of the session children will have formed an extraordinary noisy orchestra.
Or…
Option 2
Making Musical Instruments
If you think your children would benefit, warm up using the “Making Prompt Cards” and follow on by creating music instruments below.
This activity not only explores the process of making but also how to produce different sounds and rhythms with the invented musical instruments.
Encourage children to make decisions about material, form, design and colour, experimenting using simple tools to create unusual, surprising sounds.
Week 6: Reflect and Discuss
Present, Talk, Share and Celebrate
End the pathway by taking time to appreciate the developmental stages and the final outcomes in a clear space.
Depending upon the project option chosen, display the work appropriately including having open sketchbooks. Use the “Crit in the Classroom” resource to help you.
Encourage children to reflect upon all stages of the journey, and reference the artists studied.
If available, children can use tablets or cameras to take photographs of the work.
If You Use AccessArt Resources… You might like to…
That artists can make animations by creating drawings which move in a sequence.
That we can use all our mark making skills and imagination to make our drawings visually engaging.
That we can use our moving drawings to share narratives.
In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that animations can be made by sequencing drawings.
After exploring the work of other artists making drawn animations, children make simple “paper puppets” with moving parts. Pupils also make a “background” for their puppets, and if you wish, then go on to make very simple animations using tablets.
Medium: Paper, (Digital media)
Artists: Lauren Child, Steve Kirby, Andrew Fox, Lucinda Schreiber
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!
Science: Animals, the human body, habitats, materials.
Music & Drama: Link to drama to collaborate and act out short narratives.
I Can…
I can talk about the work of other animators who make animations from their drawings. I can share what I like, and how it makes me feel.
I can use my sketchbook to gather ideas from other artists, and start to think about a simple moving drawing I might make.
I can use observational skills to look at source material to inspire my character and make drawings.
I can use my imagination to think about how my character might move.
I can create a background for my character.
I can use digital media to film my animation.
I can share my moving drawing, either through an animation or by showing classmates how it would move.
I can reflect and articulate my thoughts about my own artwork and that of my peers.
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
Soft B pencils, coloured pencils, handwriting pens, white and/or corrugated card, paper fasteners for moving joints, kebab sticks, masking tape, ready mixed paints, scissors.
(For shared background drawing) Black ink in pots, feathers cut as quills, black handwriting pens, Sharpies, pencils, roll of paper.
The aim of this pathway is to introduce children to the idea that we can create moving imagery through sequenced drawings.
Week 1: Introduce
What is Animation?
Introduce children to the idea that we can make single drawings and then string them together to make the drawings move. Use the free to access “Talking Points: Making Drawings Move” resource to explore this idea.
Think about how you can challenge pupils to make line drawings of animals using a handwriting pen (so they don’t worry about mistakes). Pause a moment on the video, give them a time limit of say 1 minute, and invite them to make a line drawing in one continuous line. Then move the film on, pause again and repeat. The drawings can be on the same page – like flickers or memories. The aim is just to warm up and to begin to tune into lines and shapes of animals and how they move. Use the “Show Me What You See” resource to support your facilitation.
With sketchbooks open as you watch the showreel above, invite the children to begin “Making Visual Notes” in their sketchbooks. Ask them to pretend to be “magpies” and to jot down anything that they see which they would like to try. What catches their eye? Perhaps challenge them to keep their notes on one page so that the page is full of ideas and words. It doesn’t have to be in order, and colour could be used too.
Play the showreel more than once, pause it regularly and invite children to talk about what they see and what they like.
This kind of learning (gathering information) is a skill, so take it slowly and give them time to practice. Purposely stop the film in the resource and ask them to turn to their sketchbook to add notes.
Let children know that they will be creating their own paper “puppet” and describe their theme or area of focus might be (ie animals which live in the jungle, Ancient Egyptians etc). Then continuing in sketchbooks, and using source material which is appropriate to your theme, ask them to start planning what their puppet might be, and what action they would like it to perform.
N.B Key here is that the action should be simple. For example, rolling eyes or moving an arm might be enough. Picking up a ball and throwing it will be too much for most children in the time given.
Week 3,4 and 5
Make Your Moveable Drawings
Use the following resources to enable children to make their moveable drawings.
Please note all these resources follow a similar plan so visit them all and combine to suit.
At a point when children need an injection of energy, introduce them to the work of Lauren Child through the free to access “Talking Points: Lauren Child” resource. Explore how Lauren works as an artist and look for clues and tips in her working process. Use sketchbooks for “Making Visual Notes“.
Additional Activity
Creating a Background
You may like to invite the pupils to create a background for their moveable drawings, appropriate to the theme.
This could be a shared drawing, as shown in the “Shared Ink Drawing” resource, or it could be a drawn background for each child.
Additional Activity
Animating the Drawings
If you have access to tablets, you may like to animate some of the drawings, you could also spend less time making the moveable drawings and more time animating them if that is of interest to you.
That artists can be inspired by the flora and fauna around them.
That we can use careful looking to help our drawing, and use drawing to help looking.
That we can use a variety of materials to make images, and that the images we make can become imaginative.
That we can create individual artwork, and that we can bring that artwork together to make a shared artwork.
In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that many artists use flora and fauna to inspire their work. We look at artists who used drawing as a way to accurately capture the way plants and insects look, and artists who use their imagination to create their own versions of flora and fauna.
Children spend time engaged in close looking as a way to build drawing skills. They also experiment with new materials.
They practice cutting and collage skills and explore shape and colour to build images.
Finally there is the opportunity for children to work collaboratively on a shared background for the artwork, and pupils can see how their individual efforts are valued as part of a larger class artwork.
Medium: Handwriting pen, Graphite, Oil pastel, Paper & Collage
Artists: Eric Carle, Joseph Redoute, Jan Van Kessel
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!
English: Explore The Very Hungry Caterpillar, or books illustrated in similar style.
Geography: Explore habitats, soil, vegetation, cities/towns/villages, seasonal weathers. Use language which supports these ideas.
Science: Identify common and wild plants, insects, food chains, life cycle, living and decay.
PSHE: Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.
I Can…
I have enjoyed looking at art made by other artists inspired by flora and fauna.
I can look closely at insects and plants and make drawings using pen to describe what I see.
I can experiment using graphite and oil pastel and make my own insects.
I can cut out shapes in different colours, and use these shapes to make an insect or bug. I can think about its body parts and what I would like them to look like.
I can work with my classmates to make a shared drawing.
I can share my artwork with the class. I can listen to what my classmates like about it and I can share what I like about their work.
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.
The aim of this pathway is to introduce children to the idea that artists can be inspired by the flora and fauna around them.
Week 1: Introduce
Explore the Work of Artists Who Are Inspired by Flora & Fauna
Introduce children to the work of one or more artists on the free to access “Talking Points: Artists Inspired by Flora & Fauna” resource. Use the resource as a starting point to encourage an exploration. You may also have artists local to you who are inspired by your local flora and fauna.
Invite pupils to make drawings in their sketchbooks of their favourite artworks as a way of enabling them to start to build a collection of “experiences” in their sketchbook. Make time as you look at the resource above for this activity.
Week 2: Show Me What You See
Drawing from Film
Working from the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Insects” resource, invite children to make drawings of the insects, working in their sketchbooks.
Pause the films at various points, and invite the children to verbally describe what they see, what they notice, before inviting them to make sketches in their books. As they sketch, give them a time limit (like 5 or 10 minutes) and talk to them about the things they just noticed, so that they think of these things as they draw.
Use a handwriting pen and encourage them to make their drawings fill the page.
Use the “Graphite and Oil Pastel” resource to encourage children to expand their mark making.
Pupils can draw again from the films above, or from colour photocopies, or if you can get them, buy (or loan) insect samples. Encourage children to continue close and careful looking.
Remember this is also about learning how a new material works (oil pastel and chunky graphite). Pupils will need to work on a slightly larger scale to accommodate the medium.
Week 4 & 5
Make Your Minibeast Collage
Invite the children to make individual mini beast collages which you can display as one. Use the “Mini Beast Artwork” resource.
Inspire
Introduce Eric Carle
When you feel children need a break or need inspiring, use the free to access “Talking Points: Eric Carle” resource to invigorate them.
Extension
Collaborate
If you have time, or if you have a group of pupils who need a challenge, invite them to work together to make a painting of a flower meadow. This could exist as an artwork in itself, or as a background to your collaged minibeasts.
Use the “Wild Flower” resource to see a painting activity which you can use.
Week 6: Share & Celebrate
Display, Reflect & Talk
Tidy the room and make space to see the sketchbook work as well as the final outcomes.
Remind the pupils of the progress they made, and the artists they saw along the way. Invite them to make links between the work they made in sketchbooks, on drawing sheets and final pieces, and the work by artists.
Encourage them to feel safe to share how they feel about their own work, and nurture an environment where pupils feel able to comment on their classmates work, treating everyones work with respect.
Disciplines: Architecture, Drawing, Sketchbooks, Collage, Making
Key Concepts:
That architects design buildings and other structures which relate to our bodies and which enhance our environment.
That architects take inspiration from the environment their building will exist in, and from the people they will serve, to design exciting structures.
That we can use drawing as a way to help us process and understand other people’s work.
That we can use digital tools such as drones and film to inspire us.
That we can use our imaginations to make architectural models to explore how we might design buildings relating to a particular need or stimulus.
That we can use “Design Through Making” (some call it Make First) as a way to connect our imagination, hands and materials.
This pathway gives pupils the opportunity to explore architecture. We start with an exploration of architects and some of the ways they work, and pupils then go on to create their own architectural model.
The pathway can be adapted so that the pupils make architecture which relates to their own environment, a chosen brief, or in response to another culture, country or era.
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!
I have explored the work of some architects. I have seen that they design buildings, and that “architecture” can be large, incredible buildings, or smaller places near where I live.
I can share how architecture makes me feel, what I like and what I think is interesting.
I can use my sketchbook to help me look at architecture really carefully. I have used drawings and notes. I have explored line and shape.
I have seen how architects use their imaginations to try to design buildings which make people’s lives better and I can use my own imagination when thinking about architecture I might design.
I can make an architectural model of a building around a theme thinking about form, structure and balance, and the way the model looks.
I can explore a variety of materials and explore how I can reshape the materials and fasten them together to make my model.
I have seen that I don’t need to design on paper first; that I can design as I make.
I have reflected upon what I have made, shared it with others, and been able to share my thoughts about my own piece and the models of my classmates.
I can used digital media to document my work, including taking photographs and short videos.
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
Soft B pencils, coloured pencils, felt tip pens, handwriting pens,
This pathway aims to introduce children to the idea that architects design and make buildings, and to give pupils the opportunity to explore architecture around them, and to create their own architectural models.
Create a conversation around more well known architecture and architecture in your local environment. What are the landmarks in your area – old or new?
Drawing to Aid Looking
Explore & Draw
Invite children to work in sketchbooks. Use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Exploring Architecture” resource to inspire drawings using the pupil’s chosen drawing medium. We suggest using a handwriting pen, and challenging the pupils to make several drawings – perhaps taking no longer than 5 or 10 minutes each. Guide the children with your voice during the drawing session to the things you would like them to notice.
Use the images and videos to frame a discussion around his work and enable the pupils to articulate their response.
Drawing to Aid Thinking
Show Me What You See
Use sketchbooks and the “Show Me What You See” method to help pupils with “Making Visual Notes” about what they see and think. They might use pen, pencil, coloured crayons, felt tips, to gather information and collect ideas as they see the images on the whiteboard. Make sure any notes they write can be single words (i.e. they don’t have to write full sentences).
Weeks 3,4 & 5
Making Architecture
Use the “Be An Architect” resource to enable pupils to create their own architectural inventions.
Take your time with the making and give children time to start to understand what different materials can do for them, and how they can manipulate materials and fasten them together.
Remember children are not making pieces of architecture “in the style of” an artist or architect. Instead, they are making their own work, though they will have their minds opened by looking at the work of other creative practitioners.
Encourage children to be inventive about what kinds of shapes and structure they use and which three dimensional forms they want to create. How will their pieces of architect stand? What is their purpose? Who are they for?
Encourage the use of colour/coloured materials to further develop the pieces, and have sketchbooks open on desks and encourage children to reference them and add to them.
Link the project to architecture from other cultures, countries and eras if you would like to link it to other curriculum areas.
Or, if you would like children to make pieces of architecture more relevant to their local community, think about how you can bring in images or visits of local areas as a backdrop to their work. (see “You May Also Like” below for more resources to help this).
Interventions
Use one or more of the following “interventions” if you feel children need more stimulation.
Intervention 1
Being Imaginative
Use the free to access “Talking Points: Bridge Design” resource to help children see how architecture can be almost anything. You may not want them to design bridges (though you may!) but talk about these bridge designs as a way to open their minds to be brave and use their imagination.
Intervention 2
Inspired by Drones
Use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Drone Footage” resource to give children a fresh perspective on the world. Does it change how they think about their own designs?
Week 6: Share & Celebrate
Present, Reflect, Review
Clean a space and present the finished architectural models next to the sketchbooks. Give all work the space it deserves and encourage children to walk around as if they were in a gallery – discussing the work with their partners before coming together as a class. Use the “Class Crit” resource to help.
Invite children to take photographs or films of their architectural models. Encourage them to really get down on eye level with their models to create interesting images, and use windows and doors as viewpoints. You might also like them to use lighting (torches) to create shadows.
Text and images to help you explore the idea of Chiaroscuro (light and dark) in art.
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.
What is Chiaroscuro?
Chiaroscuro is an Italian term which literally means ‘light-dark’. Artists have used it for centuries to help them describe form, and to create atmosphere or mood.
To appreciate that the artist is using the chiaroscuro technique, squint at the artwork. Half close your eyes and notice how you can now see the light and the dark, but not the mid tones. You can also use this technique to help you see light and dark when looking at a still life, landscape or interior which you are about to draw.
A Good Pool, Saguenay River (1895) by Winslow Homer. Original from The Clark Art Institute.
Questions to Ask Children
How does emphasising the light and the dark help create mood and atmosphere?
Can you always tell in which direction the light source is?
Has the artist actually used “black” and “white” or are the light and dark areas different tones of “grey”?
Using Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro replies on you being able to create tonal values on a page which have enough difference between them. For example, you need to be able to create a “dark dark” and a “light light”.
Depending on the medium you are using, there are different ways of achieving this. For example if you are using graphite (pencil) then you might create dark darks by cross hatching, repeat shading, intense pressure etc etc, and you might create light lights by using the pencil very softly – or even leaving the light of the paper to shine through. If you are using ink, you might like to use your ink undiluted for the dark darks, and diluted for the light lights.
Take a look at these resources to help you explore Chiaroscuro.
A collection of imagery and sources designed to explore cave art.
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.
Discovered on December 18, 1994 in south east France, it is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites and contains some of the best preserved figurative cave paintings in the world.
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you can see in the cave paintings?
Which drawings are your favourites?
What material do you think they might have used to create these paintings?
Lascaux Cave
On 12 September 1940, the entrance to the Lascaux Cave was discovered by 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat when his dog, Robot, fell in a hole.
The deteriorating condition of the cave caused by an introduction to bacteria and changes in humidity the caves led to its closure.
Find out why the cave was closed to visitors in 1963.
Questions to Ask Children
How do you think it would feel to discover prehistoric cave paintings?
Why is it important that these paintings are preserved?
How do these paintings differ from those in the Chauvet Cave?
The White Lady
The white lady cave painting is located in The Brandberg mountains in Namibia dating back to at least 2000 years ago.
It is usually assumed that the painting shows some sort of ritual dance.
It’s thought that the painting was probably made of ochre, charcoal, manganese, hematite, with blood serum, egg white, and casein used as binding agents.
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you can see.
What animals do you think are depicted?
What do you like about this cave art?
What materials might you use to recreate the colours and textures of this painting?
How do these paintings differ from those in the Chauvet Cave?
That when we draw we can use gestural marks to make work.
That when we draw we can use the expressive marks we make to create a sense of drama.
That when we draw we can move around.
That when we draw we can use light to make our subject matter more dramatic, and we can use the qualities of the material (charcoal) to capture the drama.
In this pathway, children discover how to make drawings that capture a sense of drama or performance using charcoal.
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. Linking drawing to the whole body helps children see drawing as a physical activity, whilst a sense of narrative feeds the imagination.
This pathway will take approximately half a term, based upon a weekly art lesson.
Theme: Cave art, Movement, Human Body, Relationship of Body to Place
Medium: Charcoal, Paper, Body
Artists: Heather Hansen, Laura McKendry, Edgar Degas
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!
Music & Drama: Listen to music to influence marks and movement while children do the “Dancing with Charcoal”.
I Can…
I have seen how artists use charcoal in their work. I have been able to talk about the marks produced, and how I feel about their work.
I have experimented with the types of marks I can make with charcoal, using my hands as well as the charcoal.
I can work on larger sheets of paper, and I can make loose, gestural sketches using my body.
I can understand what Chiaroscuro is and how I can use it in my work.
I can use light and dark tonal values in my work, to create a sense of drama.
I have used my body as a drawing tool to make drawings inspired by movement, and seen how other artists do the same.
I have taken photographs of my work, thinking about focus, lighting, and composition.
I have shared my work with my classmates and talked about what I felt was successful and what I might like to try again. I can voice what I like about my classmates work and how it makes me feel.
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.
Watch Artist Lancelot Richardson to find out about the different types of charcoal and how you can use them in the “Introduction to Charcoal” resource.
Use hairspray as a “fixative” for the chalk drawings. Spray outside or in a well ventilated room.
Materials
A2 sugar paper, A4 paper for ‘pallets’, willow charcoal, erasers, hairspray (for fixing), white chalk.
Project 1: Drawing by torchlight – Torches, small toys/objects, charcoal, white chalk, buff sugar paper.
Project 2: Small cardboard boxes, charcoal, A2 sugar paper, scrap card/modelling materials, small toys/objects, tape, drawing materials as above.
Project 3: Charcoal Cave – Medium/large cardboard box, newsprint, charcoal (ideally both willow and compressed) rags, small toys or dollhouse furniture.
Project 1: Charcoal and Dance – A2 or A1 paper/wall paper, charcoal.
This pathway aims to introduce children to the idea of making gestural drawing, exploring charcoal as a medium. How can we use our bodies to inform how we make marks?
Week 1: Explore Charcoal
Introduction to Charcoal
The pathway begins with an an introduction to charcoal as a drawing medium.
Introduce an Artist
Introduction to Laura McKendry
Introduce children to the work of Laura McKendry who uses charcoal to make large gestural drawings of dogs, using the free to access “Talking Points: Laura McKendry” resource. Use the questions on the resource to help guide a class conversation.
Use the questions on the resource to help guide conversation.
Week 2: Explore Charcoal
Exploring Charcoal
For Weeks 2 and 3, invite children to draw on large sheets of sugar paper and fix the work using fixative or hairspray.
Next, children will begin to explore charcoal for themselves. Use the “Discovering Charcoal Warm-Up Exercise” resource to support their exploration.
Think about how they can experiment with mark making to create line, shape and tone. Explore the “Talking Points: What is Chiaroscuro” resource to get pupils to think about light and dark.
Push Further
Drawing Large
You may like to watch the “Drawing Large” resource video to understand how your drawings can become very gestural. If you use this resource think about how children can use charcoal to make big loose marks, and use rocks or fossils as their subject matter.
Week 3: Personalise the Journey
Drawing Like a Cave Person
Remind children of the beginnings of drawing with “Talking Points: Cave Art“, and inspire simple mark making, through the medium of charcoal and handprint art.
Be inspired by historic and contemporary images of cave art. Use the “Drawing Like a Caveman” resource to encourage children to explore how they can use charcoal and hands to explore mark making further.
Week 4 & 5: Find your Focus
Choose a Project
Choose one of the projects below, depending on how you want to link to other curriculum areas, experience, space and preferred approach.
Option 1
Charcoal & Drama
Explore how students can use charcoal to explore narrative and creating a sense of drama. Remind them of ‘chiaroscuro’ to deepen their exploration.
Explore the following resources. You may choose to follow one resource, or combine more than one:
If you feel the children need a warm-up, find out how dance can be used as a response to art with the “Talking Points: Dancing to Art“
Consider how you can enable the children to respond creatively in the space you have.
You may want to run the project in the hall or large space, using cheap wallpaper lining paper taped together as your drawing surface.
If you don’t have space for the above, notice how in the last video on the Heather Hansen resource, the schools work on smaller sheets of paper in pairs or groups using hands and arms rather than whole body.
Whichever you choose, think about using digital media to record the event, or performing to an audience. Think about recording sound and using light to make it a multimedia performance.
Week 6: Present and Review
Share, Reflect & Celebrate
Children can make a “Backwards Sketchbook” using the drawings made on loose sheets of paper.
Invite children to present all work in a clear space and take the opportunity to visit the work made like a mini gallery. Use the “Crits in the Classroom” resource.
See the Pathway Used in Schools…
If You Use AccessArt Resources… You might like to…
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.
Egyptian Artefacts
Use the film and imagery below to enable children to explore Egyptian artefacts. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause on an image or 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 artefacts.
Try the same exercise using different materials, ie handwriting pen, ink and nib, pastel, watercolour…
Explore the collections of Rijksmuseum van Oudheden here.
Military Musicians Showing Nubian and Egyptian Styles, Nina de Garis Davies (1881–1965), New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Thutmose IV, ca. 1400–1390 B.C. From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Tomb of Tjeneny (TT 74) Tempera on paper, H. 44.5 × W. 93 cm (17 1/2 × 36 5/8 in.) Rogers Fund, 1931
Watch the clip with the volume off as you guide children’s attention to parts of the paintings
Bronze statuette of Osiris, Late Dynastic-Hellenistic 664–31 B.C. Egyptian Medium: Bronze Dimensions: H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm) The Cesnola Collection, 1874–76
Tomb Chapel of Raemkai: South Wall, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, ca. 2446–2389 B.C., From Egypt, Memphite Region, Saqqara, North of the Djoser pyramid complex, Mariette D3, Egyptian Antiquities Service/Quibell excavations, 1907–08, Limestone, paint, Rogers Fund, 1908
A collection of imagery and sources designed to explore the work of Kevork Mourad.
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.
Kevork Mourad
Born in Qamishli, Syria, Mourad now lives and works in New York City.
Mourad employs his technique of live drawing and animation in concert with musicians – developing a collaboration in which art and music harmonize with one another.
A painter, printmaker and video artist, Mourad has performed his animated and live visuals internationally.
Mourad also uses monotype as a medium to explore middle eastern politics and history.
A collection of imagery and sources designed to explore the tradition of Wayang Kulit.
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.
That we can use line, shape and colour to create patterns.
That we can use folding, cutting and collage to help us create pattern.
That we can create repeated patterns to apply to a range of products or outcomes.
In this pathway, children have the opportunity to explore pattern and develop a range of technical skills and knowledge through drawing and collage.
The pathway also introduces them to the idea that working with pattern can be a mindful activity, and that as humans we respond to patterns made by other people.
This pathway will take approximately half a term, based upon a weekly art lesson.
Medium: Paper, Pens, Paint
Artists: Rachel Parker, Shaheen Ahmed, Andy Gilmore, Louise Despont
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!
Science: Look at patterns in the structure of fruits or plants, reflections and shadows.
Music: Use music and sound when doing mindful drawing as part of this pathway.
I Can…
I can relax into making a sensory drawing using a pencil, making marks on the page without having a predefined outcome.
I have explored the work of an artist who creates artwork inspired by pattern. I have thought about where we use pattern in our life to make our worlds brighter.
I can work in my sketchbooks to explore how I can make drawings inspired by “rules.” I can generate lots of different types of patterns.
I can make a tessellated design and think about colour and shape, exploring positive and negative shapes.
or
I can explore the work of a surface pattern designer and make my own repeating pattern, exploring colour, shape and composition.
or
I can fold paper and use pattern to make an object which other people can respond to.
I can present and share my work. I can reflect and share my thoughts with others. I can listen to the reflections of my classmates and feedback on their work.
I can take photographs of my work.
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
Soft B pencils, handwriting pen, A2 cartridge paper, rulers, tape, string, coloured paper & card.
Option 1: Making Tessellated Designs – Thin cardboard or stiff paper, pencils, handwriting pens, felt tip pens, scissors, masking tape.
This pathway aims to enable a mindful approach to working with pattern. Pupils explore how artists and designers use pattern in their own work, and then go on to explore ways in which they can create pattern in a playful way.
Week 1: Slow Down & Tune In
Making a Sensory Drawing
The aim of the first session is to enable children to quieten and slow down into the process.
Use the “Making a Sensory Drawing” resource as a warm-up, enabling children to make sensory patterns without a theme or subject focus. The emphasis should be on the process not outcome.
The repetitive nature of the exercise will allow the children to not worry about outcome, but will encourage them to make decisions as they go along. Use needles and sharp pencils with a variation of width to create a rhythmic piece.
Work on thicker paper (cartridge or sugar paper is ideal). Work on sheets small enough to be stuck into sketchbooks at a later point.
Spend half an hour on this.
Look and Talk…
Shaheen Ahmed
Explore the free to access “Talking Points: Shaheen Ahmed” resource to discover an artist who explores patterns, signs and motifs that hold significance to her identity. Use the questions at the bottom of the resource to help guide your class conversation.
Week 2: Inventing & Exploring
Rules and Resolutions
Use the “Rules and Resolutions” resource to enable children to explore the idea that they can devise their own process criteria to help them make drawings.
Work in sketchbooks and encourage children to collaborate and discuss aims and outcomes.
Week 3, 4 & 5: Find your focus
Explore Tessellations, Surface Pattern or Puzzle Purses
For the next three weeks work on one of the projects below. Intersperse the projects by looking at the work of the artists below to help inspire your journey.
Option One
Making a Tessellated Design
Explore working in colour and making patterns which fit together over and over again by using the “Making Tessellated Designs” resource.
This activity links really well with maths. Begin by asking them to invent a shape. Push them further by asking them to look at an object and try to create a shape inspired by it.
Use the project to explore colour. What happens when they make a tessellated design using complimentary colours? How many colours do they need? How does the design change if they use cold colours, or warm colours?
Use sketchbooks to test colours and refine tessellation design, and then make final outcomes on larger sheets of cartridge or sugar paper.
Explore an Artist
Explore Andy Gilmore
Use the free to access “Talking Points: Andy Gilmore” resource to explore the work of an artist inspired by repeated shape and pattern. See where Andy finds inspiration. Remember, pupils are not aiming to reproduce Andy’s work – just introduce the artist to the children and build their creative thinking, visual literacy and oracy skills through conversation.
Or…
Option Two
Explore Surface Design with Rachel Parker
Explore the work of surface pattern designer Rachel Parker.
Make A Repeat Pattern
Use the “Creating Repeated Patterns” resource to enable pupils to think about colours and shapes, and the relationship between these components to create an overall balanced pattern. Using collage allows them to make these creative decisions as they work.
Get children to think about where they find patterns, what are they used for? Make it known that children can grow up to make patterns for a living if they enjoy the process.
Have their sketchbook open and ask them to make notes about their decision making, with swatches and thoughts as they go along.
For the second part of this session children will get the opportunity to scan their pattern into the computer and create a repeat pattern using a Word Document or an equivalent editing software.
Explore the work of an artist who makes meditative drawings through pattern with the free to access “Talking Points: Louise Despont“. Use the conversation to highlight to children how the act and outcome of drawing can help with feeling calm and in the moment.
Making a Puzzle Purse Part Two
Adapt the “Making a Puzzle Purse Part Two” resource, focusing on pattern rather than narrative. Explore colour, line, and shape to create patterns within the puzzle purse. Use the folded geometric structure to help inspire pattern making.
Week 6: Reflect & Discuss
Present, Talk, Share and Celebrate
End the pathway by taking time to appreciate the developmental stages and the final outcomes in a clear space.
Invite children to display the work in a way that best suits the project, have open sketchbooks. Use the “Crit in the Classroom” resource to help you.
Have children use tablets or cameras to take photographs of the work.
Encourage children to reflect upon all stages of the journey, and reference the artists studied.
See This Pathway Used in Schools…
If You Use AccessArt Resources… You might like to…
Take inspiration from the ‘
Explore the free to access “
Working in sketchbooks, use the “
If you feel your pupils would benefit from being inspired by more art made by artists, introduce them to Projection Mapping and music with this video by Light Odyssey in our free to access “
