A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of landscape painter Vanessa Gardiner.

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.

Vanessa Gardiner

“As a landscape painter I am captivated both by the beauty of the places on which my work is based and by the processes involved during the making of the pictures. In a sense, for me, they go hand-in-hand: the immediacy of drawing directly from the seemingly haphazard natural subject matter, with the careful selection and ordering of the compositions back in the studio.” – Vanessa Gardiner

Questions to Ask Children

Do you like Gardiner’s linear approach to landscape painting?

What does the texture add to the painting?

Does this make you think about landscapes differently?

How do the paintings make you feel?

What kind of atmosphere(s) does Gardiner capture in the painting(s)?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

This is featured in the ‘Mixed Media Land and City Scapes’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

See This Resource Used In Schools…

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Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

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

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Drawing source material: nests

See This Resoucre Used In Schools…

You May Also Like…

Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

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

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Explore parallels between behaviour of birds and ourselves

Drawing source material: nests

A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing

See This Resource Used In Schools…

You May Also Like…

Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

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

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Drawing source material: nests

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Printmaking (Monotype), Drawing, Painting, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

• That Monotype is a process where we make images by transferring ink from one surface to another to make a single print.

• That we can use the “distance” that monotype gives us between mark making and outcome to make images with texture and a sense of history/process. 

• That we can combine monotype with other disciplines such as painting and collage.

• That we can make art by expressing our own personal response to literature or film. 

In this pathway children explore the process of making monotypes. The pathway starts with an introduction to monotypes, and then children explore the work of an artist who uses monotypes to build sculptures and installations.

Pupils develop their mark making skills through a simple warm up exercise, before focussing upon a project which gives them the opportunity to use the monotype process (combined with painting and collage) to make a “zine”, inspired by a piece of poetry. The pathway provides two ways of making monotypes according to the space and time you have available. 

Throughout the project pupils use sketchbooks to collect ideas, test methods, and explore colour, line and mark making. 

Medium:
Paper, Ink, Carbon Copy Paper, Paint

Artists: Kevork Mourad

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

English: Use a poem or story to inspire making your own monotype books.

History: Make a zine about your theme or focus.

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

I Can…

• I have understood what a Monotype is and can see how artists use monotypes in their work. I have been able to share my response to their work.

• I can study drawings made by other artists and identify particular marks they have used in their drawings. I can use my sketchbook to create a collect of marks for me to use later.

• I can listen to a piece of poetry and think about how the piece evokes colours, lines, shapes and words in my head, and I can use these to create imagery which captures the mood of the piece of poetry.

• I can use my sketchbook to explore my ideas. 

• I can use my mark making skills to create exciting monotypes, combining the process with painting and collage.

• I can share my thinking and outcomes with my classmates. I can listen to their views and respond.

• I can share my response to the artwork made by my classmates.

• I can photograph my work, thinking about lighting, focus and composition.

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, cartridge paper, black sugar paper, assorted papers/cards, old maps or newspapers, A1 cartridge paper, assorted small objects and plants, PVA glue, tape, scissors.

Pathway: Making Monotypes

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  The aims of this pathway is to remind/introduce pupils to the technique of making monotype and to enable them to use the technique to make artwork which is poetic and fluid. 

• Week 1: Introduce
  

  What is Monotype Printing?

  

  Use the free to access “What is Monotype?” resource to introduce pupils to the idea of making one off drawings through print. 

• Introduce an Artist
  

  Explore the work of Kevork Mourad

  

  Kervork Mourad creates huge sculptural monotypes on fabric. Find out about the concepts and processes that he uses. See the free to access “Talking Points: Kevork Mourad” resource.

  Use “Making Visual Notes” as a way to encourage children to collect information in their sketchbooks.

• Week 2: Open Up Mark Making Vocabulary
  

  Finding Marks Made by Artists

  

  Monotypes rely on mark making. Use the “Finding Marks Made by Artists” resource to remind pupils of the vast array of marks that are open to them in their work. 

  Encourage children to work in sketchbooks to create a lexicon of marks made by varying the tool, hold, pressure, speed and intention of the way the mark is made. 

• Week 3, 4, and 5: Using Monotype in a Project
  

  Creating a Visual Poetry Zine

  

  Over the next few sessions use the “Visual Poetry Zine with Monotype” resource to help pupils explore how they can use monotype to create their own personal books. 

  Invite pupils to use sketchbooks throughout as a place where they can test the monotype process and explore colour, line and mark making. 

• Week 6: Talk
  

  Share, Reflect, Discuss

  

  End the pathway by taking time to appreciate the developmental stages and the final outcomes in a clear space. Talk about intention and outcome through a ‘crit’.

  Display the work appropriately including having open sketchbooks. Use the “Crit in the Classroom” resource to help you.

  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…

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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Monotype Videos

Videos to demonstrate various monotype processes

An animation set design challenge.

Animation Set Design Challenge

Use this challenge to design and make a model “set” for an animation.

1. Explore the Rosie Hurley: Esio Trot resource to see how artist Rosie uses her sketchbook to help her design and make a set for an animation project.

Artwork by Rosie Hurley

2. Decide upon your creative stimulus.

Your set will be inspired by a particular poem, story, short film or piece of music. Make sure you are familiar with the stimulus by watching / listening to it many times. Talk about it with your class so you can start to understand characters/mood/settings/narrative.

3. Use your Sketchbook

Use your sketchbook, just as Rosie does, to help you understand the stimulus. If the stimulus is visual, like a film, then pause the film and make drawings of scenes which you feel are important.

If the stimulus is aural, listen and use your imagination to make sketchbook drawings.

Artwork by Rosie Hurley

4. Think about Structure

Start to think about what scene or set you will create. It can change as you work, but try to have a starting point. Think about:

• Is it indoors or outdoors?

• Is it on one level?

• What would the audiences’ viewpoint be?

• Does it have spaces within it?

• Will it have movable walls/parts?

Try to think of it as a 3d composition.

Artwork by Rosie Hurley

5. Think about Colour and Texture

Use your sketchbook to explore colour palettes. What colours would suit your set/the initial stimulus? Mix and test colours in your sketchbook, or cut colours from magazines and stick them in.

Think about how you use the colours too. Think about backgrounds, foregrounds, objects on the stage. Will there be colour everywhere? Will you have areas of no colour?

Think about the materials and textures you will use when you build your model set. Explore different materials – fabrics, wire, wood, paper, string, found objects… there is no limit to the materials you might use.

Felted and Embroidered Yellow Living Room by Gabby Dickson

6. Start Building your Model Set

Take a box, and cut away some sides so you are left with a 3, 4 or 5 sided structure in which to make your model set. Don’t forget to look back through your sketchbook to see your ideas about structure.

Start making! This is the fun bit and your ideas might change from your initial sketchbook work – and that is absolutely fine and as it should be!

Chalkboard Prop for Kitchen By Gabby Dickson

7. Think about Lighting

Finally it is time to light your set. Consider how you might use torches or natural light to light the set. Perhaps you will use coloured lenses too. Remember lighting is a key tool to create mood and it should be used with the mood of the original stimulus in mind.

Rosie Hurley Set Design

8. Photograph your Set!

Take photographs of your set, making sure you explore camera angles, near and far focus and lighting.

If you have time, use your set as basis for an animation!

Artwork by Gabby Savage-Dickson

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Pathway: Set Design

This is featured in the ‘Set Design’ pathway

talking points: negative space by tiny inventions

Explore the work of animation directors Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata.

A collection of imagery and sources designed to stimulate conversation around the work of Xgaoc’o X’are.

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.

Xgaoc’o X’are

Two Giraffe and Two Birds II- Botswanan Printmaker Xgaoc’o X’are

Two giraffe and two birds II, Mono print, Xgaoc’o X’are, 50 x 65 cm

Xgaoc’o X’are grew up on a farm in the Ghanzi District in Western Botswana. He now makes mono Prints inspired by his knowledge and love of the Kalahari.

For Xgaoc’o, art gives him the opportunity to put the ideas in his head on a canvas in beautiful naive forms and playful colours. His work is informed by a childhood spent working on farms and hunting with his father and brother for food.

His work is a reflection of his love of the Kalahari Desert and captures the essence of the rock art created centuries ago by his ancestors in Twyfelfontein. The oldest engravings are thought to be as old as 10,000 years.

He signs his work in his Naro name Qhaqhoo.

“Engravings at Twyfelfontein” by hobgadlng is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Xgaoc’o X’are’s (Qhaqhoo) work displays a strong sense of pattern, skewed perspectives and uneven shapes with rich detail. His work is reminiscent of Naive Art, which breaks the rules of the traditional 3 rules of perspective. These rules affect size, colour and the level of detail with distance.

Having had no formal art training Xgaoc’o X’are (Qhaqhoo) draws on his personal experiences and ancestral history to capture a beautiful instinctive approach to materials, colour and composition.

See more of Xgaoc’o X’ares work here.

The Naro language uses clicking noises in its phonetic alphabet. To pronounce the Naro name ‘Qhaqhoo’ we recommend looking at a phonetic table for creating the click noise ‘Qh’. Please do let us know if you have any more information relating to the pronunciation.

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

How does it make you feel?

Which words would you use to describe the whole piece?

How has the artists experience influenced this artwork?

What comparisons can you make between the artists work and the rock engravings?

Make a list of all the animals you often see in your environment.

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway:Exploring the world though mono print

This is featured in the ‘Exploring The World Through Mono print’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore different treehouses.

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.

Treehouses

Questions to Ask Children

Which treehouse is your favourite? Why?

If you could build your own treehouse what would its purpose be? For living in? Playing?

Can you think of an invention that could be used for getting up and down into a treehouse without using a ladder or steps?

Do you prefer the big treehouses or the small treehouses? Why?

Is there an area in your local community where you’d like to build a treehouse? What materials would you use and why? What would its purpose be?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Stick Transformation project

This is featured in the ‘Stick Transformation Project’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

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.

“Guatemalan worry dolls” by roxweb is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

“4 worry dolls at work” by Leonard J Matthews is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Questions to Ask Children

When Guatemalan people make Worry Dolls, in what ways are the dolls the same and in what ways are the dolls different from each other?

What is the purpose of the dolls?

How do the dolls reflect the culture of where they are made?

Do Guatemalan people make Worry Dolls for themselves or for others, or both?

Do artists make the dolls, or do you think anyone can make the dolls? 

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Stick Transformation project

This is featured in the ‘Stick Transformation Project’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

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?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Set Design

This is featured in the ‘Set Design’ 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

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?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Set Design

This is featured in the ‘Set Design’ 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:
Painting (Watercolour)

Key Concepts:

• 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!

Teaching Notes

Please find the CPD session recording of the Exploring Watercolour pathway here.

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

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.

Materials

Sketchbooks, A3 cartridge paper, watercolour paints, paint brushes, coloured pencils.

Pathway: Exploring Watercolour

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  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:

  • Let Me Inspire You: Emma Burleigh

  • Exploring Through Watercolour

  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. 

  • Teachers Introduction to Watercolour

  • Practising Watercolour Skills

• Week 2: Look & Talk
  

  Explore the Work of Paul Klee & Emma Burleigh

  

  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.

  Watch Emma’s video with the pupils, as she talks you through the process of the task. 

• Week 4 & 5: Continue Painting Development
  

  Working with Momentum and Focus

  

  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. 

  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

You May Also Like…

drawing fish with pen, pencil and watercolour

Explore drawing and painting materials

globe paintings

Let the paint decide what it wants to do

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. 

Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons), 1913

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

What do you think could be happening in this abstract painting?

What kind of music do you think that Kandinsky was listening to when he painted this?

What do you think the blue dashes represent?

How does the painting make you feel?

Watch this animation that brings elements of Kandinsky’s paintings to life.

Questions to Ask Children

How do you feel watching the animation?

What colour would you associate with the music played by a saxophone? A drum?

If you could animate one of the paintings above or below, how would you bring it to life? What would you make it do? 

Untitled (1916) by Wassily Kandinsky. Original from The Art Institute of Chicago.

Questions to Ask Children

How do you think Kandinsky was feeling when he painted this painting?

What genre of music do you think that Kandinsky might have been listening to while he was painting this?

Play a Kandinsky Painting in class with this interactive Google Arts and Culture Activity.

Watch this video on how to paint like Kandinsky whilst putting your own experience at the centre of the painting. 

Questions to Ask Children

Choose a colour and a shape to describe how you’re feeling right now.

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Music and art

This is featured in the ‘Music and Art’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Discipline:
Printmaking, Collage, Drawing

Key Concepts:

• That we can make a “plate” from which to “print”

• 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. 

Medium:
Paper, Printing Ink, Plasticine, Printing Foam

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 to create imagery which explores symbols on maps.

History: Adapt to create portraits of significant individuals from history.

Maths: Pattern, repetition, pictorial representation, 2D/3D shapes.

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.

Pathway: Simple Printmaking

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  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. 

• 
  

  Or…

• Method 2: Foam Print
  

  Additive & Incised Printing

  

  Use foam board and explore how you can make prints in two ways using the “Print Foam – Making Relief Prints” 

  

  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. 

• Week 6: Reflect & Discuss
  

  Share and Celebrate the Outcomes

  

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

  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.

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Make a Monogram

Create stamps using childrens initials

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Painting, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

• 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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

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.

Pathway: Mixed Media Land & City Scapes

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway aims to introduce pupils to working in mixed media to create land or city scapes with energy and a sense of place.

  This pathway is about experimenting and exploring. The emphasis is on creative risk taking and discovery. 

  Children are encouraged to explore the format and composition of their work, and explore lots of media combinations through exploratory work.

• Week 1: Introduce
  

  Vanessa Gardiner & The Shoreditch Sketcher

  

  Use the free to access “Talking Points: Vanessa Gardiner” resource to introduce pupils to an artist that takes her inspiration from the landscape. 

  Compare and contrast Vanessa with the Shoreditch Sketcher via “Talking Points: The Shoreditch Sketcher” resource. 

  

  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. 

• Week 2: Extend a Sketchbook
  

  Sketchbook Places & Spaces

  

  Use the “Sketchbooks Places & Spaces” resource to extend bought or made sketchbooks. 

  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. 

• Week 3 & 4 & 5: Introduce & Explore
  

  Be Inspired by Kittie Jones or Saoirse Morgan

  

  Use the free to access “Talking Points: Kittie Jones” or the “Talking Points: Saoirse Morgan” resource to be inspired by how the artist combines different media in their work to capture the energy and spirit of place. 

  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.  

  Drawing Source Material: Drone Footage over Urban Landscapes

  Drawing Source Material: Drone Footage over Rural Landscapes

• Additional Inspiration
  

  Graphite Sketches

  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. 

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

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Talking Points: Mark Hearld

Explore the work of printmaker, collager and ceramicist

Never-Ending Landscapes

Take inspiration from observational drawings to create fictional landscapes

Sculptural Environments inspired by Hockney

Create a class installation inspired by artist David Hockney

Talking Points: Saoirse Morgan

Explore the work of seascape painter Saoirse Morgan

Layers in the landscape

Create relief sculptures of the landscape

diary of a sculptural sketchbook

Sculpt the landscape out of the paper

Painting the storm

A weather-inspired exploration of watercolour and graphite

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Drawing, Making, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

• 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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

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.

Pathway: Music and Art

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aim of Pathway

  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. 

• Week 3: Sketchbooks
  

  Show Me What You See

  Working in sketchbooks, use the “Show Me What You See” technique to help pupils visually explore orchestras and musical instruments. Take inspiration from the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Orchestras and Instruments“.

  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.

• Play
  

  Paint Music with Google Arts & Culture

  Finish the session with this fun interactive activity. 

• Week 4 & 5: Find your Focus
  

  Explore Making or Drawing Instruments

  For the next two weeks work on one of the projects below. 

• Option 1
  

  Paint an Imaginary Orchestra

  

  Start the session with “Backwards Forwards” drawings before moving on to creating a “Cheerful Orchestra“.

  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.

  Explore recycled materials to “Make Musical Instruments” and explore sound making. 

  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. 

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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

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movement maps

Translate lines, marks and pattern into movement and memories

Painting the storm

Create a stormy painting to the sound of rainy weather

Sketchbooks & Performance

Create expressive drawings in response to performers and audiences

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines:
Drawing, Animation, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

• 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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

English: Bring characters from literature to life.

History: Make an animated drawing / portrait of a well know historical figure.

Maths: Measuring, weight, position, direction, movement.

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.

Pathway: Making Animated Drawings

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• The Aims of the Pathway

  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.

• Explore
  

  Show Me What You See

  

  Working in a sketchbook, use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: The Natural World” resource to practice drawing skills.

  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.

• Week 2: Explore
  

  Paper Cut Puppets

  

  Watch the free to access “Talking Points: Paper Cut Puppets Showreel” to explore what might be possible when you make paper “puppets” which you can then animate. 

  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.

  Cardboard Robots with Moveable Joints

  Making Drawings that Move

  Making Articulated Beasts Part 1

  Articulated Animals

• Invigorate!
  

  Explore the Work of Lauren Child

  

  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.

  

  Find out how to make digital animations using the “Exploring Digital Animation” resource.

• Week 6: Present Work
  

  Share, Reflect, Celebrate

  

  If children have animated their articulated beasts, pull down the blinds and watch all of the animations together. 

  Present all work in a clear space and take the opportunity to visit all work made like a mini gallery. Use the “Crits in the Classroom” resource.

See This Pathway Used In Schools

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
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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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A School full of characters

Explore capturing facial expressions through cartoon sketches

Chimera Drawings

Create chimera drawings and use the ‘articulated beasts’ resource to make them move

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Drawing, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

• 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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

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.

Materials

Sketchbooks, soft pencils, coloured pencils, oil/chalk pastels, handwriting pens, graphite, collage papers, A1 paper, water colour and/or ready mixed paint over sugar paper, brushes, scrap papers.

Pathway: Inspired by Flora & Fauna

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of Pathway

  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 “Show Me What You See” to support your facilitation.

• Week 3: Deepen the Exploration
  

  Using Graphite and Oil Pastel

  

  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 “Drawing Source Material: Wild Flower Meadow” resource if they need to work from imagery. 

  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.

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

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…

Make insect sculptures

Create shiny insect sculptures

Drawing with tape

Create a forest on a classroom wall

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

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. 

Themes:
Habitat, Community, Culture, Purpose

Medium:
Construction Materials

Artists: 
Hundertwasser, Zaha Hadid, Heatherwick Studios

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.

Please find the CPD session recording of the Be An Architect pathway here.

Curriculum Links

Geography: Adapt to explore habitats, cities, towns and villages, ports & harbours.

History: Make houses inspired by the architecture of different ages or cultures, for example buildings damaged during the Great Fire of London.

Maths: Use language which supports understanding of Measuring, 2D/3D shapes.

Science: Explore properties of materials e.g. make your architecture waterproof, rough, smooth?

PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion, Ethnic Identity, Different Religions (architecture representative of).

I Can:

• 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,

Construction Materials (see list here )

Pathway: Be An Architect

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  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. 

• Week 1: Introduce
  

  What Is Architecture?

  

  Use the free to access “Talking Points: Thinking about Architecture” resource to begin an exploration of architecture. 

  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.

• Week 2: Introducing an Artist
  

  Exploring the Work of Hundertwasser

  

  Use the free to access “Talking Points: Hundertwasser the Architect” resource to introduce pupils to the work of an architect.

  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. 

  Provide plenty of materials and try to use the “Design Through Making” approach. 

  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. 

  Explore how children can take high quality photographs of 3d artwork with this resource.

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…

Anglo Saxon Architecture

Making Architecture Inspired by Anglo Saxon Architecture

Houses from Around the World

Drawing and Collaging

My House

A Cardboard Construction Project

Ink & Foamboard Architecture

Exploring Colour and Form

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.

Find more information on Google Arts and Culture. 

Leonardo da Vinci‘s Saint John the Baptist (1513-1516)

Art UK: The Superpower of Looking explores Joseph Wright of Derby’s An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump

Strange Flower (Little Sister of the Poor) (1880) by Odilon Redon. Original from the Art Institute of Chicago

Moonlight, Strandgade 30, 1900–1906 Vilhelm Hammershøi 

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.

See Three Shapes

Drawing by Torch Light

Graphic Sketches

Drawing Flames

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Gestural Drawing with charcoal

This is featured in the ‘Gestural Drawing with Charcoal’ pathway

ADDITIONAL PATHWAY: AN EXPLORATION OF COAL MINING, INSPIRED BY HENRY MOORE

This is featured in the ‘An Exploration of Coal Mining, Inspired by Henry Moore’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see