A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of Eric Carle.
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.
Eric Carle
Eric Carle is the author and illustrator of over seventy picture books for young children. The most well known book from this collection is The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
As a child, Carle’s dad would take him for walks through meadows, memories which heavily influenced his illustrations.
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.
This resource is free to access and is not part of AccessArt membership.
Wild Flowers
Use this collection of films as source material for pupils exploring wild flowers. In the first instance you might want to pause the videos as suitable points to enable the children to carefully look at the main forms and details. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause the video 4 times and ask the pupils to make a 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute drawing at each pause.
Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to features of the flowers.
When pupils are more experienced, you can also try getting them to make their drawings as the videos play – making quick gestural sketches.
Drawing Exercises
Have the children draw in a quiet room, with the video on the whiteboard.
Stop the video at a chosen frame and use your voice to direct their drawing. Choose words which relate to the imagery, for example you might decide to focus their attention on vertical lines, so you might choose words like: line, growth, upward, downward, fall… or you might choose to attract their attention to the energy of a wave or the curve of a plants stem. Think carefully about the words you use – they don’t have to be used in sentences – you can speak lists.
Each sketchbook response might take just 3 to 5 minutes, then move on to another still. Create a sense of momentum.
Direct pupils to use a chosen medium. You might like to start with soft pencil or handwriting pen.
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.
This resource is free to access and is not part of AccessArt membership.
Insects
Use this collection of films as source material for pupils exploring insects. In the first instance you might want to pause the videos as suitable points to enable the children to carefully look at the main forms and details. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause the video 4 times and ask the pupils to make a 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute drawing at each pause.
Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to features of the insect.
When pupils are more experienced, you can also try getting them to make their drawings as the videos play – making quick gestural sketches.
Drawing Exercises
Have the children draw in a quiet room, with the video on the whiteboard.
Stop the video at a chosen frame and use your voice to direct their drawing. Choose words which relate to the imagery, for example you might decide to focus their attention on vertical lines, so you might choose words like: line, growth, upward, downward, fall… or you might choose to attract their attention to the energy of a wave or the curve of an animals back. Think carefully about the words you use – they don’t have to be used in sentences – you can speak lists.
Each sketchbook response might take just 3 to 5 minutes, then move on to another still. Create a sense of momentum.
Direct pupils to use a chosen medium. You might like to start with soft pencil or handwriting pen.
Talking Points: Artists Inspired by Flora and Fauna
A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of artists who were inspired by Flora and Fauna.
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.
Henri Rousseau
The Repast of the Lion (1907) by Henri Rousseau. Original from The MET Museum.
Find out more about Rousseau on Google Arts & Culture. The painting in this link features nudity, however is nothing offensive. Please check any links before showing children as some may include content you would prefer not to show.
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
Look at the artwork as a whole – which words would you use to describe the whole piece?
Tell me about the details you like.
How does it make you feel?
Erin Anfinson
Hannah Borger
Amaryllis (1915) by Hannah Borger Overbeck. Original from The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
How do you think she decided how much detail to include or leave out?
Tell me about the details you like.
Jan van Kessel
Butterfly, Caterpillar, Moth, Insects, and Currants (1650-1655) painting in high resolution by Jan van Kessel. Original from The Getty.
A collection of imagery and sources designed to stimulate conversation around the work of Lauren Child.
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.
Lauren Child
Lauren Child is a childrens book author and illustrator. She is well known for the collection of books ‘Charlie and Lola’ which were later adapted into a childrens animation.
Find out more about Lauren’s creative process in the sources below.
A collection of imagery and sources designed to help you explore the potential of Cyanotype.
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 a Cyanotype?
A cyanotype is a photographic process which results in a cyan coloured print. The process involves a combination of iron salts which are then exposed with Ultra Violet light. The surface for the print then needs to be washed in water oxidise to achieve the blue.
The process was developed in the 1800s and is still used today.
Explore the sources and images below to find out how cyanotypes can be used.
This collection of videos and sources will help you explore the work of Anna Atkins.
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.
Anna Atkins
Anna Atkins was a botanist and photographer in the 1800s. She is considered as the first person to publish a book of photographs.
The process she used was called cyanotype. This used light exposure and a simple chemical process to create blueprints of botanical specimens.
A collection of imagery and sources designed to stimulate conversation around the work of Frances Hatch.
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.
Frances Hatch
Frances is a plein-air artist who responds creatively to the landscape around her. Frances uses the natural materials available to her in the environment that she is painting in, for example soil and grass or rock pigment.
“I am a participant in a conversation with the land. I respond rather than impose – working with what is given.”
Questions to Ask Children
How do you think that dipping paper in water changes the quality of the pencil?
Is there a space in your local area where you would like to sit and draw?
Watch this video without volume on. Then play it with the volume on but ask the children to close their eyes and just listen. Finally watch the video again with eyes open and volume on.
Questions To Ask Children
Does the painting feel different when you tune into the sounds of the city? How so?
Questions to Ask Children
How would you describe Frances’s work?
How does it make you feel?
How would you describe the colours that she uses?
Can you name some natural materials that could be used for drawing and painting from around your local area?
Resource on AccessArt: Working WITH and IN the Landscape
This collection of videos and sources will help you explore the work of Lotte Reiniger.
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.
Lotte Reiniger was a German animation pioneer in the early 20th Century. Reiniger’s work focused on silhouette animation, she made over 40 films throughout her lifetime.
Reiniger invented the first multi-plane camera, an invention which Walt Disney would later go on to adapt and patent for himself.
Reiniger enjoyed retelling fairytales though silhouette animation and went on to create animations for Cinderella, Thumbelina and also spent 3 years making the first feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
You might recognise her influence in more recent films, such as in the credits of the 2004 film ‘A Series of Unfortunate events’ or in the ‘Tale of three Brothers’ in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows pt 1.
Watch the videos below to find out more about the work and life of Lotte Reiniger.
Watch this video to find out more about her process.
Questions to Ask Children
Do you like Lotte Reiniger animations?
How do her animations compare with modern day Disney and Pixar animation?
Can you imagine why they were so ground breaking at the time?
Is there a story that you would like to see animated in this way?
How might you make a character seem excited through body movements alone? What about sad?
Thumbelina by Lotte Reiniger
Show this short clip to your class.
Questions to Ask Children
How would you describe the movements of the puppet?
Take a guess at how many different pieces had to be cut out for the puppet to dance?
Where do you think joins had to be made for movements?
Watch the clip again and ask children to create blind and continuous line drawings (not looking at the page) in a sketchbook of the puppet dancing. Ask them to look at the arms and legs and just draw whatever movement grabs their attention as the clip plays.
Watch clips of the credits animation for the 2004 film ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ and inspire discussion using the questions below.
Questions to Ask Children
What similarities can you see between this animation and the work of Lotte Reiniger?
A collection of imagery and sources designed to explore paper cut puppets.
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.
Jamie Caliri is a filmmaker and cinematographer in live action and animation. Watch some of the videos below to see how he directs paper cut and 3D animations.
Questions to Ask Children
How would you describe the movements that the puppets make?
Thinking about facial expressions and eye movements, how would you make a paper puppet seem happy? Sad? Excited? Mysterious? Up to no good?
A collection of imagery and sources designed to explore the different ways in which drawings can move.
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.
Steve Kirby and Andrew Fox
Calligraphy Animals Animated is a collaboration between calligrapher Andrew Fox and director and animator Steve Kirby.
Questions to Ask Children
What shapes can you see?
Which animal in this animation is your favourite? Why?
If you could make a calligraphy animal that would appear in this animation what would it be? How would it move?
Why is collaboration important?
Lucinda Schreiber
Lucinda is an Australian director, animator and illustrator. Find more of Lucinda’s work here.
Questions to Ask Children
How does this animation make you feel?
What is a ‘transition?’ How many did you spot in this animation?
What is your favourite part of the animation?
Animated Afganistan Children’s Drawings
Questions to Ask Children
How do you feel when you watch this animation?
Which are your favourite parts?
Workshop with Tracy Miller-Robbins
This animation is a result of a “Animated Drawings” workshop at MODE 2017: Motion Design Education Summit, Ohio State University.
Questions to Ask Children
This animation was made as a result of a workshop. Which parts inspire you?
Two Animation Winners…
The following animations won a competition to encourage children and teenagers to make time to be creative…
Questions to Ask Children
What do you think about the way the children choose to communicate their message?
A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to Installation 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.
This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.
What is Installation Art?
Installation Art often occupies large rooms or spaces. It is usually designed for a specific environment for a temporary period of time. Installation art can often be engaged with and is meant to create a unified experience for the viewer.
Inflatable Installations
Tentacles in Philadelphia, USA – Filthy Luker and GroupX
Filthy Luker creates inflatable installations designed to make our environments more fun and surreal.
Questions to Ask Children
How does this installation make you feel?
What kind of creature is hidden inside the building? How many eyes does it have?
How many shoes would this creature need?
Is there a building in your local area that you would like to see an inflatable creature in?
Light Installations
Liz West is an Internationally Acclaimed Visual Artist who uses light as a tool, controlling the amount, shape, form, size, colour, strength and quality to fill architectural or fabricated structures. Liz’s installations immerse the viewer in saturated environments and are known to stir up emotional responses in those who see it. Find out more about Liz West in her “Which Artists?” post.
Questions to Ask Children
How does this installation make you feel?
How does the environment that the installation is in, change the way you experience it?
How do you think it would feel to interact with this installation?
How has the installation transformed the environment?
A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to Projection Mapping.
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.
Introduction
The following videos and weblinks explore different uses of projection mapping.
Projection mapping is a type of digital installation art. Artists project digital film or imagery onto unusual surfaces such as buildings or irregularly shaped objects, creating optical illusions.
Projection mapping requires spatially mapped specialist software that allows designers to mimic the environment that it is being projected onto, whilst playing with dimensions and movement of static objects.
Music and Projection Mapping by Light Odyssey
“2018 Light Odyseey transformed the Iconic Empress Ballroom in Blackpool to a 2D and 3D projection mapping canvas for seven different animations. Over 20 projectors were set up to cover the huge space of the ballroom, resulting in a spectacular light stage for the animations.”
Questions to Ask Children
How have the animations interacted with the architecture as well as the music?
How does it make you feel?
Do you think that the animation adds to the music or does it distract you? Why?
Projection Mapping and Architecture
This video contains flashing imagery.
A projection mapped piece comissioned by People’s Association Singapore for the Passion Arts initiative. Video: Brandon Tay/ Chew Ming Wee Sound: Safuan Johari
Questions to Ask Children
How does the animation interact with the building?
Does it remind you of anything?
Is there an interesting building within your community that you would like to put a projected animation or film onto?
A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to Zines.
This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.
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 a Zine?
Zines are inexpensive or free way of making a self published publication. A focus on community is what makes a zine different to a comic or other types of publications.
Find your message and get creative!
At 00.55 there is an expletive shown on screen. You may want to stop the video before this point.
Questions to Ask Children
What kind of issues would you make a zine about?
What change would you like to see within your local community? Think about shared spaces, environment, local services…
What would you like to celebrate within your local community?
Introducing you to artist and activist Kate DeCiccio.
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.
Kate DeCiccio
Kate DeCiccio is an artist who reflects community stories through posters. Kate believes that portraits can help to shift narratives and are a great way to collaborate and share stories.
During the protest scene from 4.00 onwards there are expletives shown on screen on some of the posters . You may want to stop the video before this point.
Questions to Ask Children
What change would you like to see in the world and who could you create a portrait of to embody this message?
Why is collaboration important?
Spend 5 minutes working in pairs to note down (in sketchbooks) imagery and words that could be on a poster about your local community.
Talking Points: Making Drawings With Your Whole Body – Molly Haslund
A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to the work of Danish artist Molly Haslund.
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.
The Circle Project by Molly Haslund
Teacher’s Notes
“Molly Haslund ventures out into the city wearing grey: a grey suit, grey socks and grey shoes so that she blends in with the tarmac and the pavement. She carries a huge pair of compasses much taller than herself. She stops somewhere and starts drawing a white circle on the ground. She completes the first circle and then moves the pair of compasses and starts drawing a new circle that overlaps the first one. She draws a third circle and stands in her grey shoes in the middle of the circle for a moment before snapping the pair of compasses together and moving on.” https://www.mollyhaslund.com/circles-2013-2
“… The focus is on the physical action, on the movement of the circles, and the patterns emerging and disappearing again – and of course the effect grows with the number of participants. on the other hand, if you want to draw alone, you can just withdraw a little from the rest. A bit like on the dance floor.” Molly Haslund
Watch the video with the pupils, and look at the images below. Find questions to prompt discussion at the end of this resource.
Circles, Molly Haslund, 2015, New York, Peekskill Project #6, Hudson Valley MOCA, Photo by Joe Orangias
Circles (2013), Molly Haslund, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark, Photo by Matilde Haaning
Circles, Molly Haslund, 2014, Art Week, Superkilen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Photo by Matilde Haaning
Circles, Molly Haslund, 2014, Art Week, Superkilen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Photo by Matilde Haaning
Questions to Ask Children
How would you feel if you came across these circles in your street or playground, without knowing who had made them or why? What would you do? Would they change the way you move?
How do you think Molly, the artist, chooses where to make her circles?
How could you make similar circles in your playground, using chalk tied to sticks?
How would the circles you make join up with the circles your friends make?
What would other pupils in your school think if they discovered your circles? What do you think they would do?
What other shapes could you make with your body in the playground? Would you need tools?
If music played would you make different shapes? How would the shapes be different?
A collection of imagery and sources designed to stimulate an exploration of the brushwork of Van Gogh and Cezanne.
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.
Exploring the Brushwork of Van Gogh and Cezanne
If we zoom in and look closely at the brushwork of both Cezanne and Van Gogh you’ll see how they applied paint using fluid loose marks with complex colours, and yet when you stand back, the brush marks and the colours find their place to help tell the story of the painting.
In this resource we have zoomed in on sections of paintings to help pupils see the kinds of marks made by the painters.
Use the questions at the end to help guide an exploration.
Top: Detail: Wheat Field with Cypresses (1889) by Vincent Van Gogh. Original from the MET Museum.
Top: Detail:Three Apples (Deux pommes et demie) (ca. 1878–1879) by Paul Cézanne. Original from Original from Barnes Foundation.
Top: Detail: Houses and Figure (1890) by Vincent Van Gogh. Original from the Barnes Foundation.
Top: Detail: Houses in Provence: The Riaux Valley near LEstaque (ca. 1883) by Paul Cézanne.
Top: Detail: The Bedroom (1889) by Vincent Van Gogh.
Questions to Ask Children
“Impasto” describes paint when it is applied so thickly onto the canvas that it remains raised. Can you see areas of impasto in the paintings above?
Can you find an area of a painting where the artist has let the colour of the canvas show through?
Can you find examples of where the artist hasn’t mixed the colour on a palette – instead he has applied wet paint of one colour over wet paint of another colour and you can see where it mixes on the canvas?
Think about direction of brush strokes – can you find an area of canvas where the brush strokes go a particular direction? How do the artists’ change the direction of the brush strokes according to the subject matter of what they are painting?
How would you describe some of the brush strokes? Restful? Busy? Rhythmical? Chaotic?
Can you see areas of the paintings where the artist uses outlines? Doesn’t use outlines?
How many different colours can you spot in a particular area of canvas? Do you think the artist gives those colours names?
What kinds of tools or brushes do you think the artist might have used?
