Virtual Sistine Chapel Vatican Site

The Vatican site provides the link bellow to access the Sistine Chapel with superb visual resolution. This is a great resource for art history teachers and students, and obviously provides a much more interactive and memorable experience than looking at a dozen slides, enjoy:

The Sistine Chapel

Class Activity:
Students explore the site and choose one image/figure for a sketchbook assignment. Students choose any piece and research its meaning and complete a sketch using coloured pencils. Students must also come up with one puzzle or question about their chosen piece.

Surreal Drawing Exercises

Here are two surreal drawing exercises that can be effectively explored in  a 75 minute class.

#1. Homage to Andre Breton

Using an exercise handout that has four square grids of equally placed dots, draw and try not to think about what you are drawing. Try to allow the drawing process to be automatic. Do this with the first three grids and then use the forth to refine the composition in a conscious way, using a more usual approach to drawing.

#2. Illustrating a random phrase

Take any passage of text and randomly underline 6-8 words, not in a row, but sporadically throughout the passage. Work out some sketches to illustrate the random phrase. Try this a few times and choose the most interesting one to develop into a larger composition.

Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist

"Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist."

This is an inspiring talk that shows how much difference creativity can make. Mike Ebeling had a far-fetched idea and with a group of creative people, made it happen. Towards the end he asks the motivational questions that many innovators ask, "if not now, then when?" and "if not me, then who?"

Handspring Puppet Co.: The genius puppetry behind War Horse

"Handspring Puppet Co.: The genius puppetry behind War Horse."

This is a very inspiring talk, well worth a listen.