The Mural Project 2016

This term, I worked with the Grade 11 Media Arts class to paint another mural at the campus. The project involved covering up an older mural that was painted years ago in what is now the guidance office. The colours as well as the subject matter of the old mural were interesting but a bit unnerving for the calm atmosphere I try to create in the guidance space. 

Some Grade 9 and 10 students volunteered to sand down the old mural, a senior student did two coats of primer to cover up the black and primary colours of the old mural. Then, the Media Arts students took over covering the wall with a cool blue and green layer, using sponges to blend the two areas. They used variations of a sketch of mine to cover the wall with the line work for the paint. 

Many students who weren't in the Media Arts class wanted to help out and paint part of the mural, it was great to see the project bring so many people together!

We used eggshell house paint and finished the mural in two main stages: the mid-tone blue trees and the highlights of brighter colours in between the patterns in the branches. It was a fun project and it gave the students a chance to be creative and to work in an environment other than the typical classroom setting, listening to music and chatting as they worked. Looking forward to another mural next year!

- Patrick

Illustration Unit: Willy Pogany

I started this blog for in-class art projects and lesson plans. Lately it's been all about field trips - and I've covered a few art gallery shows in between. I want to get back to posting about in-class activities and good starting points for projects.

The golden age of illustration would make a great theme for a studio project and a long-term art history section. This high-point of traditional commercial art featured work by english artists including: Aubrey Beardsley and Arthur Rackham and american artists including: Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish.

This post presents a personal favourite Willy Pogany, originally from Hungary, who started his career in England and then moved to the US.

Willy Pogany illustrated many wonderful narrative books covering myths and legends, fairy tales and adventure stories. He works with pen and ink on smooth paper using short expressive line-work and an  art nouveau design approach. His work features beautiful examples of hand-lettering.

A fun studio project: students choose a myth or legend from any culture to research and illustrate one scene from the story. A title or quote must be included in the design using hand-lettering. Students can also choose from folk stories, fairy tales and adventure books. 

Students will complete a Creative Process Booklet to be submitted with the final work that will present the brainstorming, research, experimentation, rough work and reflection.

Lesson One: Intro to the Golden Age of Illustration 

Lesson Two: pen and ink basics 

Lesson Three: pen and ink techniques

Lesson Four: hand-lettering techniques

Lesson Five: The work of Willy Pogany

Lesson Six-Ten: Studio project: The Creative Process

Lesson Eleven: Final Submission - Class Presentation and Group Critique

A.G.O. visit follow-up lesson and CPT studio project

Anticipatory Set: have students write a list of words, ideas, phrases that represent Canadian culture/identity to them personally, based on their experiences. 

Follow this with a powerpoint and class discussion, reviewing some of the Group of 7 work that was explored at the A.G.O. What would their list include? Review the creative process used by the Group of 7. Then introduce the studio project, which has three stages.

Stage one: for the rest of class today, students will look through magazines to find images of the items on their list (that represent Canadian identity). Students are encouraged to use the internet and print out search results. (15 Minutes) If they have time they will begin to create a collage that covers one piece of illustration board (16X20) using these collected images. To be completed during the following class.

Stage two: students will engage in the creative process used by the Group of 7, by outdoor sketching on a class trip to a nearby park. Sketches will be done in their sketchbooks and will focus on a landscape that must incorporate some wilderness. Students will take 3-5 digital photographs of what they sketched for reference, upload them to the class folder, and print them during the next class.

Stage three: students will explore composition in their sketchbooks based on their outdoor sketch and their digital photographs. After I approve their sketches and composition, students will begin an acrylic painting on top of their collage, based on their sketch, their digital photographs and their explorations. Students will paint over their collage but must leave some showing through. (For example, students may keep the collage as the sky, or as the background, or a texture). I will model each stage as we go.