Painting with Cardboard

Hi Amy!

Thanks for creating our page. I would really like to utilise this blog to share as many ideas and teaching resources as possible. I have seen some fantastic activities on prac and believe that it would be really valuable to share what we have both seen. Thanks for putting up the link to Kandinsky’s work! I have never seen his art and it was really interesting. I particularly liked the use of colour, so will have to explore his art in more depth when I get a chance. It led me to start thinking about colour and composition, and how they can be taught within a primary school context. Whilst on prac, I went to an Arts PD. The facilitator talked about composition and about creating a ‘horizon’ by using darker colours at the front. Rather than using paintbrushes, we experimented with sponges and pieces of cardboard to sweep paint across the page. We painted Antarctic scenes. This is mine...

It still needs a lot of work (you have permission to laugh at my 'iceberg'), but it demonstrates how easy it can be to teach the techniques and skills of visual arts. During my own arts education, I was never taught explicit skills such as how to manipulate colour and tools to create different effects. Art was (and often still is) so different from nearly every other discipline in which educators sought to teach both skills and knowledge as central to students’ understanding. Due to my lack of skills, I am unconfident in teaching visual arts in the classroom. Sinclair, Jeanneret and O’Toole (2009) maintain that teachers should demonstrate technique as it is a fundamental component of arts education. It is thus essential that teachers seek to provide students with both the skills and knowledge of the arts.

Bethany

Sinclair, C., Jeanneret, N., & O'Toole, J. (Eds.). (2009). Education in the arts: teaching and learning in the contemporary curriculum. Sydney: Oxford University Press

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