Activating the Negative Space

Last May, I attended my son and daughter's school Fine Arts Open House, where I saw some pretty amazing student work. I told their art teacher that I was going to steal some of her ideas, and  she was fine with that, which is how I knew she was a real artist. We get our inspiration from everything we see. Plus, teachers are generally willing to share ideas. For one of the projects, her students used spray paint and stencils as the background, and I thought, "My blind students could do that!" I bought some stencils and made it the first real project of this school year.

We started our lesson by looking at artworks in which the subject matter was nature, and we discussed why artists have been inspired by nature throughout the ages. This led into the question of what beauty is, and a discussion on aesthetics. This is one of our standards to teach. I had the students each make three nature themed preliminary sketches for a painting, which fulfilled another standard. We had a critique before they chose the best of their sketches for their painting. 

Normally at this point, I would have had students begin by painting the entire paper with a background color, but I was afraid some of my low-vision students wouldn't be able to see their lines as well without the white paper for contrast. So they drew their image before painting the background.

Then they made the background more interesting with the stencils and spray paint. "Activating the negative space" is another art standard.   And using a variety of painting techniques is yet another standard. Talk about bang for your buck or rather, standards for your project!

Finally they painted their subject matter in the foreground. 

When they started painting over some of their stenciled designs it became apparent what I'm talking about when I mention "push and pull" or visual weight. We were literally tucking the designs behind the most important part of the painting: the subject.

A few of my blind students needed modifications. Some needed me to hot glue their subject (in this case pinecones) so they could paint independently.

Other students with very low vision needed close circuit TV magnifiers so they could zoom in on a small part of their large painting and see what they were painting. 

All of my students seemed pleased with the results, and when they're happy with their work, I know they'll continue to work hard.

Collage Project for Kids

Some of my young art students are very challenged when it comes to fine motor skills. So, although this lesson can be used to teach children vocabulary, such as, "medium" and "collage,"or concepts such as "overlapping translucence shapes creates new shapes and colors," and, "repetition creates a sense of unity," it also hits on the extremely basic skill of tearing tissue paper.

That's one of the things I love most about art education. You can use the same project to reach children with a huge range of ability levels. Some will go home to tell their parents about the importance of Abstract Expressionism in American history. Others will go home knowing how to pat down a piece of glued tissue on paper.

After talking about the medium of collage, I introduced the students to printmaking.  I found some dot makers, which I believe are used for BINGO. Is there a more simple way to learn stamping?  Some students made multiple pictures, entirely with dots, since it takes so little time. Sometimes I  stress to them the need to slow down and make conscious decisions. 

In the end, though, I found there wasn't a bad one in the bunch.

Collaboration Celebration!

We are back in school and my art room is abuzz with busy artists! Last week, as schedules were getting settled and students were trying to learn class procedures, I had them each create a portfolio (giant paper folder). They had their choice of medium, as long as their name is the focal point. Some used foam stamps, others, marker, hot glue, colored pencils and stencils, and pastel. But with a huge range of ability levels, I found that some students, and some classes work more quickly than others. In order to keep each student engaged in the creative process (and out of trouble), I kept a large piece of butcher paper a table.

I used green paint to divide the paper into round shapes, which were then hot glued, so that blind students could feel their boundaries and stay in their section. When anyone had some extra time, they were invited to use pastels or oil pastels and create a pattern within a shape.

My advanced class of low vision students made their own "mural" by dividing black paper with high contrast lines, creating triangles of various sizes.

It was a great introduction to not only shape and repetition, but unity and variety as well. Every class has students who are very unique, but we can be united as a community of learners, just as parts of a "mural" can be visually united. We also discussed the fact that collaboration means having respect for others and their contributions. I have a good feeling about what is possible for my students this school year.

The Point of Linear Perspective

Learning how to draw using the rules of linear perspective can be empowering for a student. Unfortunately, it can also be daunting and frustrating; so I start with a very basic one-point perspective exercise. My students and I talk about what a horizon is (where the sky and earth meet), and how that horizon changes depending on whether you are lying in the grass or flying in a plane. The horizon line is always eye level. That means that even when you are in a building, and can't see the sky and earth, you still use your eye level for the horizon line.  I even move a chair to the wall and sit down to count how many cinderblocks from the floor my eye level is to determine how high up the wall (or piece of paper) it would be.

Students draw a horizontal line for their horizon line, before drawing shapes (geometric or organic) above and below the line. We discuss the difference between shape (2D) and form (3D) and when I name a shape, they tell me the form version.  A circle can become a sphere or a cylinder. A triangle can become a pyramid or a triangular prism. In order to add dimension to their flat shapes they need to pick a point on the horizon line.  This is called the vanishing point. If you watch a cowboy ride off into the sunset, he will appear smaller and smaller until he finally disappears (thanks to the curvature of the earth). This is the vanishing point. Poet laureate, Billy Collins was referring to the vanishing point when he wrote, "You have heard of the apple that astonished Paris? This is the nostril of the ant that inhaled the universe."

Rulers were used to connect the vanishing point to the corners of shapes. If there are curves, the line becomes like a tangent, going to the outer edge of the shape. Finally, value and color can be added. Most of my students who did the exercise are visually impaired, but the example here is a student who is completely blind. He may never experience watching a cowboy ride off into the sunset, but he can understand the concept better now that he's made a tactile graphic using the principles of linear perspective.  And this concept helps those of us with sight understand why things look the way they do.

The Armadillo Project

Georgia based artists, Alexis Gregg and Tanner Coleman were recently commissioned by Macon's Museum of Art and Science to do an installation piece. After playing with several ideas, these ceramicists/sculptors decided to create a brick armadillo bench for the nature trail by the museum. My family got to help with the piece, which was pretty fun despite the triple digit temperatures.

Alexis and Tanner have done large brickworks in Australia, China, Thailand, Taiwan and Turkey!

They begin the process by stacking wet bricks and carving their shape. They mark each brick with a code before loading them into the kiln. Once the bricks are fired, they are hauled to the site. That's where we came in. My kids (and one of their friends) helped carry hundreds of bricks and sort them by letter, which told the layer of the sculpture.

The boys also helped to dig out the shape of the bottom of the sculpture, which Alexis and Tanner then filled with cement. We carved our names into the cement before it dried.

The next morning we started creating the shape of each layer by arranging the numbers in order. Tanner had drawn maps for each layer in a notebook to reference. If a brick is missing, it throws everything off, so great efforts are made to find every brick and be as accurate as possible, especially on the first couple of layers.


My daughter and I came out a third morning to organized the bricks for the back of the bench so that the masonry work would go faster for the artists. They'd mixed a mortar that matched the color of the brick very nicely.

And here is the finished bench. If you've ever wanted to relax in the shade on the back of a big armadillo, here's your chance. While this is a much smaller piece than say, their fifty foot dragonfly in Atlanta, it still took a tremendous amount of time and effort. Real art requires real sweat. Alexis and Tanner are no strangers to rolling up their sleeves and doing what it takes to make great things happen, and I am grateful they let us be a small part in the process.

Cane and Jacket Racket

Last week, I taught at a camp for teenagers who are blind or visually impaired. The camp theme was Home Sweet Home, so they learned home repair skills, gardening, art and cooking. As the art teacher, I wanted to keep with the week's theme and have them make something useful for their home. About half of the students get around using white canes and so I thought rack to hang a cane, jacket, purse, umbrella or hat, would be useful.

The first morning of camp was a field trip to Lowe's to buy the project materials. I made a scavenger hunt which included finding aisle numbers and prices on specific items as well as experiences to complete (lay in a hammock, put your hand down the model toilet etc.)  There are so many textures, for kids with visual impairments, to explore in that store. The flooring section alone is full of carpets, door mats, tiles, and wood flooring!

Groups would come to the lumber section one at a time and discuss how to pick out a great piece of wood. We bought 6 foot X 6 inch X 1 inch pieces, which would make four racks each. One of the employees, patiently demonstrated how to cut the wood for the students.

Day two, campers sanded the boards, picked out knobs and hooks, and then painted their board a solid color.

Day three, we watched some videos on how to use painter's tape in an original way. Each student came up with an idea, taped, and painted their board in a contrasting color to the underpainting. Some used stencils and spray paint.

Day four, they removed the tape, drilled holes, and screwed on the hooks or knobs.

On the last day of camp,students painted terra-cotta pots. They were given a bag of soil and seeds that they had sprouted in their horticulture class, to plant in the pot once they got home. It was such a fun week, filled with practical skills, silliness, and friendship!

Foreground, Middle Ground, and Background in Landscapes

When teaching my elementary students how to create landscapes, recently, I emphasized three vocabulary words: foreground (what is closest to you), background (what is farthest away from you) and middle ground (what is between the foreground and the background).  I started with three objects, a stapler, bottle of glue, and roll of tape. I asked which object was closest, which was farthest, and which was in the middle. Because my students are legally blind, they needed to figure out what the objects were and where they were located by touch. We touched each object and said, "closest, farthest, and the middle" than we continued touching saying "foreground, middle ground and background." I repeated asking, "What is in the foreground?" They'd answer, "the stapler." or "Where is the glue?" They'd answer, "in the middle ground." It took a lot of practice, but once they understood the concepts reaching back on a table, I brought out the art history posters like this one of a painting by Thomas Cole.

These images, I would describe in detail, and they would sweep their hand across the foreground, (usually at the bottom of the poster), the middle ground (usually in the middle of the poster), and the background (usually at the top of the poster). For older students I use the terms like "vertical placement" and "overlapping," when I talk about ways to show depth on a 2D surface.

Once they grasped that idea, we made very simple images with colored pencil and tissue paper with foreground at the bottom, middle ground in the middle, and background at the top.

The following week we started over with the same exercises, but this time, they choose a color of paper as their background. They painted branches for the middle ground, and then they each put cherry blossoms in the foreground, using either a sponge, a celery heart, or soda bottle to stamp blossoms. Our town is spectacular with its 10,000 cherry blossoms in bloom, so it's nice to celebrate while reinforcing landscape vocabulary.