Nathaniel Mather Inspirations

Amanda, 2nd grade

Inspiration piece, "Denial" by Nathaniel Mather

Talia, 2nd grade

Alexa, 1st grade

Abby, Kindergarten

Jenna, 3rd grade

Lilly, Kindergarten

Hannah, Kindergarten

Sierra, 1st grade

Matt, 2nd grade

I became familiar with Nathaniel Mather's work via Pinterest. He creates pieces that often have a mix of graphic designs and animals with unique compositions. The children looked at his painting, "Denial" to create our inspirations. (This project was meant to explore texture, line and shading, as well as a nod to the surreal art movement and not based on Melville's "Moby Dick." I was clear that these were Sperm Whales who eat fish and squid. ; )

The children created acrylic painted skies and ocean backgrounds using sponge painted tempera in blues and greens. A sheet of plastic wrap was applied and moved around and left to dry to add more texture. They followed a direct line drawing lesson on a separate paper to create their whales. Lines were gone over in charcoal and smudged to add shading and dimension. They could design their row boat any way they wished. I took profile pictures of each child so they could be placed in their boat. They had fun creating these multi-media pieces, step by step. I think they did a wonderful job with their dreamlike compositions.