About a year ago I was thumbing through picture books next to the 3 and 4 year olds at my local library. (Yeah, I'm cool like that....and yes, I do read grown-up books with words as well ;)
I came across the lovely "Possom and Wattle" by Bronwyn Bancroft, and I've been a fan ever since. Beyond these colorful, graphic illustrations with roots in Aboriginal dot art, Bancroft creates gorgeously intricate paintings rooted in her Australian Indigenous ancestry. ( She is committed to the protection of these artists' rights as well.)
My students first chose their background colors, and were encouraged to chose 3 or 4 on the same side of the color wheel to create an atmosphere for their animal. We looked and at some of Bancroft's animals for inspiration and the children chose between wombats, dingos, koalas and kangaroos or they could choose their own. They created graphic animals using Sharpie and oil pastels on marbled construction paper. Last, they created painted dot designs on their painted backgrounds using the ends of their paint brushes. Their animals were then cut out and glued to these painted backgrounds. (Works created by 1st thru 5th graders)
These are lovely Mary, I especially like the wombat with the orange dots. I've been visiting your blog for a while now, you have so many excellent do-able ideas. I've just started a blog of my own at dreampainters.wordpress.au and have created a following link to your page. Thank you so much for the inspiration!!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Thanks for your comment Mary! Wish we could chat and share ideas! It was the first summer for me to do more than about four workshops, so it was definitely a new experience. Good luck with your school year-can't wait to see all your projects:)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great project to teach young students about lines patterns.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Hi Mary!
ReplyDeleteLove your students Aboriginal creations! As I said in my last post,I'll be introducing one of my schools to this fabulous culture 1st Quarter. I will post five different projects I developed several years ago and I'm really looking forward to it. Tell your students that they really inspired me, okay?
:)pat