Paper Plate Radial Weaving

Thanks to Mr E and Mrs Jahnig for this idea.

Most of the projects I do with my regular class are paper-based so it's nice to occassionally do some textile art. Radial weaving is new to me (and my students!). When I tried it out at home I realised that my class of disabled adults would probably find it quite fiddly as you need quite nimble little fingers to weave the wool in and out. I almost abandoned the project but then hit upon the idea of cutting out the centre of the plate. This makes it much easier to pass the wool in and out.
When I came to do the project in class, I had pre-strung all the looms (paper plates) so that they could start weaving right away. I encouraged them all to use plastic sewing needles to make the wool even easier to handle.
The class all managed this activity quite well. A couple of students wanted to do their own thing and happily sewed the wool randomly in and out, ending up with something of a tangled mess but a sense of satisfaction at having done it their way!
Once they had been weaving for about 35 minutes I gave them the choice of leaving their work on the loom for display (when I strung the looms I left a loop for hanging) or taking it off. They all wanted to leave it on so I handed out oil pastels so that they could decorate the edges of the plates.

City at Night Collage

For this workshop I tried my own version of the City at Night art lesson I've seen on http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/  and other blogs. I decided to start with a circular background for a change and got the students to draw round a record to create a perfectly-sized circle (try doing that with an MP3 - ha!) which they cut out with help from their carers. Next, I showed them how to use pastels to make a moon and lots of stars. I had pre-cut loads of rectangles in different sizes and colours so they could choose which ones they wanted for their skyscrapers and glue them on at the base of the circle. I had also cut out lots of bright yellow squares for the windows. I explained that they didn't have to cover the whole skyscraper with windows because not everyone would have their lights on! They all seemed to understand and enjoyed positioning the windows. As a finishing touch I gave them a cut-out of a cartoon yellow taxi (much to the delight of one car-obsessed student) which they could glue on to the bottom.

Aboriginal Dot Painting

I know that most art teachers out there have finished for the summer but for a community artist like me the classes just keep on going!
My most recent endeavour was an Australian-themed dot painting workshop. I have used dot painting in classes before but this was the first time I incorporated a hand print into the design (thanks to Kristin Thomas at For the Love of Art ).
I set the scene by putting on a CD of didgeridoo music (it was Didgeralia by David Hudson) and handing out some colouring sheets of x-ray animal drawings.
I then asked them to draw around one of their hands on a sheet of grey paper (black would probably have been better but we didn't have any!). All the students who attend this particular class have a carer with them so I gave them a choice: either the carer could draw around the student's hand or vice versa.
I then demonstrated how to create dots around the outline of the hand using cotton buds (Q-tips) dipped in paint. They could then go ahead and fill-in the rest of the hand. At this point, each student had access to either hot colours or cold colours, not both.
Once they had done this I asked them to draw a simple pattern of lines around the hand. Some students managed this themselves and others needed their carer to do this bit for them. I then swapped the paint pallets around and got them to fill in the background. They all needed lots of motivating to keep going with the dots as they wanted to stop after doing a few in each colour. It was also very tempting for them to use the cotton bud like a paintbrush and make lines instead of dots but I gently discouraged that (unless they were REALLY enjoying it!) A little bit of one-on-one help with each student helped them to get the hang of it. As a finishing touch, they chose one of the x-ray animals they had coloured and glued it on to their picture.
Here are links to the book I copied the x-ray animals from and to the fab CD which all the students enjoyed:

Collage Silhouettes

I spotted this project on Mrs Jahnig's Art Space and decided to give it a whirl with my art group.
As soon as students started to arrive for class I began sitting them one by one in the 'hot seat' so that I could draw their profiles. I just used a lamp to create the shadows on large pieces of paper. It was a real challenge to get my students to sit still and not turn around to see what I was drawing! I had to be very fast and some of the profiles were a little rough. One of my students did not manage to sit still at all and so I drew the profile of his carer instead. After they all had their profiles drawn, I asked the carers to cut them out (one student was able to cut out his own) and then they began flicking through magazines and choosing images that appealed to them. I told them that I wanted them to create a picture of what goes on inside their heads and so they should choose pictures of things that they like or like doing. I'm not sure if they all understood the concept but they were all very definite about what images they did and didn't like. Few students could cut out the pictures themselves but they could all help apply the glue and stick them on to their profiles. I always like to use glitter glue for a bit of glamour!
The profiles were quite big and most students didn't have time to completely cover them in pictures during the hour-long class. It would also have been nice to mount the finished profiles on to black paper to frame them.
It was really interesting to see which pictures the students chose and I felt like I knew them better by the end of the class.

Five Minute Theatre

Yesterday was a big day for my drama group at Vale of  Leven Academy in West Dunbartonshire. They performed and recorded their five minute play 'Squirrels vs the Moon' about a group of squirrels building a rocket in order to reach the 'glorious white nut in the sky'. (The play was written by the young people - there's no way I could come up with an idea as crazy as that!)
It will be shown as part of 24 hours of non-stop theatre from the 21st to 22nd of June 2011 on the National Theatre of Scotland website: http://fiveminutetheatre.com/
We will be on sometime between 2 & 3pm on the 22nd.

Collagraph Prints

I love printmaking and thought that collagraphs would be a good technique to try with my regular group of adults with learning difficulties.
We began by drawing an oval face-shape on card and cutting it out. In most cases the carer had to do the cutting. In my class all of the participants have a carer with them.
After they cut out the face shape, they drew simple eyes, noses and mouths on card, cut them out and glued them on to the face. Make sure you use decent paper glue and leave time for it to dry or else you will have eyes and noses sticking to the ink roller later!
I prepared a printing table with two colours of ink and got the participants to come up one at a time to make their print. If you have a large class it's a good idea to provide an extra activity for them to do while they are waiting. I usually have around 6 in my class but on the day of this activity I had 12 which meant there was a lot more waiting around than I would have liked.
I got them to ink up the face in one colour, place it face down on the paper and then go over the top with another colour which gives quite a nice 'arty' effect. All the participants really enjoyed using the ink roller. Even those who have trouble controlling a paintbrush seemed to find it really easy which made me think that printmaking is definitely a good activity for this group.
They all got a kick out of peeling off the card to reveal the face underneath even if some of the faces turned out a little scary looking!

Waterfront Houses

I'd seen various versions of this project on art blogs and decided I could simplify it for my group of adults with learning difficulties.
I prepared for this class by using a paper trimmer to cut some squares, rectangles and 'roof shapes' from coloured paper and printing out a photo of waterfront houses relected in water.
I began the class by passing the photo around to give everyone an idea of what we were aiming for.
I then asked them to use oil pastels to draw a wide stripe across the centre of the paper. This was to be the 'ground' that the buildings sit on. I also got them to use a blue oil pastel to draw waves on the bottom half of the paper. (actually I forgot to get them to do that until later but let's pretend I did it here!)
Next they had fun making their houses by gluing on the paper shapes (with lots of help from their carers!) Some decided to draw curtains at the windows, letter boxes, etc.
Now for the challenging part - they had to use watercolour paint to create the reflection of their houses in the water. To make it as simple as possible, I only asked them to paint a rectangle or square the same colour as the house above - I didn't expect them to paint the windows and doors too. Their carers helped them to choose the right colours.
Once that was done, all that was left was to use blue watercolour to paint the rest of the water around the reflections and a beautiful blue sky!