Art workshop descriptions
Each class is 1.5 hours long
Ages: 8–12
Class size: 30 students
All materials are included in the price

We combine art history and hands-on learning to teach a variety of art techniques. Every class begins with an introduction using images of the artist’s work and discussion.

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NEW! for Halloween

Edward Gorey

Objectives:

• Contrast
• Light
• Texture

Edward St. John Gorey was an American writer and artist noted for his illustrated books. His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in Victorian and Edwardian settings. We will make hidden faces in spooky imagery in the style of Gorey using scratchboards.

* In addition the students will have the opportunity to work on artwork for the annual Edward Gorey Envelope Art Contest. Deadline: Oct. 27

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Beverly Buchanan

Objectives:

• Color
• Balance
• Texture

Beverly Buchanan is a contemporary artist who cobbles together small buildings made from found objects and slabs of wood painted with bright colors. Her structures symbolize ingenuity and survival. Design and build your own building with cardboard and paint in Buchanan’s style.

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Antoni Gaudi

Objectives:

• Pattern
• Form
• Light
• Architecture

Antoni Gaudi was an architect whose innovative and unique buildings are found in Barcelona Spain. His organic style is unique and was inspired by natural forms. Create a mosaic cityscape, in Gaudi’s style, with opaque and translucent papers. With a battery operated candle (included) we will transform the mosaic into a glowing luminaria!

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Alexander Calder (new)

Objectives:

• Balance
• Shape
• Form

Alexander Calder was a mid 20^th century artist best known for his mobiles and stabiles. The term stables was coined to describe Calder’s monumental sculptures made from flat curvilinear shapes of metal.  For our lesson we will create two different kinds of standing sculptures made from flat sheets of chipboard. We will discuss how to place the forms so that the piece will remain standing. Using Calder’s typically bright colors we will use oil pastels to embellish the surfaces.

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Brian Wildsmith

Objectives:

• Color mixing
• Texture
• Shape
• Form

Brian Wildsmith an illustrator of children’s books, including Birds, has a joyful, colorful style. Starting with corrugated cardboard students will sketch the bird of their choice. After cutting it out they will use oil pastels to apply color. We will explore three-dimensional additions such as real feathers. Lastly, we will create legs from chenille stems and attach it to a base of cardboard so that it stands up.

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Peter Max

Objectives:

• One-point perspective – When lines created by the edge of an object or building look like that are pointing to the distance and these lines meet at one point on the horizon.  Perspective is the method of showing depth with:
• position
• overlapping
• size variation
• color
• value

Peter Max, known for his bright 1960s paintings, will be the inspiration for a lesson in one-point perspective. The finished drawing will show simple shapes projected into the foreground from one point on the horizon. Color will be applied using watercolor paints and markers.

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Louise Nevelson

Objectives:

•  Variety
• Shape
• Value
• Form
• Shadow & Light

Louise Nevelson, a modernist sculptor, made constructions from wood, painted a single color. Her abstract style focused on form and texture. Using cardboard as a base, students will be able to choose from a wide variety of materials such as, precut wood shapes, cardboard and found objects. They will finish their construction with a coat of paint.

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Vincent van Gogh

Objectives:

• Box Pop Up
• Depth
• Color
• Pattern

You’ve seen the many art lesson iterations of Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and “Sunflowers ”. We will focus on a less well known image: a humble painting of a chair. In our version the seat and front legs of the chair will “pop out” from the background. Students will use watercolors and marker to put the finishing touches on their creation.

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Joan Miro

Objectives:

• Create an underpainting using watercolor filled misters
• Combining random shapes into a pleasing composition

Miro was a surrealist/modernist painter in the 1930s. He rejected conventional painting standards using biomorphic forms as his subject. Students will begin by creating an underpainting with watercolors. Next, we will play “Roll a Miro “, in which, each number on the dice corresponds with a Miro inspired shape. The random shapes will become the drawing. Using black sharpies students will outline the the shapes and crayons will be used to apply color.

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Alberto Giacometti
  

Objectives:

• How to shape a figure using an armature
• Create a figure sculpture that will remain vertical upon completion

Giacometti was a modernist sculptor whose figures had attenuated limbs and rough surfaces. Each student is given a figure made out of chenille stems. Using tissue paper and masking tape the figure will be wrapped like a mummy. Special attention will be paid to the figures lower limbs, so that it will stand when complete. To re-create the bronze color of his pieces, each figure is painted gold and then lightly brushed with black paint to finish.

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Yayoi Kusama 
  

Objectives:

• Learn to draw a simple self-portrait
• Using pattern to make your subject stand out or blend in with the background

Kusama is a contemporary artist. She takes self portraits mixing bold, graphic patterns. Sometimes her choice of clothing matches her background or clashes with it. Each student is given a mirror, paper and pencil. Step-by-step instructions are given on how to draw a self-portrait. The self-portrait is colored with markers in a variety of patterns.

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Gustav Klimt 

Objectives:

• Painting and Collage
• Symmetry
• Contrast

Gustav Klimt was an Austrian painter who used gold leaf and ornamentation in his Art Nouveau style work. Using Klimt’s painting, “Tree of Life”, as inspiration we will create our own tree using a layers of gold paint on black paper. Decoration will be applied using paint and collaged pieces of paper and plastic gems.

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Giuseppe Arcimboldo 
   

Objectives:

• Make a portrait head with collage materials
• How to create the features of a face with atypical images

Arcimboldo was a painter from the 15th century. He is known for his bizarre, painted  portraits composed entirely of vegetables, fruits and flowers. Students start by drawing a  profile of themselves. Using printed images of vegetables, fruits and flowers the students cut and paste them to create a fanciful portrait.

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Piet Mondrian

Objectives:

• Learn the concepts behind minimalist painting
• Construct a low relief assemblage
• Create a piece using only squares, rectangles, primary colors black and white

Students will construct and paint a piece in the minimalist style of the artist. Our version will be dimensional, elevating squares and rectangles, and using a minimalist color palette.

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Georgia O’Keeffe

Objectives:

• Collage
• Scale

O’Keefe  was a watercolor painter and is best known for her paintings of  flowers. Her images enlarge the flower so that it becomes an abstract image of sinuous curves. We will re-create the look of translucent watercolors by collaging tissue paper pieces onto paper.