by Gregory Schmidt
Okay, so you might have taken me up on that earlier challenge to have the kids draw out and montage the look of their imagined or suggested garden. You and they may even have tried some plantings outdoors or in a window box.
If so, you would have recently wrapped up your harvest season with some healthy veggies and/or fruits added to your meals.
Now, it's time to set in stone the look of those favorite edibles. So, how are we to do that? It can be accomplished via one of the most original and ancient artforms: mosaics. The small colorful mosaic stones that the early Greeks and Romans used on their floors and walls are still utilized in some art studios around the world, today.
You won't have access to such materials, mostly because of the cost of acquiring enough of these small chips of colored stone and glass to complete your picture. So, again, we resort to colored construction paper and even some fabric cuttings. Make sure each individual segment is small enough for creating detail in illustrating your 'still life' of a tomato, cabbage head, apple, etc. I'd say about 1/4" square is the best.
Your backing surface could be that trusty old matt board that I encouraged you to get into the house for various projects. Upon this your students are going to be encouraged to glue hundreds of these small "pixels" to create the artful impression of a colorful fruit or vegetable.
Here's the key to successful illustration in this task - making sure you have enough shades of each primary color in order to set the appearance of light and shade on the subject. You'll need to get your hands into this with the kids in order to instill in them the understanding of how to enhance a flat round apple, for example, of one color into a three-dimensional appearing subject that has lighter color on one edge and darker color on the other. You might even want to show them how to create the effect of light shining off the top of the apple by adding a few small "mosaics" of white or light yellow.
The most difficult part of this art challenge, of course, will be the affixing of the small pieces of paper or fabric to the surface. They might want to lay out their design, first, before sticking it down permanently. Then they can use regular household glue with a q-tip or toothpick applicator. Please use the safer Elmer's paper glue, so that the youngsters don't have to take in too many fumes while doing this. Show them how to use the smallest of dabs of glue, so that the artwork remains clean and not smeared with too much of the adhesive.
Now, if you want to be totally inspired by the ancient process of this form of illustrating, google 'mosaic art' on the computer and you will be amazed and motivated to try this some more. As always, each of these creative arts projects is intended to motivate your students to try it again and again as they progressively become more proficient at it.
And as the Bueno Gang kids will say, "eat an apple or an orange every day."
Gregory Schmidt worked with the child actors in his Bueno Gang Kids movie series for 18 months before putting them into their original production on camera. The first two movies in the series have earned the Dove Foundation stamp of approval. They can be purchased by contacting greg@festint.com. The two Bueno Gang movies are also available at ChristianCinema.com.
Okay, so you might have taken me up on that earlier challenge to have the kids draw out and montage the look of their imagined or suggested garden. You and they may even have tried some plantings outdoors or in a window box.
If so, you would have recently wrapped up your harvest season with some healthy veggies and/or fruits added to your meals.
Now, it's time to set in stone the look of those favorite edibles. So, how are we to do that? It can be accomplished via one of the most original and ancient artforms: mosaics. The small colorful mosaic stones that the early Greeks and Romans used on their floors and walls are still utilized in some art studios around the world, today.
You won't have access to such materials, mostly because of the cost of acquiring enough of these small chips of colored stone and glass to complete your picture. So, again, we resort to colored construction paper and even some fabric cuttings. Make sure each individual segment is small enough for creating detail in illustrating your 'still life' of a tomato, cabbage head, apple, etc. I'd say about 1/4" square is the best.
Your backing surface could be that trusty old matt board that I encouraged you to get into the house for various projects. Upon this your students are going to be encouraged to glue hundreds of these small "pixels" to create the artful impression of a colorful fruit or vegetable.
Here's the key to successful illustration in this task - making sure you have enough shades of each primary color in order to set the appearance of light and shade on the subject. You'll need to get your hands into this with the kids in order to instill in them the understanding of how to enhance a flat round apple, for example, of one color into a three-dimensional appearing subject that has lighter color on one edge and darker color on the other. You might even want to show them how to create the effect of light shining off the top of the apple by adding a few small "mosaics" of white or light yellow.
The most difficult part of this art challenge, of course, will be the affixing of the small pieces of paper or fabric to the surface. They might want to lay out their design, first, before sticking it down permanently. Then they can use regular household glue with a q-tip or toothpick applicator. Please use the safer Elmer's paper glue, so that the youngsters don't have to take in too many fumes while doing this. Show them how to use the smallest of dabs of glue, so that the artwork remains clean and not smeared with too much of the adhesive.
Now, if you want to be totally inspired by the ancient process of this form of illustrating, google 'mosaic art' on the computer and you will be amazed and motivated to try this some more. As always, each of these creative arts projects is intended to motivate your students to try it again and again as they progressively become more proficient at it.
And as the Bueno Gang kids will say, "eat an apple or an orange every day."
Gregory Schmidt worked with the child actors in his Bueno Gang Kids movie series for 18 months before putting them into their original production on camera. The first two movies in the series have earned the Dove Foundation stamp of approval. They can be purchased by contacting greg@festint.com. The two Bueno Gang movies are also available at ChristianCinema.com.
