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Photos are coming!!!
My May Gibbs Fellow was a terrific experience. I got to work with some fabulous kids in an environment that encourages freedom of expression with art and allows the kids to play.
Quite a number of the kids visiting were from disadvantages schools, so it's great to know that you're offering a special opportunity to them.
I didn't stay at ArtPlay, being Melbourne based anyway. My 20 year old cat gets quite distressed these days if I'm not around.
My first workshops consisted of three groups of Prep children on Wed Nov 5.
For this I discussed the process of illustration and what's involved in creating a picture book.
Pemberthy Bear, a character from the book I illustrated by Sally Murphy, came along with me and the kids loved him. I pretended that he was a VERY grumpy bear and wouldn't say hello to the children unless they called out 'hello' very loudly. The kids loved him.
I then showed the kids how to draw Pemberthy by breaking it into simple steps and shapes.
The kids each drew their own Pemberthy on cartridge paper using watercolours and watercolour pencils.
I've used watercolour pencils a lot in my own work, so it was great for the kids to also explore that medium.
After this I had a groups of 5/6 students and 3/4 students on the Friday.
I started once again by discussing the process of illustration and what is involved in being an illustrator.
We then all drew our own dragons.
I showed them an illustration first of what they would be drawing and all of them were really excited, but thought it would be quite hard and that they would struggle.
At the end of the session I asked them if they still thought it was hard and they all agreed that it was actually quite simple. I love it when kids realise that they can do something and develop a real sense of pride in their achievement.
The dragons were drawn on cartridge paper using watercolour pencil with black fine liner over the top. This was the exact same medium that I did my dragon in, so it was good for them to see what simple materials can achieve if they're executed well.
On Friday Nov 7 I had two groups of pre-schoolers. I haven't worked with pre-schoolers for a long time, so that was absolutely delightful.
We did crazy, crazy faces.
I read them two books I've illustrated, 'Squeezy Cuddle Dangly Legs' and 'Pemberthy Bear'. We looked at all the different expressions and made all sorts of funny faces.
I drew on my music background and played a musical game with them on the keyboard. They had to dance around the room as I played the Muppet theme, always a favourite, and when I stopped they had to freeze and make the expression that I called out.
We then drew our own crazy faces with oil pastel and vibrantly coloured inks on carpet underlay. The carpet underlay is great stuff to work on. It's like a heavy duty rice paper and the inks bleed to create a really interesting effect.
When the kids drew their faces they had to keep their pastels on the paper (or in this case carpet underlay) without taking them off at all. In this way the faces became quite abstract and Picasso-like.
Next I had a workshop with a mixed group of kids ranging from grade 2 to grade 6.
We did 2 huge murals using the carpet underlay once again. Each mural was about three metres long and used oil pastels and inks.
The kids had to create a decorative garden out of patterns and they did an amazing job. The murals turned out beautifully with gorgeous vibrant colours and wonderfully detailed and creative patterns. I think the kids loved the fact that they were working on such a large scale. It's not something they often get a chance to do.
My final workshop was on a Sunday and was also mixed age groups. The parents came and sat in on the workshop too, which was lovely.
After I introduced myself and talked about illustrations and what's involved, we did dragons again, but this time with gold pen on black paper and pencil to colour. I wanted to see how the gold would work. The illustration style is quite decorative in design and I felt that it would really suit this medium.
The result was beautiful and the students came up with unique, stunning dragons. I pleased also that most of the parents also did their own dragons. And one family, including mum, dad and the two children, all worked together on one!
All in all it was a fabulous time and all the people at ArtPlay were terrific and extremely helpful. It was a wonderful opportunity for me.
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