Session 2:
Learning intentions:§ Develop awareness of processes and experiences of learning in art and design
§ Increase awareness of knowledge and understanding in art and design
§ Consider ways of expressing learning appropriate for planning purposes
§ Develop awareness of, and skills for teaching drawing and painting, including application of skills and knowledge
Introduction:
§ Develop awareness of processes and experiences of learning in art and design
§ Increase awareness of knowledge and understanding in art and design
Explore relationship between visual elements and art forms
View examples of planning and consider learning objectives with reference to process verbs related to ‘model of learning in art and design’ and national frameworks
Development:
§ Consider ways of expressing learning appropriate for planning purposes
§ Develop awareness of, and skills for teaching drawing and painting, including application of skills and knowledge
1. Group and individual work exploring qualities of colour
2. Painting exercise developing control and application of skills and knowledge, including challenges to support learning3. Identify a series of challenges to explore colour and paint
Explore and identify language to express learning : stem verbs or productive verbs
Follow-up activity:
Refer to session notes.
Using the list of stem verbs (e.g. record, explore, investigate etc.) devise appropriate objectives for activities in sessions 1 and 2, making references to national frameworks.
Notes and Resources :
National Curriculum Council (NCC) Arts in Schools Project Team (1990) The Arts 5-16 Practice and Innovation.
Developing Knowledge and Understanding of visual, tactile and spatial elements Bowden (2006)
Painting notes
Progression of Drawing and Painting from Key& Stillman (2009)
National Curriculum Council (NCC) Arts in Schools Project Team (1990) The Arts 5-16 Practice and Innovation. Essex: Oliver and Boyd (pp 11-16)
Making and appraising are recognised as the two ways of engaging in the arts. This involves a number of related processes including:
Exploring
Exploratory work lies at the heart of art activity. This approach allows an opening up of ideas and interest. The results are not always concrete or final, they may remain speculative and self-fulfilling. Exploration is a way of approaching the materials and media of art practice, experimenting and combining existing and new ideas, extending their range and potential.
Forming
Making involves the forming of objects or events which embody and represent artists’ conceptions, intentions and perceptions. These are not simply translated into visual form, they may begin as vague nuances; some notes, a sketch, a phrase. Ideas and beginnings are then reassessed, reworked, refined and reshaped.
Presenting
During the making process it is valuable to share notes, ideas, preparations etc, equally finished work can be presented via a number of venues and to a range of audiences/spectators. The contributions of an informal audience or an awareness of the intended audience is valuable and important. Pupils should be encouraged to consider the way their work is to be presented. Appraisals and peer comments can increase their sense of ownership and pride, acting as a stimulus for further work.
Responding
The arts have to be experienced wherever possible at first hand. Arts education has a responsibility to extend young people’s sensibilities to the arts and the range and depth of their art experience and understanding.
Evaluating
To make judgements requires knowledge of the themes, content and conventions of the work. ‘There are no absolute criteria or rules which can be applied automatically to works of art. Judgement develops from experience and acquaintance’.
The processes of making and appraising are related and integrated, however the nature of the activity will determine the sequence of processes and the relevance at any particular time.
The Elements of Learning: concepts, skills, values and attitudes, and information
Concepts
Making in the arts which is purposeful and significant involves pupils developing their understanding of concepts and skills.
Contextual concepts: these are developed through experience and acquaintance with artistic practice and conventions, and how these are bound up in complex networks of values and attitudes – religious, political, moral, philosophical – consequently the context is all important. Relevant concepts include genre, period, and convention.
It is also important that children see how their work is growing and developing within cultural contexts and within the frameworks of conventions or genre.
Aesthetic concepts: these relate to exploration and investigation, and to the principles of organisation in the work: rhythm, repetition, unit, symmetry, contrast, sequence, climax, balance, harmony, pace, tone, energy.
Skills
Development and maturation in the arts is dependent upon skills and expertise which need to be learnt and practised.
Perceptual Skills: observations are central to many art forms. In visual art they are closely linked to the tradition of developing skills of observational drawing; for its own sake and to increase awareness of the environment, as a basis for representations, descriptions or accounts of actual experience.
Perceptual skills are also used to shape and organise materials into appropriate forms, they are also used in the process of discriminating and reflecting on the work of others, and recognising the ways in which artists acknowledge and use audience/spectator perceptions.
Productive Skills: ‘Making involves skill and control in the manipulation of chosen media’. However, learning skills that remain out of context or without significance will be frustrating and self-defeating. Similarly, belief in creativity and spontaneity at the expense of skill learning, results in poorly expressed ideas and frustration. Teaching skills in appropriate media and for a purpose is an essential part of creative work.
Discursive Skills:
Pupils need to be encouraged to consider the role and importance of dialogue in developing work and ideas about work. A developing vocabulary is required to make judgements about their own work and that of others; talking to each other, making notes, talking about artists work, looking and talking in galleries, listening to artists and gallery educators.
Values and Attitudes
The context for art practice, historical, political, social, moral, religious, determines particular values and attitudes. Equally art itself and its objects are concerned with questions of value. Art can offer a positive contribution to the examination of values and the politics of power that privilege particular groups of people and ideas, and explore the ‘cultural perceptions to which they relate’.
Attitudes that should be encouraged through arts education include:
Confidence to make independent judgements
Willingness to consider other social and artistic values
Readiness to search for alternative solutions to problems
Openness to others
Curiosity about the arts, their cultural roles and means of production
Sensitivity to others
Sense of self-worth
Information
Often presented as knowledge, it is important to make a distinction and emphasise equally propositional (declarative and procedural) and tacit.
Developing Knowledge and Understanding of visual, tactile and spatial elements
Although the National Curriculum (DfEE 1999) describes the elements of colour, pattern, texture, line, tone, shape, form and space, as visual and tactile, elsewhere we have extended this phrase to: visual, tactile and spatial.
Bowden (2006) suggests that when considering the visual, tactile and spatial elements in primary art and design it is useful to:
Start with an observed or experienced source: ‘a way of introducing primary pupils to the visual elements is to develop their understanding by using first-hand observational (or other sensory) source, rather than starting with the total abstraction of ‘basic design’ (visual, tactile or spatial) activities’. (Bowden 2006:36)
This may involve children in the close examination of texture or surface qualities of found objects using viewfinders, or noting the tonal range of a landscape scene with squares of tonal papers, identifying a colour scheme in an artist’s work or feeling the form of branches and stems.
Link the visual elements with media: ‘each of the visual elements has associations with a particular medium … between drawing and line and tone, painting and colour, printmaking with the exploration of surface and texture, clay and three dimensional materials with space and form’. (Bowden 2006:37)
It will come as little surprise that these associations are often blurred, for example where artists employ colour in sculpture or explore texture with paint. However, you will find it beneficial during the planning and preparation stages to make close links between materials and visual elements. This will help your focus when teaching, and support feedback opportunities to help children develop their visual, spatial and tactile awareness and understanding.
Knowledge of the visual elements: ‘Some aspects of learning related to the visual elements involve specific and measurable knowledge, and can thus be taught specifically and progressively’ (Bowden 2006:37). However, Bowden adds that in addition ‘pupils need to be given the opportunity to experiment with media to discover for themselves the ‘rules’. (Bowden 2006:37)
This interplay between experimentation and observation of rules is symptomatic of art and design activity. Artists move between the conventional and the original as they seek ways which excite or intrigue. As an intending teacher you will be able to work with activities focused on transferring knowledge or understanding, from practical demonstration or interactive whiteboard exemplification, to activities inviting awareness through discovery. A characteristic of good teaching in such a context is supporting children’s visual, tactile and spatial development, through challenging activity. This approach encourages considered and controlled decisions and actions, but avoids over prescription. For example children can be asked to ‘look closely at a natural form and … use appropriate media to compare thick lines with thin, hard with soft, furry with crisp’ (Bowden 2006:37).
Extract from Key, P. and Stillman, J. (2009) Teaching Primary Art and Design, Exeter: Learning Matters.
Bowden, J. (2006) The Primary Art and Design Subject Leaders Handbook, Corsham: NSEAD.
Line
The building blocks of drawing, lines come in all shapes and sizes, they combine to form shapes, patterns, tones and textures. Lines can be interpreted in the environment, in found and made objects. They appear where one shape or object or surface or colour meets another, and gives the appearance of a ‘line’. In addition they are added to environments to mark out and delineate spaces, from football pitches to parking bays.
Children will use line to show outlines of animals, make shapes for figures, show movement in drawings, and to show movement of firework explosions
Vocabulary: Straight, curved, fine, thick, horizon, outline, wavy, zig zag, organic, rhythmic, industrial, delicate, heavy, dash, dot, spot, splodge, mark, point perspective, proportion, vanishing point, gesture, cross-hatching, direction, enclosure, edge, movement, direction, rhythm
Materials for exploring line: pencils, colour pencils, felt pens, water soluble pencils, oil pastels, chalk pastels, pens, fine line pens, marker pens, threads, string, rope, torn and cut paper, masking tape, plastic insulating tape
Observed or experienced source: train lines, street lamps, road markings, window frames, star constellations, cut fruit, leaf veins, bark, wire fencing, branches, mechanical objects, pens and pencils in storage containers, books on shelves
Examples of art movements: Constructivism, Futurism, Abstract Expressionism
Examples of artists, craftspeople and designers: Liubov Popova, Giacomo Balla, Jackson Pollock, Patrick Caulfield, Martin Craig Martin, Sol LeWitt, David Hockney, Julian Opie
Form
Children explore form by picking up, handling, and clutching three dimensional objects. They learn through touch, about contour, mass, weight and balance.
Children will play with clay, push and pulling it to form shapes which roll, stand up, balance, or join together, stretch across gaps or fill small spaces. They will balance objects on other objects, pick up pebbles and build towers, and construct space ships from scrap materials.
Vocabulary: organic, geometric, regular, irregular, weight, force, balance, structure, space
Materials for exploring form: plastic modelling material (play dough, salt dough, plastic modelling clay, clay, air drying clay), mod-roc, paper pulp, construction materials (card, paper, tape, staples, glue guns, art straws), manufactured plastic and wooden construction materials, wire, cane and willow, scrap materials
Observed or experienced source: trees, branches, cars, fish, mammals, insects, reptiles, monuments, buildings and towers, bridges, domestic appliances, human figure
Examples of art movements: Site specific, land art, environmental, abstract
Examples of artists, craftspeople and designers: Jean Tinguely, Andy Goldsworthy, Naum Gabo, Dale Chihuly, Anish Kapoor, Louise Bourgeois, Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, Barry Flanagan, Peter Randall Page
Extract from Key, P. and Stillman, J. (2009) Teaching Primary Art and Design, Exeter: Learning Matters.
Visual Tactile and Spatial Elements
An established approach to curriculum planning is to identify the visual elements. They are:
Line
Tone
Colour
Shape
Space
Texture
Pattern
Form
Teachers and pupils can explore materials that best describe the chosen visual element. For example, if a selection of fruit and vegetables were brought into the classroom, they could be classified and grouped by colour, and paint could be used to describe their qualities of colour.
Alternatively, curriculum can be devised that develops a sequence of lessons based around an ‘art form’ or ‘art experience’:
Art Experiences
Painting
Printmaking
Drawing
ICT
Textiles
Sculpture
Design
Lens-based-media
Multimedia
For example, painting could be introduced to the pupils as the area of development. Some activities might include, colour mixing, painting form memory, recording colour from observation.
You will notice that there is a clear link between visual element and art form, they do not exist in isolation. You have to ensure the connections you make are valid and appropriate. It would be inappropriate, for example, to explore colour using charcoal, or use a pineapple and miss the opportunity to discuss its texture or surface qualities.
Painting Notes
Handling Materials
Skills children need to develop:
· Mixing powder with water
· Mixing appropriate consistency and enough of chosen colour
· Remembering how to mix certain colours and tints/shades etc.
· Selecting appropriate size/shaped brushes
· Changing brush/using more than one brush during painting process
· Changing grip on brush to achieve certain effects
· Selecting alternative equipment in place of brushes (sponge, spatula, finger etc)
· Selecting appropriate paper (size/weight/colour/texture)