Today we have tried another art project, which was originally created by a museum, this time the Figge Art Museum from Iowa.
Even if you are less familiar with the name of Grant Wood, you must have seen his famous painting, the "American Gothic", which is one of the most famous American paintings. Wood was a major exponent of the Midwestern Regionalism, which flourished in the US during the 1930s.
First I showed the artist's photo alongside a self-portrait to little Bear, because it is always easier for a 6 years old to get connected. He immediately expressed his amazement how good and realistic his self-portrait was. Then we looked at the "American Gothic' , together with a photo of Wood's dentist and his sister, who were modelling for the picture and also a photo of the house he painted, which is still standing. My experience is, that photos and real life facts always help to bring art closer to little Bears.
At last we looked at a few of his other pictures, mainly landscapes. Little Bears can quickly spot what is common in the pictures, how Wood has loved, expressed and used patterns on these pictures.
This project is about developing different patterns by transferring textures to our paper. It is quite a relaxing and calming exercise on its own to rub and transfer different textures and this time we use this technique to create art.
We did this in two steps.
First, we used a pencil to create the "landscape". The younger your kid, maybe more help needed with this, older ones can create themselves. Our little Bear has decided to create quite a detailed picture with hills, little doors, clouds etc.
As a second step, we collected all sorts of household items, which have an interesting texture, that can be transferred to a nice pattern: two different types of placemat, two different cardboards, a plastic spacer ring, a piece of wood board or chopping board, a ceramic coaster. First we tested all surfaces on a separate piece of paper to see how they come through.
To create the final landscape, all you need to do is choosing a pattern, a colour, then placing the item with the texture under the paper and rub with a pencil. The best is to use blunt pencils and/or use the side of the pencil-point. Wit the cardboard and placemats it is easier, the whole spot can be done in one go. For the small plastic spacer ring we rubbed it through, then replaced and rubbed again, repeating until the whole surface was covered.
Our little Bear could not stop rubbing and creating patterns, so he finished two artworks in one go...
