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lesson
4 - continued
TeXtures
& PAtteRNs
and the storytelling of
Icarus
I
gave the kids xerox sheets of art from around the world that
were full of textures and patterns. We reviewed class 3 where
we looked into picture space, horizon lines, foreground, middleground,
background.
On
last page was a painting of mine of the labrynth from Chartre
Cathedral in France. This begins our storytelling part of
the class.
StoryTime
Everyone
laya on the floor with their eyes closed. Most of us have
our eyes open all day long until we go to bed. Closing your
eyes during the day might be new to you, it may even be difficult.
Maybe you will miss something really important, you might
feel uncomfortable, or feel alone, or not know what to do.
DO Nothing. Just lay there, breath, close
your eyes, feel your body on the floor, breath again and listen
up.
There
are many worlds for the artist. There is a world of school
and playgrounds, other kids, teachers and homework. There
are other worlds of memories and things that have happened
in the past, a world of the future, a world of dreams, and
a world of stories and the imagination... just to mention
a few.
We do some experimenting by saying simple words like
apple, boat, bicycle. We try to see the image of the word
with our imaginations, with our eyes closed. We are practicing
our inner vision, the part inside of us that generates images,
like when we read a book and can see everything in our head.
These are our images, not what a video or TV or movie makes
for us,
it's what we make.
I
have a drum, we turn off the lights and I start to tell a
very old story from Greek mythology.
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Icarus:
A
long
time ago there was a horrible monster called a minotaur. It
was half man and half bull. But this story is not about the
beast, this story is about a kid. The kid's dad was one of the
best inventors and architects in all the land. The king hired
the dad, whose name was Deadalus, to make a prison (a labyrinth
or maze) for the beast, a prison no one could escape from.
The monster was imprisoned, but still caused problems s0 the
dad helped someone get into the labyrinth and kill the beast.
The king was really mad because the beast was his wife's son
and his step son. So he stuck the dad and his son - Icarus—on
a small island for the rest of their lives. In order to escape,
the dad created amazing wings out of feathers and wax (he used
what was around him - he used what he had). He told his son
not to fly too close to the sun and guess what... Icarus had
so much fun flying that he forgot his father's warning and he
flew too close to the sun. His wings melted and he fell into
the ocean and was no more.
read full version |
the
Kids then get several sheets of blank white paper.
We write on the board the key elements of the story.
Monster
King
Dad
Son
Labyrinth
Sun
Wings
Water
Kids
usually draw in a certain way: sun way up in a corner, small figure
in the air, water on the bottom of the page. This is default creativity.
Somewhere they have learned this way of drawing.
I showed other possibilities. I drew a large sun covering an entire
side of the drawing. Then a large wave on the other side, and feathers
falling from the sky. Then I draw the sun on the bottom with Icarus
above, or I draw Icarus upside down, or just his feet. I show other
ways of visual storytelling, other ways to illustrate the story,
other ways to see. |
The art
project is to draw from the story, draw what
they saw with their eyes closed.
using
TeXtures
& PAtteRNs
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