INTOUCH 57 NOVEMBER 2017

Teaching matters

INTOUCH 56 NOVEMBER 2017

Cúrsaí teagaisc

Visual arts ideas for the festive season from Michael O’Reilly

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me …

A partridge in a pear treeI thought that this might be an easyway to link together a set of ideas forChristmas but, even as I begin, I’mstarting to think it might not be as easyas I thought. Partridges? I can hardlystart by suggesting that you bring oneinto the classroom and get the childrento sketch it but, if we think aboutsketching/ drawing, we certainly coulduse the Christmas season as anopportunity to engage in somedrawing from observation activities.Typically at this time of the

year we ask children to make manydrawings but, more often than not, thedrawing tasks we suggest are based ondrawing from experience or fromimagination e.g. draw a picture of aparty you attended or a scene from thenativity. We might focus instead ondrawing items associated withChristmas while actually lookingat/observing these. We might includedecorations, trees, Christmas plants orfoliage, toys, wrapped presents, etc.

Remember the saying “most peoplefail to draw because they try to draw

what they knowis there, ratherthan drawingwhat they see” –so, therefore,children needlots ofexperience ofthis type ofdrawing on aregular basis.

Two turtle doves and threefrench hensYou will often see the dove symbolprinted on Christmas items and any ofthe drawings that the children do canbe simplified to create good designsthat might be used for printmakingactivities. I would suggest thatimpressed printmaking is probablythe simplest and quickest type ofprinting to explore. The designs canbe simply drawn directly ontopolystyrene sheets which then haveink rolled over them in order to beused as printing blocks. You will findan article outlining this technique inthe resource section at www.into.ie. Inline with our chosen carol you mighthave a go at creating 12 designs toillustrate the12 days ofChristmasandproducinga set ofuniquecards.

We havethe birdscalling inour song so integratesome listening to music with yourvisual art work this Christmas. Aparticular piece that I used to loveworking with was The Nutcracker byTchaikovsky. An online cartoonversion is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKySM1ie 2aM

Another possibility would be tocreate some art work based on a

seasonal film such asThe Snowman, withits wonderfullyevocativesoundtrack. I usuallyexplore paint andcolour here to getthe childrenexperimenting withcolour mixing,talking about howcertain colours areassociated withcertain festivals/seasons and withmaking paintingsbased on theirimaginations.

Ten lords a-leaping, elevenpipers piping and twelvedrummers drummingEngage in some amount of artcriticism, looking at and respondingto the work of artists who designgreeting cards at this time of theyear. Play the game of ‘choices’. Puttogether a small selection of greetingcards, one collection for each groupin your class. Each group then has toengage in lots of talk and discussion,choose a favourite, decide why it isgood and why they like a particularcard best, Place the cards in order ofpreference if you choose and give averbal presentation about the groupdebate to the rest of the class – giveyour expert opinion!

Use marbling techniques to createinteresting gift wrapping papers.Wrap small cardboard packages withyour marbled papers and tie them upwith ribbons/fabric strips/threads tocreate interesting tree decorations.Create bell decorations by coveringsmall containers with plaster of parisbandaging strips, painting withposter paint and suspending withribbon.

Eight maids a-milking andnine ladies dancingGet on your dancing costumes andexplore simple fabric techniques suchas wrapping fibres around card shapesto create tree decorations/seasonaljewellery or explore more complextechniques such as appliqué tointerpret the traditional nativity scene.Design costumes forannual nativity plays or seasonalpageants you may be organising.

MICHAEL O’REILLY, a retired teacher, hasworked with the NCCA and PSP on the designimplementation of the arts curricula. He hasworked in a wide variety of schools and othereducational settings and is currently workingwith Scoilnet as a subject expert, continuingto update the I Am An Artist website. Michaelalso developed, with the INTO, an onlinesummer course ‘InTouchwith Visual Arts.’

A goose was the centrepiece of festivetables in the past so explore 3Dconstruction work with children ingroups. Choose interesting Christmasthemes to explore such as a selection ofChristmas markets, famous Christmaspoems or stories, a selection of carols orscenes from Santa’s workshop. Explorethe theme of celebratory food, lookingat and responding to how artists havevisualised food,

and creating paper collages oftable scenes.

Six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming

The rings are circularso explore andexperiment withsnowflake patternsthat you cut fromvarious types ofpapers and cards.Make simple mobileswith card flakes thatare slotted or gluedtogether. Combinethem with paint andcolour to createinteresting mixedmedia pieces orexperiment withusing them asstencils/templatesfor simple printing.

Create interesting

greeting cards by experimentingwith collage techniques using avariety of papers and card in variouscolours and textures. Experimentwith cut-out letter shapes to makecards using a Christmas greeting inanother language – Nollaig Shone,Feliz Navidad, Wesolych Swiat, etc.

Four calling birds and five gold rings

You can find lots ofother creative Christmas

visual art lessons andsuggestions for work in the

resource sections of www.into.ie,on the www.scoilnet.ie siteor at www.iamanartist.ie.