Texture Backgrounds

Coming as it did in the midst of many other things, this little project got forgotten. It is nothing groundbreaking but it was a simple enjoyable project which I’ve decided is worth documenting, if only for my own records! Once again I participated in leading and art class that was filmed for a kids TV show. My topic was “texture”. We explored texture through touch and rubbings and discussed texture words. Then I introduced the project. We created texture boards as the base for paintings using a number of different textured materials: cloth, felt, tin-foil, sandpaper, bubble wrap, stripped corrugated cardboard all glued on a cardboard base. The children fell upon this part of the activity with much gusto and created wonderful collages. Ideally I suppose you would let it dry for a bit (the younger the child, the longer the project needs to dry, as young children frequently use “ample” glue) but we didn’t have time and it didn’t matter much. As our focus was texture (and also I admit for logistical reasons) each child had a choice of one colour and white to work with. The different effects of the materials is striking and suggests lots of possibilities for including textured backgrounds in other work. The pieces are beautiful on their own but also make good references pieces for future exploration. We also discovered that the children’s pieces looked beautiful lined up together like tiles but of course I didn’t have my camera….. When we were finished we discussed the work, and the children shared which materials they particularly enjoyed painting on. There are many more possibilities for the collage if you have time to collect them, or don’t need to supply materials for a large group. (I’m thinking lace, different papers, plastic, mesh….)

So if you are looking for something a little different to do you can give this a go with almost every age. If your child is too young to glue you can create a texture board yourself that they can then experiment painting.

Texture Pendants

Our “Texture Pendants” from a few weeks ago at the autism art class. The initial set up was a collection of different objects with interesting textures and clay. Building object out of clay to dry can be tricky for very young children, or in a situation like this one where I may not be able to get the attention to demonstrate joining techniques. Introducing texture possibilities allows for clay manipulation and experimentation without the inevitable “snow men” constructions. To be fair, this lot would probably catch on how to join pieces quite quickly but I felt this was a good first experience to gauge their interest. I had originally planned for them to make large textured slabs. This they did, in about 3 minutes, and then rolled them up and started again and again. Lovely clay experimentation. (We also had a mastodon tusk.)

Then the smaller pieces began and so together we created a whole plate of textured “pendants”. They really look quite beautiful all together.

We’ve had various things on the go so we haven’t got around to painting them yet, but it’s my hope that we can get them all painted, and perhaps hung up in some kind of a display. But you never know with these guys – they could be terribly enthusiastic or not at all interested. We shall see. I’ve got some metallic paint which, like sequins and glitter, can be a draw!