CLAY: SLAB AND WEAVING
WHAT IS CLAY?Clay is very fine particles of dirt which floats in a stream or river and then sink to the bottom, where they press on each other and stick together. You can generally find clay along the banks of a river or stream. This occurs by the river pulling dirt down off mountains or hills and dropping in a quiet, still part of the water body.
What is also so cool about clay (besides that it is rather easy to find in Michigan) would be that it is squishy when it is wet, so you can make it any shape you like, and then it dries hard in the sun, fairly fast, as the water evaporates out of the clay. If you dry clay in the sun you can make it soft again just by throwing it in a bucket of water and waiting between one to three days. If you put your clay or sculpture in a fire, or in an oven (an oven for clay is called a kiln) and bake it to specific temperatures, the clay is even harder and it will not get soft again even if you put it in water for a long time. This is called firing. People first began to fire clay about 6000 BC. Over the course of history, clay has been used for many important reasons. For example: clay has been used to build houses making bricks and drying them in the sun. Sometimes the builders would fire the bricks to make them harder and more waterproof; generally they always fired their roof tiles, which had to be more waterproof than the walls. Potters (individuals you make pottery) use fired clay to make dishes, plates, cups, cook pots, and other functional tools for household use. Sculptors (artists who specialize in creating sculptures) use fired clay to create statues or other three-dimensional works of art which can range from busts, masks, figurines, abstract and non-objective works, etc. |
PRINTMAKING: RAINBOW RADIAL DESIGN AND LANDSCAPES
Fine art printmaking involves the creation of a master plate from which multiple images are made. Simply put, the artist chooses a surface to be the plate. This could be linoleum, styrofoam, metal, cardboard, stone or any one of a number of materials. Then the artist prepares the printing plate by cutting, etching or drawing an image onto the plate. Ink is applied (in a variety of ways) and paper is pressed onto the plate either by hand or by way of a hand-run printing press. The finished print is pulled from the plate.
Often the first three or four prints are different than the rest of the edition. These first prints are called artist's proofs. The number of prints pulled from one plate is called an edition. Once a certain number of prints are pulled, the plate is destroyed so that more prints won't be printed later, thus ensuring the value of the edition.
At the bottom of a print are two to three things always written in pencil. On the left is a number that appears as a fraction (e.g. 6/25), this means that the print is number six of a total of twenty five prints pulled from one plate. This number excludes the artist proofs which are designated with an A/P. In the center of the bottom of the print is the title (if any). At the bottom right, is the artist's name and sometimes a date.
Often the first three or four prints are different than the rest of the edition. These first prints are called artist's proofs. The number of prints pulled from one plate is called an edition. Once a certain number of prints are pulled, the plate is destroyed so that more prints won't be printed later, thus ensuring the value of the edition.
At the bottom of a print are two to three things always written in pencil. On the left is a number that appears as a fraction (e.g. 6/25), this means that the print is number six of a total of twenty five prints pulled from one plate. This number excludes the artist proofs which are designated with an A/P. In the center of the bottom of the print is the title (if any). At the bottom right, is the artist's name and sometimes a date.
RELIEF PRINT:This is printing from a raised surface. A simple example of relief printing is a rubber stamp pressed into a stamp pad and pressed onto a piece of paper. Relief printing plates are made from flat sheets of material such as wood, linoleum, metal, styrofoam etc. After drawing a picture on the surface, the artist uses tools to cut away the areas that will not print. A roller - called a brayer - is used to spread ink on the plate. A sheet of paper is placed on top of the plate and the image is transferred by rubbing with the hand or a block of wood, or by being run through a printing press. The completed print is a mirror image of the original plate.
Woodcut - Historical uses: Textiles and other decorative purposes, playing cards, calendars and book illustrations. Woodcut - Artists worth studying: Holbein the Younger, Fred Hagen, Vincent Van Gogh, and James Whistler. |
ABSTRACT SELF-PORTRAITS
After working hard for several weeks, the 4th grade artists are finishing their abstract self-portraits inspired by the artist Chuck Close.
Chuck Close is an American painter and photographer who initially achieved fame as a photorealist through his massive-scale portrait paintings and drawings. Close has since gained recognition for his abstract works of art in which he creates a grid onto his paintings. Each square within the grid is filled with roughly executed regions of color, usually consisting of painted rings on a contrasting background, which give the cell a perceived "average" hue which makes sense from a distance. Emulating the artistic technique of Close, 4th grade artists created their own abstract self-portraits. Throughout the project, students discussed the importance of color in creating works of art. They also focused on the impact shape, line, pattern, and repetition have in artwork. I hope you enjoy seeing the beautiful masterpieces of the 4th grade artists!! |
Self-Portrait - Chuck Close
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