New Classes, Amazing Results!

A year has gone by since my last post and a lot has happened with the Early Works project. Here's an update and some samples from my classes so far this year.

I am now teaching from my new home studio which has turned out to be a very enjoyable and functional space. As much fun as I had at the House, I find the change refreshing and the students seem very comfortable. Calla and I do plan on teaming up again in the future however! For now, I'm teaching solo and keeping my classes to a maximum of four students. This offers students more instruction and creates a calmer, more focused environment. We still get goofy though! 

The last two rounds of classes have been so nice : )

In the spring I taught a botanical watercolour class and in the summer I put on a week long art camp dedicated to my passion for astronomy. We created solar system mobiles, alien landscapes, and beautiful nebula paintings. Currently, my fall session is under way and we have been focusing on composition and illustration. 

Eva : age 11 / watercolour / botanical study

Lauren : age 5  / watercolour / learning technique

Hana : age 12 / collage on hard board / composition study

Amy : age 11 / mixed media / alien landscape

Anna : age 5 / styrofoam balls, acrylic paint, yarn / solar system mobile

Student's Work / Fall 2011

Emma: age 10
collage
made-up monster







Emma: age 10 & her sister, Katie: age 6
watercolour & ink
still life




Rowan age: 11
water colour & ink
abstract & made-up monster




Isobella: age 12
watercolour and ink
still life contour line drawing






Ruby: age 12, Rowan: age 11, Emma: age 10
collage contour-line project




Marlee : age 13
watercolour & ink
still life contour line drawing






Grey : age 8
watercolour and ink
made-up monster & still life




Ruby : age 11
graphite
blind contour line drawing




Amy : age 11, Sophia : age 11
graphite
blind contour line drawing


Isobella : age 12
watercolour & ink
still life

The House

Fall is here and Calla and I are super stoked!! We have finally taken over our WHOLE house and now have room for our art studios and classes! We're calling our space "the House" because it feels good... the idea of living with our art and sharing the experience. We've also teamed up with an experienced animation instructor, Ben Jacques, who has a wealth of knowledge about video editing and movie making. He has a fine arts degree from ACAD and has been teaching kids animation and art since 2002. He has extensive experience making short films and has even re-made star wars and Lord of the rings among other original works. Also, he can draw anything you want, if you ask nicely.

The following multi-media pieces are from a still life workshop Calla did with a group of grade eights. The project was to create an image with limited materials. Students were given pages from phone books and a sparse colour palette to express their view of a chair holding potatoes and oranges. Her students loved this exercise and were happily surprised with their differing styles and techniques!

Action! ART!

I just finished teaching a five session class called, Action! ART! that focused on narrative art making. I had seven amazing students who each created their own stories, sets, and characters! After working on thumbnails and storyboards, each student built their own sets and backgrounds out of a variety of materials. They then created characters (or brought some of their favorite action figures) to photograph within the sets. After photographing and editing their stories, students then added text. In the end each story turned out very unique and I really love them all!

Below are the covers of each book and the final layouts. The full spreads (with text) will be e-mailed to the kids and parents. Enjoy!

Riley Park: Round 1

This past week Calla and I finished round 1 of "Calling All Young Artists" at Riley Park Community Centre. For six weeks we worked with a group of kids ages 9-12 on collage, colour theory, and conceptual projects. The focus was on the process but the finished results were fantastic! For our last project we wanted to let the kids make something that was just about aesthetics, so we asked them to make "stained glass" using a huge variety of coloured tissue paper. Check out how beautiful these turned out!

8" x 10" surface - wax paper
sticky substance - glue stick / white glue / gel medium
"stained glass" - tissue paper
silhouettes - black card stock or craft paper

Start by taping down a piece of wax paper to your desk or work surface. Water down some white glue, mixing until there aren't any lumps. Use a paint brush to gentle apply the tissue paper pieces to the wax paper. Overlapping is encouraged!

Allow the tissue paper to dry before applying the black, cut out silhouette and frame. Trim edges after adding the frame and then hang on a nice sunny window.

Welcome!

Hi, I'm Erin Green, a Vancouver based illustrator in the process of starting an art program called Early Works with my very good friend Calla Power. We are two artists with extremely different processes and techniques but we inspire each other's creativity and when working together our differences are complimentary. It occurred to us that by combining our knowledge, super powers, and our passion for sharing creative ideas we could put together a great curriculum.

I've recently been given the wonderful opportunity to try out some of the projects that will be included in the Early Works program with a grade 6 class. I thought it would be a good idea to document the process (over 4 classes) and then blog about it. This way the students and their parents could take a look as well as anyone else interested in Early Works.

This was my first experience teaching a whole class and I LOVED it! Madame Hoye has such a lovely group of students. I was nervous when I first got there but everyone was so welcoming, polite, and calm. The students listened intently and asked wonderful questions. At the end of class, when asked what they had learned, their answers astounded me. One student mentioned that the process was almost more important than the finished piece, another realized that art can be a reminder of the emotions one feels while creating.

Awesome!

We started by creating mood boards, which i thought might be a little advanced, but the students exceeded my expectations. The finished boards blew my mind. The next class I explained brainstorming, showed them mind-mapping, and demonstrated how to create thumbnails. These exercises helped them come up with their design for the next project... to use a recycled container to create packaging for an "ability". The ability could be anything at all - flying, time travel, turn anything to chocolate, etc.

Again, the students produced amazing work. Some of the mind maps and finished concepts made me realize how sophisticated kids can be when using art as a means of communication. I'm excited to share all their work here! Congratulations to Madame Hoye's grade 6 class (who are now, by the way, speaking entirely in French!) for being courageous and remarkable ARTISTS!




8" x 8" surface - foam core / cardboard / card stock / etc.
sticky substance - glue stick / white glue / gel medium
bits & scraps - magazines / material scraps / lint / chewing gum / etc.

After a lesson about the conceptual and technical aspects of the project, students were asked to create a "mood" by collecting and arranging various bits of texture, colours and patterns.

















For the second class we spent a lot of time discussing process. Before we started on the next project "the Ability Box", I showed them how to create mind maps and thumbnail sketches. The mind maps helped them to produce fuller concepts for their boxes, including great body text like unusual ingredients, inventive instructions, and warnings. The thumbnails encouraged a large variety of ideas and compositions. Both techniques allowed for stronger, more confident results.




any surface and any drawing instrument
ideas / random connections

After creating a few mind maps as a group students were asked to brainstorm on their own.









Next, we moved onto thumbnails and I was amazed at how quickly they all got the idea...



any surface and any drawing instrument
quickly draw out small versions of your ideas / focus on composition / try a variety of comps. for each idea








The Ability Box project was all about package design. Instead of packaging for another useless product however, students were asked to come up with an ability or super power that they would like to give to someone as a gift. This project gets kids to think about the connections between conceptual and visual.


find any recycled box / container
white gesso or white paint
felts / paint / fabric / paper / etc.

Decorate the box in a way that expresses the "ability" inside.









Thanks to Madame Hoye and her class for allowing me to share these projects and for helping me realize just how much I love teaching!