Calligraphy Birds & Beasts with Wynn Yarrow

 

Calligraphy Birds & Bests

First Friday Art Club in November explored the Victorian era folk art of calligraphy animals.  Guest instructor Wynn Yarrow led this program and started the introduction with a Powerpoint presentation.

Sweeping Lines

Students were advised to pay attention to the sweeping lines of each image in the presentation.  There were swirly marks and swishy marks similar to cursive writing.  Some students noted that the marks looked like the Nike symbol.  Wynn handed out inspiration packets, which had printed animal silhouettes .  These silhouettes were easy to trace over blank sheet of paper and create personalized beasts. 

Cats & Dogs

Images of cats and dogs started popping up all over the conference room.  After an image was chosen, it was up to each student to personalize the drawings with the swirly lines we saw in the Powerpoint presentation.  

How do you draw a Peacock?

Students were also welcome to select books from the library collection to help draw a specific animal. Birds were this artist's fancy.

Modern Mouse

It was apparent that some kids had a vision they needed to accomplish.   
This student was fond of a mouse and became fully engaged in decorating her creature with significant calligraphic marks.

I enjoy watching younger students develop their skills.  Drawing is that special skill that everyone struggles with because they always compare with another artist they feel has more talent.  Wynn Yarrow does not allow this comparison in her classes.  There is consistent reassurance that imagery developed by an artist's hands at that moment is the highest skill and best they can do.  "Comparing is not the key to success, just an indication of where we might wish to go."

Monkey Trouble

As birds and beasts were developed in the class, students also learned how to 

create banners with Victorian era proverbs.  Using handouts for inspiration, 

Maggie used her own name to label her drawing.  

The Dragon

The youngest artist in this class finally discovered the joy of drawing.  

Something about this lesson resonated with Alex.  Here he is drawing a Chinese dragon.  When he finished, he boasted, "I feel I have the potential to be an artist!"

Giraffe on Safari

This Giraffe was another success story of the afternoon.  There were several attempts to get that silhouette just right, but Roni forced herself to make it happen without any help.  

Using a library book as reference, she tested patterns on separate paper before utilizing them in her design.  The giraffe's spot are so impressive!

Let me draw RIGHT MEOW!

Having a guest instructor gives me an opportunity to take pictures and record quotes from the students.  There was even enough time for me to draw and test out my own skills.  I had fun trying several styles within the same cat silhouette.

This wraps up another year of First Friday Art Club.  

We host a Make & Bake Gifts program in December in place of Teen Cooking Club and First Friday Art Club.  Space is limited, so sign up today to secure your place to create beautiful and delicious gifts for friends and family this holiday season.

Goodies for the Holidays!

Thanks for visiting.  See you in December!

xo,

Erica

   

Chromatic Vision- Constructing a Coloring Book with Maegan Cook

First Friday Art Club created coloring book pages with guest artist and author, Maegan Cook, for October 2016.  This light-hearted program focused on the current coloring book craze.  Maegan Cook is a graphic novel artist, picture book illustrator and author of A Plus B, which is in the young adult collection at the Southeast Steuben County Library.

To begin the program, Maegan produced a few background drawings to inspire the students to elaborate with their own detailed drawings.  This freedom can often frighten kids, but those pencils went right to work with visions of super heroes, comic characters, and abstract imagery.

Coloring book pages in progress

It is fun to witness what students want to present from their imagination.  

There was Spiderman.

Some tiny ponies

Girl Power

And graphic novel pages

Once each student produced 2 pages to add to our final book, Maegan showed the class how to trace over their pencil lines with marker to finalize the pages.

As the final renditions were turned in, Maegan and I took time

to appreciate the work provided.

We appreciate the varied drawings and look forward to printing these coloring books for all students who participated.  I better start sharpening my colored pencils for this treat!

Stop by in November to see the beautiful rain sticks we create for 

Native American Heritage Month.

Thanks for visiting.

Still Life Drawing (Part 1)

One of the fundamental skills of fine art is drawing.  Getting the eye and hand to work together as a team is a challenge.  Your brain will fight your hand to draw what it knows is there, while your hand struggles to draw what it THINKS is there.  This skill can be scary.  I programmed two Still Life Drawing sessions this year to begin training my young artists to force their minds and bodies to coordinate with each other.

This Still Life Drawing program is a three part session.  Two sessions of drawing, then one session in Teen Tech Friday on March 20, in which the drawings created can be digitally altered.  These programs provide young students with a view of the real art process, which prepares them for real world art experiences.

Everyone had a supply of drawing pencils of varying density.  We took each pencil and created a VALUE SCALE.  I discussed the difference of paper quality.  Copy paper is smooth and great for quick sketches, but final drawings should be on high quality paper that has a tooth.  This is the comical sketch I discovered as I oversaw the class progress.

"I am a tooth of my paper."<<some kids always kid!

With multiple objects of varying textures and purposes, I created 5 still lives.  Each student had a small still life set before them at their cluster of tables.  My main goal of the afternoon was to connect the eye and hand to work in unison.  Contour drawings and LOTS OF SKETCHES were the result of this first program.

Everyone had their own approach to the process, but they all settled into taking one object from their still lives and drawing one object at a time.  The result was fascinating!  It is always impressive when students go from chatting away to focus and quiet.  That is when the real work is created.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

By the end of the first session, each student had over 10 sketches, some great enough to further embellish.  I have a different plan for the second part of this drawing class, but the first sketches are so great, they can be digitally altered in Teen Tech Friday on March 20.  

Check back soon for Still Life Drawing (Part 2).