Friday, February 27, 2009

art camp

Yesterday I was invited to conduct a workshop with senior art students from BHS - I've attended the 'art camp' at tathra quite a few times over the years - but this year was by far the best. What a lovely bunch of youngsters - enthusiastic, talented, good-natured, open-minded... a total delight


I was there to present a workshop on integrating text in artworks - I chose to also show students how to create layers of text in works using gouache, ink and acrylic glazes - (its not the usual sort of thing these guys may be exposed to - so I thought they might find it interesting) I wasn't sure how much we could achieve in our very tight 3 hour timeframe - but just look at all these guys managed!

what a display!





I was astonished at the results - some just really got the hang of layered gouache and acrylic - and whilst these were just exercises and done at break-neck speed - it was incredible how terrific and how finished so many pieces were...








and how students took all the exercises on board in order to create outstanding integrated works - look at how one took a print from an earlier workshop - and thought about how text may add quite different things to the work....





I have a soft spot for anyone who manages to pull something off that you don't think is going to work... not until the very last moment - this piece (well it was originally 2 pieces...) was bitsy and fragmented - and I wasn't confident that it would come together... then with the addition of large '505' lettering, and another layer of glaze- and the fortuitous addition of the second artwork under the (already cut!) heart shape.... and just look at the rather great artwork that resulted....





it is soooo very gratifying to have a class of eager students who all create little marvels. I hope they enjoyed the afternoon as much as I did!

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