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For the last three weeks of term we are working on a sculpture project. First step was making the armature using aluminium wire. The kids chose a wide range of objects – animals, food items, flowers and body parts. The trick was working with a long piece, and leaving enough space to join the next. We had wire cutters and also long nose pliers for bending and manipulating the wire, which gives more control than using fingers. I showed them how to join…

We had lots of holiday fun during the October half term. The kids tried their hands at moving animals, styrofoam prints, book cover illustrations, bike parts sculptures and animations!

This week everyone was focused on making new lines – how by varying the implement, or how you hold and move it, you can convey different movements, emotions and feelings, even if drawing the same object, or none! To start with I asked everyone to work on the floor, in pastel or chalk and on big paper so they had to use their whole arm – not just their hands. Their task was to invent lines to convey different movements e.g ice skating,…

This lesson was all about frottage – that is rubbing. So of course the children scoured the studio looking for different textures to make rubbings from, and investigated how moving the paper while you rub can achieve interesting effects (especially over the edges of the tables). But in addition, I showed them another really easy printmaking technique based on rubbing where you cut out paper shapes, stick them (in layers if wanted) on a piece of paper to make a plate, and then…

To showcase all we’ve achieved this past few years – both in person and online – we had a fantastic exhibition of art work by the adults and children who’ve been attending our art classes – supporting and being supported by Art CLASS London. It was a really lovely evening, full of joy and celebration, and a great chance for all our artists to meet and share their experiences and achievements. These kinds of events where artists can get together and not only…

It was the last week of term this week so we made masks ready to wear for the end of term exhibition! We had templates to start with but many children decided against these weren’t the shapes they wanted and they needed to start from scratch. I’d provided lots of different materials to attach to them (sequins, feathers, cardboard packaging, patterned papers etc.) as well as paint. Some children even added sculptural elements like beaks and horns. The results were all so different…

So this week I let the kids go wild with cardboard, glue and other assorted packaging! We first found a few basic ways of making the cardboard go high but stable (such as slits, flanges, stacks and bookends). And then the children went crazy with their sculptures and even inventions – see the happiness machine!