This course will provide students with the experience of learning the creative process and painting techniques of producing hanging high school banners. Through a step-by-step process, students will design and decorate a group of banners that communicate the theme of community, and its relevance to their lives. Students will work at several processes which are essential to the design of the banners, including brainstorming ideas through class discussion, searching for appropriate visual elements from resources like photo stock books, sketching and critiquing ideas with color markers, arranging compositions through collage, and transferring/painting their final ideas in large-scale as teams. Artist-teacher guidance will be especially critical in this course because of the tight deadline. Students will have to think about and agree upon symbolism that communicates clearly, yet remains simple enough to paint quickly. Additionally, the instructor and assistant will teach painting techniques such as outlining and rendering highlights to help produce semi-realistic images that are distinct and easy to "read".
Drawing, Painting, Muraling, Collage, History
Six class sessions, each two hours in length.
Students will have fun both individually and in teams expressing their ideas through sketches, collage, and painting.
Students will experiment with basic illusion-rendering techniques of murahing.
Students will understand the concept of community as it applies to their lives as students, and have the opportunity to practice being a community by working in teams.
Students will learn the techniques necessary to create successful banners.
Through creative brainstorming and image research, students will learn how to settle on imagery that communicates their ideas and learn how to refine that imagery into symbolism that best communicates to their intended audience/situation.
Students will learn how to combine techniques like sketching and collage, to help produce satisfying and successful imagery.
Students will learn basic concepts of composition and rendering illusions.
Students will learn to appreciate each other's ideas, be able to give and take constructive criticism, and hopefully, be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Introduce students to the types of banners traditionally made by masters like Norman Laliberte, demonstrating examples of different styles and sizes. Engage the students in discussion about the theme of community and how it is relevant to their lives as students in the same program. Discuss influences and examples in nature, history, their family and friends, neighborhood, etc.
Using resource materials like photo stock books and magazines, have the students research visual references that would help them sketch the images necessary to communicate their ideas.
Explain various sketching techniques, encouraging students to attempt reproducing subjects realistically, but to also remain loose in their renderings, resisting the temptation to erase or start over again.
Have the students begin their sketches on large sheets of card stock with color markers. Ask students to think about symbols that could be used to represent their ideas. Some symbols could be considered as the "main" imagery, while other symbols could be secondary and grouped together to emphasize an idea.
After finishing the last steps in session one, discuss their sketches. Have the students briefly critique each other's ideas, and emphasize those suggestions that could help strengthen the ideas and keep the students focused.
Discuss techniques of composition and multiple-image arrangement through collage.
Have the students create and cut out symbols of their ideas and collage them together on large sheets of card stock. Use black construction paper only to help the students focus more on composition and less on color.
Lead a class critique on the collages.
Finish up any remaining steps from session two, group sketches and collages according to imagery/symbolism, vote on the main symbols to be painted on the banners, as well as additional secondary imagery that unifies the banners as a group. Then split the class into teams based on which banner the students are most interested in working on.
Explain the painting process. Include suggestions on brush sizes, color choices for backgrounds, color mixing, illusion rendering, and lettering. Have each team decide on painting tasks for their team member, i.e., the student who draws well can be in charge of painting people, etc.
Begin painting the banners.
Complete remaining steps from session three, if necessary. Then, briefly discuss the work so far, offering praise and making suggestions. Continue painting the banners.
Continue painting.
Finish painting the banners, helping finish those areas that need the most work or require finishing details. Then, celebrate!
To introduce a tool commonly used by muralists, have the students use overhead enlargers/projectors to reproduce images from their research, and/or their own sketches onto the banners with charcoal or pencil. This could help "demystify" the way professional artists work and encourage the students to try the process again on their own.
Did students interact in the process of banner-making and can they repeat this process? Did students comprehend the concept of brainstorming, researching, and critiquing ideas? Assess how students combined sketching, collage, and painting techniques to create the imagery for their banners. Were these techniques used to design and compose banners that communicate their ideas clearly and in a manner relevant to them? Assess students' satisfaction with the way the final pieces turned out.
Audience, background, banner, brainstorm, collage, color-mixing, critique, deadline, foreground, gloss-enamel, highlights, imagery, layers, lettering, mural, outline, primary color, realism, render, secondary color, shade, sketching, stock book, symbolism, tacky, teamwork, tint, unity, visual.
Blank banners, buckets, card stock, construction paper, drop cloths, enamel paint, glue sticks, markers, masking tape, mixing cups, paint brushes, pencils, picture reference books, rags, scissors, sponges, water.