Author: elisabethwilborn

Folk art landscapes are my favorite thing these days. Lower elementary utilized their pattern work to represent crop fields. I taught them basics of how to draw a barn if they so chose, and the sky was open to their imagination. I just adore how they turned out. Every single student was successful.

Charley Harper, the absolute MASTER of shape and design, inspired a slew of incredible creations from our upper elementary students! First we used math manipulatives to see how shape comes together to graphically depict an image. The students bird creations surpassed by expectations:

Then I could tell the students really got it. They LOVED this step! Next, we used simple shapes out of patterned paper (thank you Austin Creative Reuse) to design our bird scenes. These were a big hit on the bulletin board to usher in Spring:

I love seeing them express their inner sweetness. Even the boys weren’t too cool for this one.

First graders read Rosie Revere, Engineer and then went to town creating their inventions out of recycled objects. First they had to plan and design their invention, then they had to use the “trash” for printmaking. When dry, we went back with neon and metallic oil pastels. Then the English language learners added words and definitions to explain their creations.

Fourth grade students really knocked it out of the park with their Basquiat inspired paintings. We read Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,  by Maya Angelou which is illustrated by Jean-Michel Basquiat. They did not hold back in expressing their feelings and were able to transfer those onto the page. See for yourself.

For most recent student work, please see my updated Instagram account @studio_born!

One of my favorite lessons to date is Picasso’s Le Coq, or “The Rooster.” The impetus was the Chinese Year of the Chicken, by way of, I suppose, Spain. It’s a relatively simple guided drawing that then turns into an exploration of pattern and color for the children. Each one reflects the unique personality of the artist. The roosters I chose for this post were done by eight-year-olds.

We looked at Louise Nevelson’s mammoth works, and pooled all families resources. Donations of corks, bottle caps, CDs, egg cartons, and old electronics rolled in. Each of our 56 children filled their shoe box and went to town, as it were. Some boxes were symmetrical and studied, some were a more frenzied horror vacui situation. Some children thought quite literally ‘outside the box.’

The results were tremendous! We observed how we salvaged old discarded items, trash and recycling, and converted them into something beautiful. It was powerful to see how the individual pieces played off one another and came together to become something greater than the sum of its parts. A community effort, for sure.

The boys and I had such fun drawing portraits of each other.  I only get the two of them alone this summer, so I wanted to make sure we took the opportunity for them to draw each other.  They did several drawings, but the continuous line studies were probably my favorite.  These take such focus. Above, my demo.

Brilliant, no?

I try to hone my craft as much as possible. The Austin Visual Arts Association provides an incredible opportunity where local artists can show up, and for only $5, paint or draw from a live nude model for three hours. Cannot beat it. 

After the Balkan seminar, I was painting more naturalistically, but I really get my verve when taking a more expressionistic approach. I quite like not knowing what direction a painting will take until it happens. I maintain that observation and nuance from a live model is critical to this kind of work. Drawing still comes first, then value.  Color is its own story. The pop of red makes this painting work, and I’d like to continue in this fashion.

This summer I am tutoring brothers, ages 8 and 10. I introduced them to a variety of quick drawing exercises designed to keep the student’s eyes on his subject (in this case, toy tigers). Blind contour and continuous line were big hits, so much so, that the older boy decided to combine the two challenges in one. You can tell he is really looking. 

This makes a lovely pair, no?  I hope they frame them and keep them for always.