places city :: places country :: places water :: places inside :: places outside :: places different
Places in the city
Art Making Activities: Section 1
Activity 1: Shapes and buildings (Stage 1 students).
Using various coloured paper cut geometric shapes such as squares, triangles and rectangles arrange these to build houses, shops and other kinds of things you might see in the city such as bridges or factories. Think of these shapes as building blocks and overlap them. When you are happy with the placement you can stick them down with glue on a backing sheet.
Activity 2: Shapes, buildings and crossword puzzles (Stage 2 students).
Collect as many crossword puzzles as you can find. Cut these out of the newspaper or magazines and then use coloured pens or pencils to colour some of the squares with different colours (like windows in tall buildings). Paste blocks of cut coloured crossword squares onto the top half of a piece of A4 paper in landscape orientation (avoiding gaps between the grids) to create buildings. On the bottom half of this paper you can add a street that goes from left to right of your picture in front of the buildings. To create the street you can use a strip of black card paper (same width as backing paper) and paste this on the bottom section of your picture below your buildings –hopefully this sightly overlaps onto the coloured crossword section. Draw some lines to show the dividing lines in the middle of the street with white chalk or crayon and maybe add some cars or trucks, stop lights and street signs to make it look like a busy place in the city.
Activity 3: An imaginary marketplace (Stage 3 students)
Look at the print titled Eternity by Martin Sharp showing the Haymarket buildings in Sydney. Haymarket was a place where you could buy lots of fresh foods and lots of other things. Sketch an imaginary market place with special stalls and fun things to see, eat and and buy just outlining the objects. Use a white wax or oil crayon or a clear wax candle go over all your final pencil lines . Then colour in your picture with red, blue, yellow drawing inks using soft brushes (colouring is the same as used in Eternity). The wax should resist the dyes and you should be able to see all you white lines magically appear.
Places in the City Art
Making Activities: Section 2
Activity 1:
Paint a new background for the people on the park bench Using the same 3 figures that are seated on the park bench in Hyde Park by Herbert Badham, create another backdrop or scene to place them in. For this activity computer technology has been used to extract the figures from the background image (a copy is included below which should be able to be resized). Create a new background for the figures that puts them in a different time and place. Think of an interesting background to place them in, are they waiting for the bus in the city, a lounge room in front of the TV, a space shuttle, sitting on a ski lift or under a tree in the countryside?
Alternatively Draw/Print: You could photocopy the artwork and later cut out the figures by hand with scissors using a print copy. If they appear in Black and White print use colour pencils to colour the figures. Brainstorm some ideas make a quick sketch on art paper, paste down your figure in the space you have planned for them and then using colour pencils, crayons, or watercolour paints fill in the background colours and shapes. |
 |
Places in the City Art
Making Activities: Section 3
Activity 1: Make a city from recycled materials
Using cardboard milk and juice cartons paint them with white paint until you have completely covered all the writing on the cartons. You can use white house paint for this. Let them dry. Next you can paint them different colours or add aluminium foil to make them look like glass skyscrapers. Using paint, pencil or crayons draw windows and doors onto the cartons to look like buildings in a city, such as office blocks, shops and apartment buildings. On a piece of plywood or other hard surface arrange the ‘buildings’ to look like city blocks. Paint some roads onto the board with black paint and using white and yellow paint put the street markings in. You can also include some pedestrian crossings and add some cars and buses cut out of cardboard or thick foam, keeping them to scale with the buildings. This will complete your city.
Activity 2: Building a terrace house and backyard with cardboard
Work with a partner to create a terrace house using sides of recycled brown cardboard boxes, scissors and glue. Look at the double storey terrace houses in the painting Backyards. You might need to create a platform in cardboard first to rest your house upon. See if you can both create more than one level and add a roof that looks like corrugated tin (need special corrugated cardboard for this. Stick the cut pieces together with masking tape and use craft glue to make a strong join. When dry (overnight) you might paint the walls and roof with acrylic paints adding windows and other special features with felt pens when your paint has dried. Think about whether you want to add a garden or backyard space outside or a verandah on the top level. Is there a pet like a cat or a bird in a cage that lives in this house? Where might you place it- on the roof or under the verandah? Is there a bicycle or ball left in the backyard?
