Everyday Things
Art Making Activities
Activity 1: Assemblage
Collect some large packing boxes that have lots of bright colours and some writing on them. Cereal boxes would be good for this activity. Cut them into wide strips making them different lengths. You can also make them different widths. Get a thick piece of cardboard that won’t bend or use a piece of plywood or similar lightweight wood. Try arranging the strips on the board in a random order and stand back and look at it. Can you find any patterns forming? Does the overall composition look the way you want it to? Does it form a sort of picture of something or do you just like the way it looks? If not move one or two strips around until you are happy with the arrangement. Think about how the colours work next to each other or how the letters form an image. Try not to make a word from the letters as you don’t want people to read it like a sign. Now clue the pieces down and you have created an art assemblage like the Rosalie Gascoigne artwork.
Activity 2: Pop Art
Find an everyday object that you like the shape of or that has something that interests you. It could be something you wear everyday like a shoe, something people use everyday for example a clothes peg, or a sink plug or it could be a tomato sauce bottle or a piece of fruit that you like the shape of. Study your object carefully. Think about its shape, its weight, how it feels or how it smells, what colours it has or how it is made. Before you begin to paint, draw or sculpt your object make some decisions about whether you want to keep it the same size or make it larger in scale, do you want to make only one image of it or multiple images? (have a look at the sculptures of Claes Oldenberg, Andy Warhol’s Campbell's Soup Cans or look back at Dale Hickey’s Meat Pie for some inspiration).
Activity 3: Still Life
Look around your classroom, bedroom , dining room or kitchen and choose a scene or group of objects to draw or paint. It could be a stack of books on a table, the washing up on the kitchen sink, a bowl of fruit or a pile of shoes in your cupboard. Observe where the light is coming from and don’t forget to include shadows to make your objects seem 3 dimensional.
