Sample #3
Texture Rubs
Art Form: Pencil rubbing/drawing.
Art Media: Coloured pencil on paper.
Design Element or Principle: Line, colour, shape and form, texture, value, space.
Expectations:
- Grade 3 - D1.1 create two- and three-dimensional works of art that express personal feelings and ideas inspired by the environment or that have the community as their subject Emphasis on variety.
- Students will use a variety of shapes and colours to make texture rubbings that express their feelings or community.
Reflection:
1. For this work three main elements of design I employed were line, colour, and texture. I chose to use a white pencil to create overlapping geometric shapes that would become the piece. I intended for these white lines to be invisible to the naked eye, and therefore almost implied in nature, but to still provide boundaries for each colour and texture. The colours I chose for the piece were mainly softer, pastel pencils that were somewhat complementary, and I attempted to repeat each colour throughout the piece to provide a sense of cohesion. Finally the last element I worked to develop during this studio project was that of texture. We used the physical textures of objects to create rubbings that reflected implied textures. This was particularly important for the medium of pencil, because unlike a thicker medium such as acrylic paint, it provides little to no texture when applied to the paper, and therefore implied texture is all the artist may work with.
4. The materials used for this studio project were coloured pencils and paper. These materials are appropriate for all ages and grade levels are they are familiar to students and readily available. Primary students may have an easier time expressing themselves with these materials as they use motor skills they are accustomed to (drawing with pencil or marker) rather than less familiar tasks such as painting. These materials however are also suitable for older students as they will be able to improve their technique.
7. While I was less familiar with some of the other media and techniques used in our studio tasks, I had particular trouble with this project. When it comes to my personal work, I tend not to be very forceful with whatever medium I am working with. For texture rubbings however, the entire purpose is to force the medium down hard enough to highlight the physical details of a surface. I found myself at odds with this and most of my rubbings ended up looking as if I had just coloured them in with the pencil normally. I would help students avoid this problem by working with other forms of media that lend themselves more favourably to the aggressive approach of texture rubbings, such as charcoal, crayon, or even aluminum foil.
