| ‘The
black pyramid in the sky, half hidden in unfriendly clouds’
THE
PROJECT DAY BY DAY
Day 1
A visit to the gallery
Our first day consisted of a visit to the local art gallery
(Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea). This allowed the children
to experience the artist's work first hand; to come face to
face with original art work. They were told of his history
as a refugee from Poland during World War 2. About how he
came to Wales and found a home for eleven years, and was inspired
by the coal mining village of Ystradgynlais, its people and
landscape.
The children observed the short, dark, square figures represented
in Herman's work. They looked at African sculpture that Herman
collected and made links between his drawn figures and the
stylised wooden carvings. We talked of the artist's use of
sketchbooks as a method of recording simple and immediate
images. We drew in sketchbooks with charcoal, trying to imitate
the marks that he used.
We looked at another artist Nicholas Evans, who used the same
subject matter, but worked in completely different style and
the children drew comparisons between both artists. Time was
spent drawing sections of his work, looking for patterns and
exploring the use of charcoal as a medium. Undoubtedly a gallery
visit, if at all possible during a course of study, is invaluable
for many reasons, but the gallery as an educational resource
provides an opportunity for the pupil to see original art
as a valued aspect of our culture.
Day 2
Drawing in Charcoal
 Drawing,
for Herman, and for many artists, is as important and as fundamental
as handwriting.
Our second drawing session grew from Herman's interest in
ethnic sculpture. First we experimented with stick charcoal,
making marks, lines and tones in our sketch books, allowing
the children an opportunity to discuss the merits of charcoal
and compare this medium with others with which they were familiar.
We drew with charcoal using varying degrees of pressure to
produce different effects, and "blended" with our
fingers to make interesting marks with our dirty fingers.
We experimented with a pencil eraser, and then made a "tonal
scale" with areas of tone moving from black to the white
of the paper. This experience was discussed to further reinforce
the merits of charcoal.
Next we set up still life compositions around which the children
sat in groups. Small wooden carved animals were placed before
them on white sheets of paper to provide both a contrast in
 tonal
value and to emphasise the space or environment in which the
object was placed. We observed the subject and looked at the
outline or silhouette of each object, from our individual
view-point. We observed textures and marks and tried to describe
them. We asked questions like ‘How much of the object
do we see?’; ‘Are parts hidden from our
view?’; ‘What range of tonal values can
we see?’; and ‘Where are the light parts
and where are the dark areas?’
The children were asked to start to draw and to try to fill
the paper with the image. If mistakes were made, they were
encouraged to draw over the mistake, to be less "precious"
about the drawing process and not to be intimidated or put
off by a mistake. We encouraged them to use observational
drawing as Herman used it, as a means, not only of recording,
but of examination and exploration.
Problems, and finding ways of overcoming them were a part
of the drawing process. As the children drew, their ‘eye’,
or ability to perceive more accurately, improved.
Day 3
Tonal Collage
 We
wanted the children to draw on a large scale. To make gestures,
marks and images beyond the A4 and A3 format familiar to them.
Children, by nature, almost always draw on a small scale with
great delicacy and emphasis on details. We encouraged the
children to work more broadly, to take risks and to enjoy
the process of problem solving and to resolve issues raised
by working on a larger scale.
But before embarking on large scale drawing, we felt it was
necessary to create an opportunity to allow the children to
work without line - as line can be restrictive, and the children's
drawing can revert to the small scale. We planned an activity
to use blocks of tone. For this, the task was to make tonal
collages, using black and grey paper on A1 sheets of white
cartridge paper.
The children worked in pairs, this encouraged  discussion
about aspects of picture making. They took a detail of a Herman's
pen and ink drawing and looked at the blocks of tone and the
line. They tore black paper to approximate the shapes they
saw. If a shape was too small, more paper was added to expand
the shape. If line had been used in the original drawing,
we allowed the children, towards the end of the session, to
use stick charcoal to draw in the line or to fill in areas
of light grey tones.
By making images in this way we encouraged them to be less
precious, to understand that mistakes are a part of the image
making process.
The results were large scale and had a monumental feel to
them.
The session ended with our usual feed back and appraisal session
Day
4
Tonal Drawing with Brush and Black Paint
 Building
on the freer process of collage, and working on a larger scale,
we next worked on A1 white cartridge paper, using 1, 2 and
3 inch (2.5, 5 and 7.5cm.) house painters brushes and black
ready mixed water based paint.
Some of the children worked in pairs, deciding what size brushes
to use to make certain marks and discussing where the mark
should be placed. They decided which portion of the Herman
drawing was most suitable, altering the original image as
they desired. If mistakes were made that could not be rectified
afterwards with white paint, the children were encouraged
to start again on a fresh piece of paper.
 One
child, working independently, was concerned that he had made
his initial marks too large and that he would not be able
to fit the final image onto the paper. So we added and continued
to add more white cartridge paper until the resulting drawing
was larger the young artist!
It was felt that the previous large scale collage making session
prepared the children for work on a bigger scale, and provided
a safe, and non threatening transition from small scale to
large. Drawing with large brushes also encouraged the children
to scale up their drawings and stopped them from being side
tracked by detail.
‘All colours and shapes so quiet’
Drawing
in Colour
 Herman
used rich, strong colour in his work, sometimes emphasised
by the contrasting use of black drawn line.
In this session the children worked individually using soft
pastel. First, as with our charcoal drawing session, we enjoyed
colour mixing as an independent activity - getting our hands
messy and filling sheets of A3 paper with mixtures of primary
colours. Children also used black and white to make tones
and tints.
This initial session allowed them to experiment with, and
understand the 'qualities' of pastel. We noted how many colours
had been mixed, how easy or hard it was to make certain colours,
which colours were easier to mix, and how many variations
of one colour could be created.
The children then made their own versions of Herman's work
with a freedom of gesture and a confidence that was heartening.
A group appraisal session took place.
Day 5
A village visit
 On
our final day we visited Ystradgynlais, the village in which
the artist lived and worked. We continued to use our sketch
books and to walk through the village making sketches of the
built environment, just as he would have done, each child
looking for images that caught  their
eye. This activity reinforced the idea of 'visual note making'
as a valued and important activity as well as an 'aide-memoire.'
|
