Texture Collages

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Texture #collage shared by a @waitsfieldschool student. Keep up the good work!

A post shared by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Mar 25, 2020 at 6:56am PDT

Kindergarten Texture Collages

Rex Ray Collage

Rex Ray is a contemporary collage artist from San Francisco.  He started working as a graphic designer, but expanded to collage when he felt he needed to infuse more creativity and freedom into his work.  

There are many connections between Rex Ray's work and Henri Matisse's Collages.  What similarities and differences do you notice between their work? Click here to see more artwork we've done that was inspired by Matisse!

Third and fourth grade artists looked at Rex Ray's work as inspiration for their own collages. We identified four elements that we noticed in many of Rex Ray's pieces. They are:

1. Warm and Cool Colors

2. Texture

3. Organic Shapes

4. Layering, Unity and Composition

We started by painting warm and cool colored papers and collecting textured images from magazines.  Then students used Rex Ray's art to inspire an Organic Shape Doodle.

Collecting #shapes and #doodles inspired by #rexray for our #collages by #gradesthreeandfour #Waitsfieldschool

A photo posted by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Dec 8, 2015 at 11:31am PST

Then students created their own collages based on Rex Ray's work. Here are some examples of Rex Ray's Collages:

 

Here's a picture of collage-making in-progress.  When we do collage, I try to remember to "Embrace the Chaos!"

#collage inspired by #rexray #inprogress #gradesthreeandfour #Waitsfieldschool

A photo posted by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Dec 18, 2015 at 11:05am PST

Here are our finished collages! After students photographed their collages, they painted a layer of acrylic gel medium over their work.

Painted Paper for Collages inspired by Rex Ray

Preparing #paintedpaper for our #collage inspired by #rexray  #Waitsfieldschool #gradesthreeandfour

A photo posted by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Dec 1, 2015 at 11:23am PST

Circus Animals inspired by Brian Wildsmith... in progress

First and second grade artists are gearing up for our Artist-in-Residence, Troy Wunderlee from the Ringling Brothers Circus.  We looked at the beautiful illustrations in Brian Wildsmith's book "Circus."  These paintings show richly textured animals and colorful patterns and designs.  We discussed the difference between texture, pattern and design. 

First and second grade artists tried to capture the texture of animal fur of skin using finger paint and cardboard scrapers.  Next we decorated saddles or costumes in the style of Wildsmith's paintings. 

Circus animals by first and second grade artists:

Owls, Peacocks, Patterns!