Portraits in Modern Art

The figure in the Avant-garde Art was represented in many different ways and with different techniques. Students chose some details of works of art and copied the figures, imitating style and technique of the artists.

Matisse

Cezanne

Leger

Degas

Picasso

Gauguin

Depero

Kirchner

Nolde

Segantini

Scribble line portrait

From an idea of the blog  Art of Apex High School, I used a mask in PhotoShop to create crazy scribble line portraits.  The technique is simple to learn but effective. You can watch this very short tutorial, less than 3 minutes, to learn how! https://vimeo.com/33344753

Hunting to the primary colours in your life

Some of my photographs, inspired by primary colours. Could be a funny and useful homework for students, like a treasure hunt!

CYAN

GIALLO

MAGENTA

Storybook characters on old book pages

The old book pages inspired me to draw storybook characters . You can suggest a subject or pupils can choose  their favourite characters. My son Davide drew directly with a black marker on the page and  then he coloured  with watercolours.

Pizza’s box inspired by Michael Craig-Martin

I used pizza’s box like a  potential canvas substitute and i covered it with newspaper. I drew some details of common objects with a black marker, filling the entire surface. I drew the objects  in the style of Michael Craig-Martin. Then I painted some areas with acrylic solid colours.

Recycled polystyrene foam printing

I used recycled polystyrene foam from pizza’s package to do matrices  for hand printings. I used acrylic colour spreaded on the matrix by a flat brush and I printed by hand with a  light and evenly pressure.

A scuola nel Regno Unito

my children at the first day of school in London

Soprattutto per i colleghi Italiani consiglio un link al blog di francesca frame, con la quale ho fatto due chiacchiere sul confronto tra il sistema educativo internazionale e quello italiano, basandomi sull’esperienza direttamente vissuta dai miei figli e dalle ore che sto trascorrendo alla Scuola Secondaria “Sir Thomas Picton” di Haverfordwest come volontaria presso il dipartimento di Arte.

Condivido con Francesca questa frase di Giovanni Biondi che fa riflettere sull’arretratezza della scuola Italiana:

“Se un viaggiatore nel tempo potesse arrivare dall’Ottocento... faticherebbe certamente a riconoscere il mondo, ma se entrasse in una classe capirebbe facilmente di essere a scuola”

Nell’intervista trovate link ad altri blog e siti molto interessanti ( a scuola senza zaino, Mens Sana-Learning is experience..., La scuola che funziona)  che ci rivelano una scuola fatta di insegnanti che  quotidianamente lavorano per cambiare le cose e per staccarsi dal sistema educativo Ottocentesco al quale siamo ancorati.

Landscapes inspired by Egon Schiele

We started copying a city landscape from an Egon Schiele’s work of art. His technique is black crayon and oil painting on canvan. To imitate the texture we  can draw with black charcoal  on paper, and then fill the spaces with white acrylic, spreading a thick layer of colour. When acrylic is dry we can  colour the landscape with watercolor, moping the  colour with  a tissue .