The Right Tool or Material for the Job

 

In a TAB Art Studio, artists understand to use the right tool and material for the job.  

There can be EXCEPTIONS but still artists need to know the correct tool for the job. What does exception mean? 

(doesn't follow the rule or follow the expectation)

These materials are not what we typically think of as art supplies; 

 they are exceptions to the rule.

When you hear the words Medium, Material and Tools in the art room, what do they really mean?

Tool:  a handheld device that aids in accomplishing a task

examples: ruler, scissor, saw, stencil, paintbrush

Material/Medium: the matter from which a thing is or can be made

examples: yarn, paper, wood, beads, paint, crayon

What we see when we look at art

Our art room is divided up into studios.  Drawing, Collage, Sculpture, Painting, Fibers, Architecture, Jewelry and Printmaking.  All the materials you need for those studios are in each studio.  This will help you to know you are using the right materials for the job.

Let's look at a few materials and decide if we are using them correctly for the art job at hand.  

Drawing Materials

*Think about if you are drawing large or small.

*Crayon:

*Marker:

*Pencil: 

Coloring Large Areas and for texture rubbings.  Peel the crayon and place the crayon on its side

Using the point for detail work and small areas.  Same with markers.  Use a detail marker or a chisel tip for large areas of color.

Adhesives --something sticky that holds things together.

When attaching materials, do you want the attachment to show?  

Tape, Staples and Brass fasteners will be VISIBLE, meaning they will be seen.  These should be part of your design if we can see them!

Glue should not show.  Craftsmanship and Quality Work!

If your glue shows, you are using too much glue!

Small delicate items.  Paper to Paper.  

Paper to Paper.  

Gemstones, Foam Shapes, Thick paper, Popsicle sticks....What else?

Heavy duty!  Wood, Thick Cardboard, Plastic

When we cut materials in art, we are SAFE!

*We cut wood with a saw.  

*Safety goggles and a Vice are required!

*We cut back and forth across the top--not the side.

Shears are for cardboard

Scissors for Fabric.  Fibers ONLY scissors!

*No jabbing, stabbing or poking into materials

A drill and a hole punch will help you create a hole or make a start for your scissors to cut 

Paper Trimmer 

Cutting Large Sheets of paper down into smaller sizes

*paper only, no wet art, one sheet at a time, no hands under the guard

Artists use a variety of papers.

*Use the right paper for the job!

When do artists use Sketch Paper, Practice Paper, Newsprint 

AND

80 pound paper

(Final Drawings and anything wet!  

what 3 art materials we use on paper that are wet?)

Fibers:

Little Needle Little thread

Big needle Big string (yarn)

ART YOU MIGHT FIND INTERESTING --artistS create art about their interests

You have interests outside of school, right? Hobbies, pastimes, sports you play, activities and clubs you participate in. Often, when we are interested in something, we know and understand it very well. Artists can express things they like and often their interests can show up in their art.

Boxford Masques Rehearsal
Alan Paul Harding 

Maybe your interests can be done solo or with a group like this rehearsal.  We can tell this artist understands theater practice.  Notice the script.  The practice space becomes the setting for this art work and the actors waiting their turn.

Edgar Degas, Dancers Practicing at the Barre, 1877

Let's look at artists who capture past times and activities like swimming, gymnastics, reading, music and cycling in their art.

Reading might be a way you enjoy spending your time. The subjects of these next few artworks get caught in a good book.

Gwen John created mostly portraits of women including herself. ​This portrait, 'A Lady Reading', was originally of another woman, but she painted her own features onto the face instead.

Precarious, 2017; Collage of found and painted papers

Collage Artist Ekua Holmes captures this portrait of a young boy reading in comfort.  Ekua used found papers in her collage art.  Do you see paper from maps, newspapers and pattern prints.

Woman Reading by Will Barnet

Some people enjoy reading right before they fall asleep and Will Barnet created this artwork that captures that moment

The Yellow Books by Vincent Van Gogh, 1887.

What makes this a still-life about reading and not a portrait?

woman reading                                                                                                        The Reader by William Tolliver.

More READING art

Let's look at a few other hobbies and past times that become the subject in art.

Picasso's Three Musicians

These abstracted musicians by Pablo Picasso are filled with music and shapes. 

Indian Musicians, Liu Kang

While music is its own form of creativity,  artists show musicians and musical instruments in their art.  You can see and almost hear the music.  What instruments do you recognize?

Two Young Girls at the Piano by Auguste Renoir

Music might be an interest you have in or out of school.  You know the time it takes to practice so that you accomplish your goals.

We know that making art is a past time that many people enjoy in their spare time.  So here is art about actually making art.  Crafting, building and creating. 

Phoebe Wahl

What is going on in this picture?

Henri Lebasque - Girl Sewing on a Sofa

Many of you enjoy stitching and working with fabric and thread in our Fibers studio.  This work of art is about a quiet moment embroidering a piece of cloth.

The Painter of Sunflowers (Portrait of Vincent van Gogh) by Paul Gaugin

Paul Gaugin was a painter.  He knows painting well.  He includes details like a brush, easel, and palette in this painting of Vincent Van Gogh. When you yourself participate in an activity I imagine you too will know many details about that activity.

Play and sports are interests many people have.

Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg get in the game with their Sculpture! They create larger than life artworks that remind us of play. The shuttlecock of Badminton and a bowling ball hitting the pins really make this artwork STRIKING!

Red Grooms' Sculpture is a SLAM DUNK!

RED GROOMS. Fast Break

Painter's Family. Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse often captured members of his family in past times like music and games.  What game are his sons playing?

Pieter Bruegel, Children’s Games, 1560

Pieter Bruegel the Elder filled his painting with Children's Games which became the title.

*Close up 

Knucklebones detail, Children’s Games 
Hoop-rolling detail, Children’s Games 

Maybe gymnastics is your thing.  This gymnastic art might make you flip

Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi Trial, 2020. Oil on Canvas

Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi created a series of paintings titled “Gymnasium”   Her passion for gymnastics grew and she began to paint more works of Gymnasts.  

These paintings don't show gymnasts in action but rather showcases her understanding of the events surrounding the performance like standing before the judges, huddling with teammates and warming up.

These artists jumped right in and made their art a SPLASH.  For some artists swimming is a past time they made the subject of their work.  

Winfred Rembert The Curvey II, 2014

Leon Kossoff
Children’s Swimming Pool, Autumn Afternoon

Maybe you swim on a team or take lessons.  You can almost hear the splashes and pool noise in this swimming painting.  Look closely and you'll see the lanes in the pool, a diving board and the rectangular pool shape.  These are details you would most likley have to spend time at a pool to know.

Art can really take your imagination on a ride.  Cycling is a favorite past time and bicycles become the subject of these artworks.

Ai Weiwei. Forever Bicycles

Ai Wei Wei created this bicycle filled sculpture.  

Summer Eclogue
Robert Medley (1905–1994)

A Midsummer Afternoon Dream” (2020) by Amy Sherald

The Pleasure of Leisure by Fernand Leger

What holds your interest?

Do you have a passion?

Will you create art about your favorite past time?

Will you build or construct a game of your design?