Art at Primoris: Silhouette Skylines

Our latest lesson focused on learning about three different African-American artists. We looked at the careful cutouts by Kara Walker, quilt paintings by Faith Ringgold, and collages created by Romare Bearden. This lesson was a little pushed back because of all the snow days this winter, but I'm glad we were able to celebrate February's Black History Month, even if it spilled over into March.

First we analyzed and created descriptive vocabulary words for each for each artist's work. We identified overall themes found in the 3 artists work, such as: urban, narrative, skyline, neighborhood, cityscape. Our first step was to create our sky. We learned what is called wet-on-wet watercolor technique. The watercolor paper is wet with a sponge prior to applying paint, which allows for various blending opportunities.

Next, we discussed what kinds of shapes we can find in buildings and architectural details. We learned what a silhouette is, and how we could create one using cutouts like artist Kara Walker. Using black paper, the students drew their own cityscape skyline with white pencils and carefully cut them out.