Queensland Early Education and Care Conference 2018 presentation

Raquel Redmond and the Brava Art team presentation at the Queensland Early Education and Care Conference, 2018

The aim of the textiles workshop was to inspire teachers and to give them some ideas on how to source, prepare and dispense the different materials required. Teachers cut, sewed weaved and wrapped small sticks with yarns to produce an array of beautiful textile pieces.

The painting workshop was aimed to encourage teachers to use paint in a manner that would resemble the way young children paint. They were encouraged to paint with tools like sponges, sticks, scratching combs, pieces of rubbery material, big paint brushes, small paint brushes, plastic spatulas and their fingers!! to try, to experiment, to find out and to have fun.

Textiles

The kind of textile materials we used are easy and cheap to find. To make sewing easier for young children we decided to hunt for materials that have a loose weave, like knitted materials. Our source came mainly from Op shops/charity shops. There, we found old crocheted and knitted scarfs, old jumpers/sweaters, bits of yarns, old doilies that we washed and cut into small pieces, about 10 x 10 cm or 4 x 4 inches. We also sourced buttons, big ones with big holes so children could sew them on the materials using their plastic needles. We provided pieces of hessian/burlap of about 20cm x 30cm or 7” x 12” as base for arpilleras and simple to be cut into whatever teachers decided to make.

The teacher’s responses were incredible, they made the most amazingly creative dolls, owls, Arpilleras (textile collages), faces, stick people (worry dolls), heart shapes and many more.

To make materials accessible to everybody at the tables we displayed the bits and bobs on plastic trays, like the fish and chips trays. The yarns were dispensed in small quantities wrapped up on pieces of cardboard.

Sample of food tray with materials

Materials

• Old scarfs and jumpers/sweaters from Op shops cut up in 10x10cm or smaller for very young children.
• Plastic needles for young children,
• Tapestry needles for older students
• Different colours yarns, 8 ply are best
• Crochet cottons for older students using the tapestry needles
• Thin ribbons
• Old doilies
• Scissors according to age group
• Small sticks for wrap around
• Many other small things that you would like use in this project, like for instance, ribbons or lengths of fabrics to make small woven pieces, feathers, raffia, jute, lace, gauze, fake fur, fleece, cotton balls, coloured felt, pompoms.

Find a PDF list of recycled materials to send home with the students for parents to donate bits and pieces.

Sample of Arpilleras done by primary/elementary school children, they include small woven pieces.

Gallery

Some samples of the teacher’s creations

Brava Art links to textile projects

Weaving for young children

Hessian Dolls

Arpilleras

Worry Dolls

Softies

Wrapping Sticks

Read the blog post on Wrapping Sticks

Experimenting with Paint

Painting was a very popular workshop and we confidently can say that teachers enjoyed the experience. We encouraged teachers to use the paint in a manner that would resemble what young children do with paint if they are given simple tools. Participants discovered many ways of applying paint, creating textures, mixing colours, stamping with paint and creating monoprints by using different simple tools. Tools like sponges, rubbery materials, sticks, scratching combs, big paint brushes, small paint brushes, plastic spatulas and their fingers were used to experiment and to discover.

• Samples 1, 3, 4, show how to apply paint, let it dry and then paint a different contrasting colour on top and while the second application of paint is wet, scratching onto it to reveal the colours underneath. Teachers used small hair dryers to dry their paintings fast. In a classroom situation, paintings can be left to dry overnight.
• Sample 2 shows bands of colours applied with big brushes and stamping different colours on top.

5

Sample 5 shows how to draw on wet paint with the back of the paint brush. The face and background were painted using a thick application of paint and while it was wet, details like nose, eyes, mouth and hair were added with the back of the paint brush.

Young children love this technique, a thick creamy paint is the best paint for it so children can create marks, textures and lines using the simple tools listed above.
This technique is the ideal one to make monoprints by taking a print from the painting. Simply apply a clean sheet of paper on top, carefully matching the edges of the sheets of paper and gently rubbing with your hand.
Samples 6 and 7 show the painting (6) and the print (7)

6

7

Some teachers preferred to paint in a more traditional way and they too created beautiful paintings of landscapes, trees, cities and flowers.

Brava Art Press links to painting lessons and tips for teachers and parents working with young children

Self Portraits

Painting a Landscape with complementary colours – colour mixing

Mixed Media Painting – Collage

Painting for young children – series 1

Painting for young children – series 2

Painting for young children – series 3

From the blog

• Painting: Las meninas, inspired by Picasso’s series of paintings from the Picasso Museum in Barcelona
• Colour Mixing
• Colour mixing with Master paint maker Jim Cobb – recommended for teachers and parents