Intro Quiz: Ben Nicholson

Video: Ben Nicholson

﻿Hello and welcome to the next lesson in the abstract art project. So here's what we're going to be learning in today's lesson. How to create a simplified image in the style of Ben Nicholson, how to translate your simplified image into a relief collage, and how to create a frottage from your relief, and I'll explain what frottage is later. So an introduction to the artist Ben Nicholson. He was born in 1894 in Buckinghamshire in England, and died in Hampstead, London in 1982. He was married three times to three different creative women, including the very famous sculptor Barbara Hepworth. He was an English painter of abstract art as well as landscapes and still life. And he was influenced by Piet Mondrian, who we looked at last lesson, and Picasso's Cubist period. So materials we're going to need in today's lesson are two sheets of A4 paper, a pencil and a rubber, a selection of cardboard and or cards. So for example, empty cereal box, I used an empty tea box for mine, some scissors and glue and some tea or coffee in warm water and a paintbrush or cotton bud if you don't have any. So pause the video, go and collect your materials and come straight back. Welcome back guys, let's begin. So, here's an example of some abstract artwork and this is one that I created last year. Now you might look at it and think I can't see what it is and that's what abstract art is like. But when I explained that it was from a photograph I had taken of the sun setting over a lake, and it was so beautiful, so I wanted to try and make it out of cardboard. So I cut around and made the top part the actual rays of the sun and then the bottom part where I poured away some of the cards, some of the paper in front of the cardboard to reveal those ridges, the corrugated part. They're there to symbolise the ripples on the lake. And then I coloured the whole thing, really thick white paint. So for this lesson, I've chosen this image to work from, it's a still life photograph, and you can easily tell what it is from the photograph, you know, you can tell that it's a small jug of oil, and you've got some tomatoes and some basil there and it's on a table. But we're going to simplify the shapes into really basic shapes. And you'll end up with some artwork that you wouldn't necessarily recognise as being a still life and I'm going to show you how step by step. So I'm going to keep the image in front of you so you can see and you can work along as I do, and I'll show you how. So like I said, I'm going to pour it in very simple shapes. So the tomatoes, I'm going to make them just very simple, oval and circular shapes and then simple leaf shapes. And that's the base of the jug. A simple neck. Very simple spout. I'm going to make a circle with a hole in it for the handle, just a few shapes around the back and then the leaf of the basal at the back. So you can see how it's very simple, you don't necessarily understand what it is that you're looking at there. Right, so pause the video, do your drawing, just simplify it as I've done and then come straight back. Welcome back everyone. So I'm now going to show you how to create a collage using those same shapes. So each of the shapes, I'm going to draw my card and then cut out. And the same with the cardboard is a bit stiffer, so ask for help if you need cutting it. And that's the spout. And I'm going to make the base. Then that was the handle with the hole in it. So to cut that middle out, I fold it, do a little snip and my scissors isn't cutting out. So I'd like you now to pause the video and cut out all your shapes and then come straight back. Welcome back everyone. So, I'm now going to rearrange my pieces. And I'm just using the back of the drawing the sheet of paper where we did the drawing on. And I'm going to start sticking down from the farthest item and then come forward I'm peeling off to reveal the corrugated card like I did my previous artwork. Continue cutting inside the spout just to get that hole, peeling away. I'm popping it back in. When I've just done a little bit on the side there till they've to look like as shown. If you don't have glue, you can always use either masking tape or sellotape and just back it round on itself. So pause the video, and stick all your pieces down and then come straight back and I'll show you how to do the frottage. Welcome back everyone. So frottage, is where's you have a sheet of paper on top of a textured surface. And as you can see have taped it down so it doesn't move and then rub on the top with your pencil, like so. And the way I've done it, is I've made sure that the pencil is really, really sharp, but I'm using the edge of the lead. So, for example, it's really sharp, and then I'm just using that section there. It's not the point at an angle like so, all those lovely marks, and I'm feeling away as well to work out where all those shapes are. So pause the video, get the rubbing done, and then come straight back. Welcome back. Now you'll notice I didn't do any shading in the background and that's because we're going to start building up different shapes from the leftover cutouts from earlier. I'm just putting in random shapes all around the background. What I'm doing now, and you'll notice my pencil is on filling in those shapes. So where they overlap, I'm actually going to draw around them. So pause the video and get all your shapes in and then we're ready to add colour to it using the tea and coffee. Welcome back. So here I've got some tea, which is a more subtle, shade a little coffee as you'll see in a minute, and I'm just colouring in certain areas. So I'm not doing the whole shape, I'm just drawing sections of it, where they intersect with other objects within the frame. And you can be as creative as you'll. For example, here I'm just doing the stripes of our corrugated card, and there have it. So pause the video, add some colour to it using the tea and coffee, and then come straight back. Welcome back everyone. So I'm going to do what went well and even better if. What I really liked about the one I created , is how the different shapes interact with each other, how they overlap. And I also like the variety of textures and the warm tones. However, if I was to improve it further, looking at the work of Ben Nicholson, he also used quite a lot of very muted blues, pale blues. So I probably add just a little touch of blue here and there, maybe this the shape here, like so, and maybe that section of the leaf there, but only a tiny amount, and that will make you even more like his work. So in the next lesson, we're going to be learning, how to describe the abstract artists work, using a mind map, and how to form your own opinion on each artist and their work, and then how to experiment further with the abstract art project. So as always, if you'd like to, please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak. It's time to take the end of lesson quiz. All the answers were in this lesson, so hope you were listening carefully. Good luck and I'll see you again next time.

Exit Quiz: Ben Nicholson

Completed: Ben Nicholson

In today's lesson we are going to learn how to create a Ben Nicholson-inspired artwork using frottage.

Art

Ben Nicholson

Introductory Quiz

Video

Final Quiz

Lesson Complete