Year 1 Art

Exploring the Artist

In Year 1, children have learnt about the famous Artist, Eric Carle as part of our theme, ‘Really Wild Life.’ In their first lesson, children learnt information and facts about Eric Carle and then looked at some pieces of his artwork in more detail. They thought about what colours, shapes, and patterns they could see and what they liked about these pieces of artwork. Year 1 also looked closely at the artwork seen in Eric Carle’s most famous stories, such as, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?’ After, the children looked in more detail at pieces of his artwork and discussed how Eric Carle might have created the effects and patterns.

To explore the artist further, Year 1 wrote facts about what they had learnt and self-selected pieces of artwork to stick into their sketchbooks. The children used a variety of materials to re-create Eric Carle’s artwork and patterns, including oil pastels. At Storytime, Year 1 listened to more of Eric Carle’s famous stories, for example, ‘The Very Busy Spider’ and ‘The Bad Tempered Ladybird.’

Eric Carle’s Art Technique

Year 1 learnt about an art technique Eric Carle used to create the textures shown in his artwork called print making. The children looked at the work of Eric Carle more closely and watched videos that showed him printing using a variety of materials and colours. The children listened to Eric Carle explain how printing is different from other painting techniques as it is a still movement, unlike painting. Next, Year 1 looked at three pieces of artwork of Eric Carle; The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Bad Tempered Ladybird and a Red Bird. They were asked what colours were used in these pieces of artwork. After discussing and agreeing on the main colours used, the children practised the print making technique onto coloured pieces of sugar paper using a variety of materials.

Experimenting

All the children could print using the correct print making technique and experimented using stamping, rolling and rubbing to create their effects. Year 1 enjoyed using a variety of different materials to practise with and create patterns, such as, Lego, grass, bubble wrap and sponges. The children enjoyed recreating Eric Carle’s effects and practised on their own smaller piece of paper to refine their skills.

Observing and Creating

Each child recreated a piece of Eric Carle’s artwork using the different coloured pieces of sugar paper that they had printed on in the previous lesson. Before starting, each class discussed what colours, shapes, and sizes they would need for their piece of artwork. The children also learnt about an art technique called collage and listened to Eric Carle explain how he used it to create the artwork seen in his famous stories. All children practised this technique as they cut out and made a collage of their Ladybird, Bird or Caterpillar. They experimented with layering piece of sugar paper and used oil pastels for the smaller details in their artwork, such as, legs, eyes, nose, and mouth.