Education. Kids draw scenes from the Sistine Chapel. Art class.

Art classes are always fun- well they should be anyway. Currently, both the English and art curriculum share a similar topic- teaching art history. Renaissance art is a great period to analyse artworks that have an ordered and pre-planned meaning. It's clear to understand and open for beginner interpretation. Artists are also famous enough for almost all Year 3 students to have heard of, or to have their artwork recognised.

We began in English class, learning what a biography was, and how to write one. Michelangelo was perfect for this. The English unit moved into individual artworks and finding ways to discuss them. We talked about perspective, focal points and subject matter. For higher levelled students we talked about symbolism and how light and dark areas could suggest different feelings.

The class quickly became familiar with a range of renaissance paintings and frescoes, and were already aware of lesson objectives as we began our art class.
The hardest change for most students was drawing robes that elegantly fell over the human body, instead of shorts, t-shirts and dresses like they were used to. This also gave practice in shading and colouring shadows.

We decided to recreate a scene from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. To allow students to experience the struggle Michelangelo had painting the ceiling, students had to draw their artwork on the underside of the table.

Historic evidence is debatable whether or not Michelangelo stood up or laid down to paint the ceiling- no doubt he probably tried or alternated between both. Students could decide what was more comfortable for them. Taller students could reach, while smaller students used chairs as a raised platform to get closer to the work surface.

As fun as it was, the initial excitement of drawing upside down quickly tired them and they realised it wasn't as easy as they first thought.

Walking around and taking a sneak peek of what they were doing really surprised me.

The scene 'Expulsion from Paradise' was chosen due to its range or characters, setting and colours. It was also one of the busier scenes and meant students wouldn't be calling out they had finished after they drew a single figure.

Once the class ended, drawings were mounted and displayed. A popular part to any art class is when students get to see their work up on the wall and they can see what their friends have done.

The students admitted the difficulty they had trying to draw upside down. The were also aware that things would become very messy if they had to use paint. Fortunately for them, and the cleaners, we stuck to pencil crayons.

If you teach or have kids, why not try something like this!

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