We had a group of our younger artists join us to look closely at the qualities of ice and snow.
The notion of ephemeral art was raised and the children were comfortable with the idea that Andy Goldsworthy’s ‘Snowball’ melted on a city pavement.
Coloured water was frozen and used as ‘paintbrushes’ to explore how ice changes when warmed. This was an experimental activity, which was very age appropriate and a lot of fun! Ice cube mountains were built and had cool coloured paints dripped over them.
A buddha board provided a quiet and relaxing moment to experiment with marks and shadows. Water was applied to the board with a paintbrush to create temporary shadows. The marks changed as they slowly faded away.
Paper snowflake cut outs enhanced fine motor skills and raised awareness of shape and pattern. The snowflakes were attached to the watery backgrounds made earlier.
3D plaster snowflakes were made using cardboard templates. These were placed on a slab of clay and drawn around. The children thoroughly enjoyed mixing plaster to the right consistency and pouring it into the snowflake mould. Once the plaster was dry, the clay was removed, and a delicate 3D snowflake appeared.
Tape was fastened to paper to create a snowflake. It was then painted over with cold, wintery colours. Once the paint was dry, the tape was removed, and the negative space decorated with patterned lines.