This week’s theme is

Space

Humans have always looked up into the night sky and dreamed about space.

In the latter half of the 20th century, rockets were developed that were powerful enough to overcome the force of gravity to reach orbital velocities, paving the way for space exploration to become a reality.

There was the ‘Space Race’ – between the Soviets and Americans to be the first to land on the Moon.

“Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth within a decade” was a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong took “one giant leap for mankind” as he stepped onto the moon. Six Apollo missions were made to explore the moon between 1969 and 1972.

Astronomy studies Space from the Earth with telescopes

Elon Musk and SpaceX – on 30/05/20; ‘Dragon’ was launched with the two astronauts successfully docking at the international space station.

Task – 

Work with materials and equipment you have at home – this can be manual art media or using digital software. Your work could be hand drawn, photography, Moving image GIF, Photoshop, Illustrator, collage, stitch, or mixed media.

Use this link to visit Pinterest for some ideas to start your creative thoughts going!

Think about the concept of your work and the type of work you would enjoy creating. Here are a few ideas to start you off, but you can create your own!

• You could create a poster celebrating the anniversary of the first Moon landing (50 years ago)
• Look to films about Space to inspire you. Wally was a robot which cleaned up abandoned Earth, so you could create your own robot designs
• Moon landings are celebrated by badges which are sewn onto astronauts uniforms – create a set of badges based on the different planets
• Create an infographics design showing how the planets align
• Astronauts have completed flights, moon walks – create work which represents no gravity
• The space suit – explore how this could be used for illustration work…could the helmet become a fish bowl, could the astronaut be an animal or yourself?, could the planets be inside? Could the reflection be of an alien landscape?
• Create a gif based on planets
• Walking in space – could you explore different ways of walking on the moon – so on a pogo stick, on a space hopper, skateboard, doing the conga, hopping, on a tightrope….
• Young children lose items from their pram, such as a teddy bear, a shoe, mitton. You could explore how lost items from children could be found on the moon, to promote a brand with the strap line ‘To infinity and beyond’ suggesting their product in not just sold world wide, but throughout the galaxy!
• Design your own space rocket for the future which advertises holidays to Mars
• Create illustrations for a childrens’ book where a rocket lands on a strange planet
• Create a logo for your own Space company
• Create a T shirt design responding to ‘One small step for mankind’
• Create an illustration of how we could ‘live’ on the moon – think about the style of buildings you could create
• To celebrate the Moon landing, create a comic book cover
• Create a fashion illustration which shows a celebration of the planets.

So – get your thinking hats on… it’s up to you how you interpret the theme of ‘Space’! I look forward to seeing your work, so email it through to me at Taylor.N2@runshaw.ac.uk.

Animals

Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described—of which around 1 million are insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million animal species in total. Animals range in length from 8.5 millionths of a metre to 33.6 metres (110 ft). They have complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs.

Humans make use of many other animal species, such as for food (including meat, milk, and eggs), for materials (such as leather and wool), and also as pets, and for transports, as working animals. Dogs have been used in hunting, while many terrestrial and aquatic animals were hunted for sports. Non-human animals have appeared in art from the earliest times and are featured in mythology and religion.

Animals have been the subjects of art from the earliest times, both historical, as in Ancient Egypt, and prehistoric, as in the cave paintings at Lascaux. Major animal paintings include Albrecht Dürer‘s 1515 The Rhinoceros, and George Stubbs‘s c. 1762 horse portrait Whistlejacket. Insects, birds and mammals play roles in literature and film, such as in giant bug movies. Animals including insects and mammals feature in mythology and religion. In both Japan and Europe, a butterfly was seen as the personification of a person’s soul, while the scarab beetle was sacred in ancient Egypt. Among the mammals, cattle, deer, horses, lions, bats, bears, and wolves are the subjects of myths and worship. The signs of the Western and Chinese zodiacs are based on animals.

Task

• Work with materials and equipment you have at home – this can be manual art media or using digital software. Your work could be hand drawn, photography, Photoshop, Illustrator, collage, stitch, or mixed media.
• Use this link to visit Pinterest for some ideas to start your creative thoughts going!
• Think about the concept of your work and the type of work you would enjoy creating. Here are a few ideas to start you off, but you can create your own!

• You could base work around your pet(s), creating studies of them throughout the week capturing how much you rely on them for companionship and boosting your mental health especially during lock-down.

• You could explore how animal characteristics can symbolize human personality, the ‘strength’ of the lion, the ‘wisdom’ of the owl

• You could explore endangered animals and produce work to educate people in their protection

• You could explore typography and create an alphabet; A for Aardvark, B for Bat

• You could express how you have noticed animals and birds in your home environment more since being at home – they have the freedom to fly wherever they like, unlike us all in lock-down!

• You could explore how animal patterns help them camouflage into their environment or stand out to attract a mate

• You could explore the evolution of animals and create new creatures which combine different animals together

• You could explore the combination of animals with man made objects, for example an owl with books as feathers to represent it’s wisdom from reading

• You could create work which protests about animals being used in sport

So get your thinking hats on……it’s up to you how you interpret the theme of ‘Animals’! I would love to see your work, so please send a photograph or digital file to Taylor.N2@runshaw.ac.uk. I look forward to seeing your work! (Nikki Taylor, Teacher of UAL Graphics).