For

Middle Years Students

Curriculum

Visual Arts – Creating and Making

Think About

The Colour-Field painters, championed by Mark Rothko and Morris Louis, were known for their large planes of colour and deep attraction to myth and spirituality. Characterised by compositions involving broad areas of a single colour, these fields of rich pigment intended to evoke a contemplative state in the viewer.

Artists usually apply pigment or paint on the prepared surface of the canvas to create an image. Morris Louis negated this by making the surface and paint collapse into one. He used dyes and thinned acrylic washes to soak and embed pigment within the raw, unprimed fibres of the canvas.

Aim

To explore fabric and pigment by soaking and staining techniques inspired by Morris Louis.

Preparation

To do this activity you will need to:

• Collect a range of different fabric types. Try to collect thin transparent fabrics like silks, organzas or tulles as well as cottons and calico/canvas. Scraps and small pieces can be used as well as larger pieces of fabric.
• Use a range of different dyes to soak and stain the fabrics by pouring dyes or soaking pieces of fabric.
• See how gravity affects your method.
• Explore what happens if salt crystals are placed onto the surface.
• Once the fabrics have been 'coloured', layer and overlay different fabrics and colours to create a wall hanging. Use random and minimal stitching to bring all layers together.
• Present a textile work, like a curtain that can be viewed from either side of the artwork. Also notice the way light enhances the stained surface and highlights whether the paint has soaked through or stayed on the surface of the different types of fabric.

Individual Task

Discuss and explain the ways the colours were absorbed by the different fabrics.

Describe the ways different overlays of fabrics changed the colour intensities and hues.

What mood or visual effects are communicated and how?

Group Task

Extend your exploration using different materials:

• Variety of fabrics, including transparent fabrics. Fabrics do not all have to be white in colour.
• Procion dyes or cold water dyes.
• Buckets.
• Gloves.
• Stitching equipment.
• Salt crystals.

Discussion Questions

Discuss and share your ideas about colour and texture with others.