For this program session, teaching artist Andrea Wamble facilitated the lecture in the gallery and presented and guided the art activity in the studios. Once all the participants arrived at the museum Andrea invited everyone into the gallery to focus on oil painting The Little Shepherdess by William-Adolphe Bourguereau. This particular painting has over the years become an iconic piece for Philbrook. The Little Shepherdess is greatly loved by the Tulsa community. Standing next to the oil painting, Andrea spoke to the participants and their care partners about Bourguereau's life and career and then moved into describing the painting. Relaxing her lecture she invited the participants and care partners to open their minds to wonder. Soon everyone was asking themselves who this little girl is, where is she standing, and why the artist chose to paint her.
In the studio...
A lot of thought, detail, and planning goes into each session. Usually Andrea and I choose the art piece to focus on before deciding on an art project. Knowing that The Little Shepherdess would be the painting of discussion, Andrea and I were able to take the talking points from the lecture and apply them to the art project. After picking each others brains for a little while we both agreed on wanting to give each participant a visual reminder of what they had just saw in the gallery in the studio and at home. So Andrea came up with this simple cut and paste art project...
Start by taking a light colored piece of tissue paper and ripping it so that its dimensions reach the top of your white paper down to its middle. Take your modge podge and paint it over your tissue paper. Modge podge is a type of glue that when first applied looks translucent however it dries clear and with a beautiful gloss finish. Apply your tissue paper lights to darks. Start with your sky, then add your grass. Move to your mountains, and finish with details such as clouds and shadows. (Remember: tissue paper is transparent so when you put a yellow piece on top of a blue the color will become green. To avoid this add multiple layers of the lighter color on top.) When you've finished your landscape take your cutout image or photograph (for this activity we took a picture of the painting and cut out the figure to act as a reminder of the painting seen in the gallery) and modge podge it on top of your landscape. Once you're done with that step either take scissors and cut away the edges of tissue paper that surpass your white paper or fold the edges behind your white paper and glue them down with the modge podge. And you're done!