Roll roll roll the marble!

I'm sure many of you have tried marble painting before:

I was browsing through the internet and wow. So many different kinds of colour, medium and effects were created. 

I know how this activity is suitable for all age groups; even those 1-2 year olds! I've seen them at work before. Likewise, toddlers, preschoolers and primary school children love it too. I know I used to enjoy this activity A LOT! I've even done it in one of my tutes at uni as a way of teaching 'camaflouge'. We cut out a shape of our interest and placed it on top of the base A4 paper. Then rolled the marble on and peeled the shape that was hiding (image pasted later). I enjoyed it heaps!! I remember being told I was too focused on the activity...hahaha. 

 It might be a great idea for some of you to try it out as adults:p 

I wonder if the effects produced, changes when children get older because of their fine and gross motor capabilities... It might be interesting for me to compare in the future xD

I could do a quick one now:

Children's marble painting:

My marble painting at uni:

Hm. It seems like both lines created in the activity connote different emotions and effects... :) 

I wonder what your opinions on this argument would be! 

artabouttown: ISYS100 Blog Video (Official version)

Fun at the Festival

Here we are at the Sydney Festival in Hyde Park, Sydney. Enjoy!

Special thanks to the staff at Sydney Festival for helping us out (thank you Mona!).

Introducing: The Finest Fountain in Australia

While on our trip to the Sydney Festival 2014, we happened across this magnificent structure. Situated at the northern end of Hyde Park in the Sydney CBD, the Archibald Fountain, also known as the J. F. Archibald Memorial Fountain (after the founder of Australia's Bulletin), is widely regarded as the finest public fountain in Australia and Sydney's long-time favourite.

Diana, the goddess of purity

Erected in 1932, the Archibald Fountain was a gift to the city, intended to memorialise the alliance between France and Australia in World War I.

Theseus slaying a minotaur, representing the sacrifice for the good of humanity

Designed by the French sculptor Francois Sicard, the fountain portrays a bronze Apollo surrounded by other mythical figures. In 2013, the fountain underwent conservation work, including the careful cleaning and waxing of the bronze figures and renewing of the granite base.

Today, the Archibald Fountain is a famous spot for photos, buskers, political rallies and people-watching.

Check it out in our Sydney Festival 2014 video.

Be friend with the family. Your life will be funny :)

This is 'Super Radical Gag Family' illustrated by Kenji Hamaoka. I've got 2 Korean version, and it is called 'The Eccentric Family'. In my opinion, the Korean version title is much more fit than English one because they do something 'eccentric'. In each series, about 15 chapter are in the each book with interesting characters.  

I'm going to show a demo of this animation.

What is going to happen next....?

Lost their property.

As you can see, the thing mostly happening are that doesn't really make sense and doesn't happen in the real world (Not like fantasy), but IT HAPPENS in this animation. You won't be able to stop reading and laughing, when you start reading this animation. 

Hope you enjoy! :)

Graffiti Tunnel at the University of Sydney

Story happening here

So many things popped up in my head while viewing this image. 

I found this one while browing the internet, and wow. Look at the amount of work and effort put into it!! When I first saw it, I was surprised by the amount of outlining there are in black. Also, I just realised that there are curvy lines around the duck! I'm guessing it's capturing the flow of water when the ducks swim about. I also enjoyed viewing various tones used for the water and land. I'm guessing through such, that they used water colour paints. The effects are awesome!! Have any of you painted using water colour before? It's truely amazing to use with great effects produced.

I can also see lots of texture on the artwork through the fur of the dog on the bottom right hand corner, and the roof of the building up the top. 

There's just so many images on there with different kinds of detail, displaying the artist's ideas and

Interpretation. 

I wonder what the artist was capturing at that time.

Did this artwork come from imagination?

Did this idea come from a book viewed previously? 

Did someone give you ideas for your painting?

It can be challenging (not always!) to tell what children were inspired by, but the artwork produced have endless possibilities and room for interpretation. Great stuff!! :)

Cool graffitti in Darley lane

What do you see when you head down Darley Lane, off King St Newtown? Is it a elephant or a Hindu god? It's art that has many meanings and your own interpretation.

This grafitti piece as long as I remember has been here on the wall for 14 years and has not been tampered it at all. When you walk down the south end of King St there is a sense of culture and old bric a brac homeware stores. This piece of works reflects the many indian food shops that sell an array of spices, food and clothing. I love the colour and detail in the artwork.

What word can you see? Is it Brain? Or is it Braun? Its hard to understand a word unless you know the meaning or the word. I cant detect if the letter after the A is a I or a U. Can you? Nevertheless, its some great grafitti work.

What do you see? What word is this one? And what is the meaning or idea behind it?

I would have to say this piece this is my favourite piece, I really like the half women's face half skull. Its like a split example of life and death portriat of a women's inner beauty. Its compelling, powerful, dark but elegant all at the same time.

This piece I found interesting. What do you think it resembles? What are your thoughts about it? The great thing about art is that everyone has there own opinion on what they think and see. I believe that this piece of work to me, is representing something I'm not sure exactly what it is. The man's facial is a little sad, there are two birds on his shoulders that are  droopy and he is holding a sign that has sike on it.

Wanna go traveling with them?

The One Piece is the most famous Japanese animation series made by Oda Eiichiro. This animation is about Luffy and friends becoming the king of pirates. 

One day, Luffy met strangers in the bar. They left the small box and Luffy found it. He was curious what is in, so he opened and found a fruit that looks strange. The strangers came back to bring their box back but the fruit was already gone by Luffy. After Luffy ate the fruit, his body became like a rubber. Whole parts of his body can stretch. He started to find some comrades for his adventure after the thing happened.

The story is very long, so it will take an age to watch all chapters of this animation. I have heard one of my Japanese friends that 'The writer is planning to spend his all life to make the One Piece'.

Wanna get started to travel with them? :)



Picture from http://sites.psu.edu/aray17/2013/11/11/one-piece/

Did you do one of these?

Does this bring back any memories to anyone?

The picture above is of an old tea towel I made with my fellow year group in grade 1 (5 years old). 

I remember being given a small, white rectangular piece of paper to draw a self-portrait of myself which was to be printed in what it looks like above. Doesn't it look great! :D

And this is the self-portrait I drew:

Hahaha. By viewing the first image, I'm sure you can see that there are no portraits which have the exact same design with the exact same face. The context at which the student drew their portraits are also different. Some are walking on grass, some are standing next to a tree, or others are simply standing on the ground, as evident by a line. I also find it so fascinating how children's art bring out several emotions and meanings as you view each one of them. Some will make you question why certain things are the way they are, while others may simply make you giggle for its humour. It's all these symbols and messages from children, which make us all feel and think the way we do.

I wish I could question myself back then, "what was on your mind when you were drawing your portrait?" "Why is your hair in pigtails?" "Why am I smiling?"

And I would like to ask you all: Do you remember what sorts of portraits you drew as a child? Are there more similarities or differences to children's art now?

Lastly, a question to myself now: "why are children such talented beings?!"

Sydney University tunnel of art grafitti and words of expression

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of Art.

So along the Sydney university tunnel  and this is what I found. Everyone you must go and check it out! Totally rad place to walk though.

I couldn't believe my own eyes, so much colour and tagging all over the walls. There is so much to look at when you walk through it, I know some people get scared because they may think they might get mugged down there. But it is so crazy to think how many different artists or gangs have gone through this tunnel over the years and what stories they tell we will never know.

When I was down there no-one was around and surprisingly there was alot of light shining through during the daytime. I must say I probably wouldn't go there at night just incase the homeless sleep down there, as it did have a smell to it if you know what I mean.

Everywhere you turn it just gets better and better.

Aspire is the key word that reflects the art piece here, I can see why they wrote it. As local walkways or spaces are inviting for graffiti artists to share art and communication through meaning.

I really loved the Ninja Turtle graffiti piece, it reminds me when I was a kid I loved watching the TV show. Again we see Aspire on the ground, it makes me wonder if it is the same artist and what they are representing?

The sweetest hand writing and memory that someone has left behind on there way through the tunnel of art. Stuff like this makes you realise that art is aspiring and inspiring and no matter who you are or where you are you can always leave your words and your mark in life on a wall. Just don't get caught ok. Art is beauty, wisdom and self expression. Long live grafitti!!!!

What you find walking down the back streets

Look what I found again in the back streets.

 

Hi guys, I was walking down Denison st in Newtown when I came across this painting in the back of a primary school. I thought it was so inspiring and creative that the school has allowed to create a wall of colour. Unfortunately I don't know who the artist is, but you can see that there is a lot of culture, dreaming and scifi inspired in there work. If your ever in Newtown you should walk down Denison St there is so much graffiti and great art work all around. 

 

   

 I found this painting inspiring as the artist uses lots of warm colors and spiral patterns, I noticed a hindu script which I thought was great as Australian people are all come from different nationalities. Art is really highlighting this wall as it represents patterns, lines and color.

 

 

I really liked this painting as it has some interesting characters that have funny facial expressions. I like how some of the street tagger graffitti artits have randomly taged the wall in a respectly way not interrupting the whole design if anything has incorporated the tag into the design.

 

This wall is like a scifi theme with the spaceship and cool colors , I noticed a resemblence from this wall compared to the Art wall, there are similar line work and twirls.

Look at the window! The Catbus may wait for you :)

This is a picture of 'My Neighbour Totoro', also called 'Tonari no Totoro' in Japanese. 'Tonari no Totoro' was made by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli produced this animation. It was released in 1988, it had won many prizes of movie and animation awards.

The story of this animation is about two girls, that are Satsuko and Mei. They coincidentally found the Catbus, which took directly to the Totoro's place. Satsuko and Mei took the bus, met Totoro and became a friend.

Tonari no Totoro' is now still one of the top rated animation in Japan. The character of this animation 'Totoro' has become a symbol of the Studio Ghibli.



Picture from http://splendidandlovely.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/my-neighbour-totoro-hayao-miyazaki-1988.html

Black Fella White Fella

Hello to those reading our blog :)

I'm Natsumi and I'll mainly focus on children's art. 

So just a brief intro; I'm a student studying a Bachelor of Education degree at uni. Hence the reason why I'm interested in children's art! So to begin with, I thought it would be a great idea to share this brilliant book as.... the illustrators of this book are CHILDREN! 

This book is called 'Black Fella White Fella' by Neil Murray illustrated by students from schools around Australia→ I love this part. Whenever we view children and their art, I am always facinated by what they already understand about the world in which they live. In this book, the children's artwork show their awareness of others and that, despite the many differences we have, we share more similarities, and that we are all the same. It's extraordinary. 

We also know that children are very confident and involved learners and I hope you agree with me. The bright, sharp colours tell us they are not afraid to share what they know and want to present to others. I wonder if you have tried analysing children's artworks before- it's amazing to know what they have in their minds! They. Are. So. Creative.

Children pick up on so much and are very unique beings. It's exciting to learn about children and their art; you learn so much from them too!!! 

Free to View

Have you seen this sculpture?
If you're a Sydney-sider, chances are, you have.
And that's what I love about this city; you don't need to visit a museum or an art gallery to see the best of Sydney's sculptures. It's on the street and it's free.

This particular one is Robert Woodward's Spiral Water Feature in front of the Convention Centre in Darling Harbour. Take walk along the spiral path, descending below ground level, and you'll find yourself at the centre-piece.

 I've made it a mission to get to the bottom and back completely dry. Do you think you can do it?

The most popular animation in the world - Naruto

A Japanese animation, called 'Naruto' is top ranked popular animation all over the world. This animation has been released since 1997, the story is about a young boy ninja, 'Naruto Uzumaki', who wants to be a big leader (called 'Hokage') in the Hidden Leaf village, where Naruto is living in. 

16 years ago, a nine-tail demon fox, 'Kyuubi' suddenly appeared and attacked the Hidden Leaf village. Due to the attack of Kyuubi, many of people living in the village were died and injured severely. At the same time, Naruto was born, and the Kyuubi was sealed by Naruto's father, 'Minato Namikaze', who was the Hokage in the village. Naruto's parents were killed by Kyuubi, during the sealing.

For 16 years, Naruto has met his comrades and teachers, and owned powerful strength to defeat the criminal of the attack of Kyuubi, and now, all ninjas are fighting together with him against the ninja gang group, called 'Akatsuki'.


Picture from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/naruto-shippuuden/images/17144169/title/naruto-friends-photo?card

Tiger graffiti found on a wall opposite St Peters station

Hi guys you must check out this wall which is on a side of a house along the St Peters train line.

There is any underground street art in Newtown which is great to see especially down the back lane ways. There really needs to be more of it, as Sydney lacks abit of art and culture compared to Melbourne where you see graffiti art everywhere. It's a shame that graffiti art is looked down apon because people have mixed emotions and feelings about it. It is freedom of expression that is so creative through a spray can, which I think is difficult to achieve, not like I have tried. Seeing artwork on the street really creates a set of mood and vibe to a city. I understand that people dont like tagging style of graffiti and the ethics behind it and dont worry I dont like it either. But when it comes to creative art that makes you smile or think about the subject matter really makes a difference to a boring blank old wall.

Putting a face to the name...

G'day !
Welcome to our blog! As you can see, there is a pretty photo of us, just for your reference :p

Our names are Gemmy, Daniel, Kylie and Natsumi.

Our postings will range from street art, animation, sculpture and children's art.

We hope you enjoy!