THE POWER PLANT PRESENTS: Power Kids Draw Together with Rosa Wan
Courtesy of Rosa Wan. Photo: Christie Wong.
On Sunday, 16 May, The Power Plant’s Power Kids invited guest artist Rosa Wan (based in Toronto) for “Draw Together”, a special Field Trip drawing workshop. Follow along with Rosa below:
In the exhibition From swelling shadows, we draw our bows, Howie Tsui presents drawings and animations of characters in the style of mou hap (wuxia)—a popular martial arts genre in China—and Western popular culture. The images represent the past and present, as well as reality and fantasy. In this hands-on drawing workshop, guest-artist Rosa Wan from the community organization Cool Objects will guide participants through a series of drawing exercises.
Suggested materials: paper, pencils, colouring tools like pencil crayons, markers, crayons.
Drawing inspiration from Howie Tsui’s installation A Geomantic Corridor, Rosa facilitated a Cool Objects workshop using a series of creative warm-ups and exercises that guided the participants to create fun portraits using found objects and tools at home. Here are the prompts which you can easily follow for a fun stay-at-home activity!
Screenshot from “Draw Together” with Rosa Wan.
Warm-up! (30 seconds each)
Aside your favourite drawing utensils, your eyes and hands are definitely some of the most important tools you have. Let’s warm them up!
Exercising hands and fingers
1. First, let’s exercise the hands… Pretend to squeeze a squishy ball with both your hands.
2. Next, the knuckles… Pretend to play piano really fast!
3. Lastly, fingers… Pretend like all fingertips are sticky. Stick your thumb to each finger one by one!
Exercising eyes
1. Open your eyes really really wide and look all around. Up, down, left, right… Let’s see if you find anything new in the space you’re in.
2. Slowly close your eyes until you’re just looking through your eye lashes. Do you see anything different?
Drawing prompt
Step 1: Let’s find objects and make a portrait with it.
You have 30 seconds! Explore the space you’re in and use your eyes and hands to look for these objects. It doesn’t have to be exactly the size but look for objects that are…
1. The size of your hand
2. The size of your finger
3. The size of your finger nails
Step 2: Let’s trace the objects and make a portrait!
You can trace them as many time as you time. You can even turn the objects on its different sides to see if you discover any new shapes! The portrait will look simple with basic shapes but we’ll add more details in the next step.
1. First trace the biggest object (hand-sized), this is the face of your portrait.
2. Your second largest (finger-sized), this could be the nose, hair, ears, etc.
3. Fingernail-sized object can be the eyes, nose, ears, etc)
Step 3: Fill in the portrait with different textures!
Textures can be created with different simple brushstrokes. You can use your found objects and trace them again. You can use your favourite colours to fill it in or create patterns. The possibilities are endless!
If you’re feeling inspired, you can add more to your drawing by creating a background behind it. Is your drawing outside in a forrest field? Is it inside a colourful room? Or is it enjoying the day off at the beach?
About the artist:
As a visual artist and a space maker, Rosa Wan creates pockets of communities through collaborative projects that explore relationships between everyday people and ordinary things using mixed medium and a multidimensional lens as a second generation Chinese-Canadian.
Rosa Wan. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Rhiannon Marquez.
Power Kids organizes FREE arts workshops for children ages 7-12 begin with an art activity, inspired by the ideas behind the current exhibitions at The Power Plant. Gather around your desktop computer, laptop, iPad, or other digital device on selected Sundays to follow a video demonstration of a hands-on activity inspired by current exhibition or artwork, and download the lesson plan with material list and instructions.
Resources.
View upcoming programs: The Power Plant - Programs
The Power Plant on YouTube.
