Investigating... Everything Through Art

by Sancha deBurca (Artwork Resources)


Note: The following are sample lessons from Artwork Resources. Each begins with research ideas that will develop investigation skills and understanding of the works of various artists and designers. The “briefs” are starting points for the student’s creativity and can be developed in any way the learner wishes.

FROM CHOCOLATE
Fair Trade

Context:
Where does chocolate come from? How is it made?

Why not write to your favourite manufacturer and ask them? Many will send you an information pack. You can also get these from the internet.

What they might not tell you is that some producers do not offer the workers in the places where the cocoa beans are grown fair wages for the work they do. These producers make huge profits because so many people love the taste of their chocolate bars and gift assortments. Chocolate workers are often slaves - this includes children.

However, Fair Trade chocolate is becoming more and more popular. Having a Fair Trade mark on the wrapper lets the customer know that the producer has paid the growers and their workers a fair and reasonable price for their goods.

Have a look in your local shops to see if you can find Fair Trade chocolate (or any other product). If you can’t find any there you might be able to in the nearest health food shop. Some Fair Trade chocolate is organically grown and made too.

(Creative) Brief:
Design a wrapper for a 100g (4 oz) bar of Fair Trade chocolate.

The wrapper must reflect both the place of origin of the cocoa beans and the fact that the bar is produced in a fair way.

Pick a name for your bar too.

This brief requires you to have investigated how chocolate is made and particularly where the ingredients come from. Make sure you have researched this.

You could imagine that your Fair Trade producer makes a plain (dark) chocolate bar, a milk chocolate one and even a white chocolate one. Then you could design wrappers for all three that highlight the places from which the beans come, yet make each wrapper fit the overall design style.

Alternatively, you could decide that your Fair Trade producer makes a 200g (8 oz) gift box of assorted chocolates (or a gift box that has the bars inside). For this you will have to find out about making a box using a ‘net’ (or template of the shape of the box when it is flat). There are many books with ready-made templates for you to use, or you could undo a real box that you like and use that as a template.

Find out what things normally need to go onto a wrapper. The name of the particular bar is very important and must be bold and eye-catching. Think about how the look of your typography (words) must suit the image of the bar.

You will also need to include the maker’s name and the fact that your chocolate is Fair Trade. Investigate the Fair Trade logo.

The weight also needs to be shown, as well as the ingredients. You can borrow this from a regular bar - but if you decide that your chocolate is organic (grown without the use of chemicals) be careful what things you put in the ingredients list or else you might find that it is no longer organic at all.

FROM NATIVITY
Gift Containers

Context:
Research: Investigate the kinds of golden goblets and containers that the three kings might have used. Would all appropriate containers be made of gold?

Investigate

Biblical containers (some ancient Roman and/or Egyptian ones may be contemporary - but check your dates)
the sorts of 15th and 16th century containers that traditionally painted three kings use.

Some useful sources are the British Museum, London; the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; and especially the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.

Look at Jan Gossaert’s Adoration of the Kings, where the gifts arrive in fantastical, Nuremberg-style towering containers. In Carlo Dolci’s The Adoration of the Kings the gift containers look like tureens from a golden dinner service. The artist has used gold paint to create them. But he used gold leaf to paint in the halos of the Holy Family, signifying how much more precious the immaterial ‘gold’ is. Geertgen tot Sint Jans shows his Balthazar holding a container that has a magical-looking glass sphere within a gold frame.

(Creative) Brief 1: Nativity Play:

Imagine that you are putting on a Nativity Play based around your work on any chosen Nativity painting.

Design containers for the three kings’ gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Use old boxes and tins 1, and other scrap items as the basis of your gift- holders. Cover these in gold paper, or spray paint them. If you apply some objects before spraying the whole thing gold you can build up a ‘frieze’ or low relief sculpture effect (like Melchior’s container). Think about what these stuck-on objects might be and how they might be symbolic and have meaning to do with the gift inside.

Once you have painted or covered the basic container you can stick ‘jewels’ on - use sequins, coloured paper shapes, painted shells or the flat glass ‘nuggets’ found in candle shops.

(Creative) Brief 2: Seasonal Sweets
A candy company is bringing out a range of sweets for Christmas. The firm, called Three Kings, wants the products to be in three different but complementary packages (to show that there are three kinds of candy, but all coming from the same manufacturer).

The sweets are: ‘Gold’ chocolate coins (individually wrapped inside the box), ‘Frankincense’ Turkish delight (coated in icing sugar), ‘Myrrh’ toffee (clusters of toffee covered nuts)

Design three packages. Make each a different shape and design, but all of them should reflect that the products are in one range.

Consider types of material that would be appropriate and cost-effective.

Research and make two-dimensional nets (templates). You can find these in books on packaging or you can de-construct a real package and then use it as your template.

What information (ingredients, weights, etc.) must go on the packages?

Apply suitable surface graphics (consider whether to base these on a specific painting or on your own ideas).
Finish off by making three dimensional prototypes.

Health and Safety Advice: If using tins do not use the sharp-edged type that need lids removing by tin-opener. Use re-sealable cocoa and baby milk tins.

(Creative) Brief 3
Museum Gift Shop

A museum wants to attract Christmas visitors by reconstructing types of containers that the three kings might have used. It is your job to design and make these reconstructions for the Museum gift shop.

Select either gift containers based on a specific painting or the containers the Biblical three kings might have used.

Use the research activity at the start of this section - undertake this very carefully. You will also need to investigate the actual gift materials themselves. From your findings design the containers for each gift bearing in mind issues such as weight, consistency, toxicity, evaporation, flammability and so on.

The gifts are also to and from kings so should be of the finest relevant materials and probably with decorative effects.

It may not be logistically possible for you to construct the finished pieces (you may not have access to enough gold, for example!) but you should be able to produce a complete set of plans.

Where to Find the Images:

Carlo Dolci (1616-1686)
The Adoration of the Kings, 1649, National Gallery, London, England

Jan Gossaert (c1472-c1532)
The Adoration of the Kings, 1500-15, National Gallery, London, England

Geertgen tot Sint Jans (1455/65-1485/95)
Adoration of the Magi, 1490, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

References

Adoration of the Kings1 by Jan Gossaert, Sancha de Burca, 2002, Artwork Resources

National Gallery Companion Guide, Erika Langmuir, 1997 edn, National Gallery Publishing

Painting the Word: Christian Pictures and their Meanings, John Drury, 1999, Yale University Press

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Giorgio Faggin, Ugo Ruggeri, Raffaele Monti, 1968, Paul Hamlyn

National Gallery, London: www.nationalgallery.org.uk [find The Collection

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: http://rijksmuseum.nl

For more information about Artwork Resources visit their web site:
http://www.artworkresources.com