Greek Art

Last spring, in our last art class of the 2008-2009 school year, the children worked on Greek vases. They learned about the old and new style of art (black on orange, and orange on black) on pottery and began their studies in preparation for working on an actual vase.

These are some of the pictures from the students in the art class:

Then came the process of transferring the drawing onto the vases. The children worked in pairs or threes, according to family, with an old style illustration and a new on each vase. Detailed pictures were painstakingly produced with tiny brushes, dentist's tools, and black paint.

Working in pairs was awkward at times, because it wasn't possible to tilt the vase to get a better angle without warning the other painter, but the children made it work!

Here you can see some of the intricate work that was produced in the old style.

And here is a new style design done by My Girl (soldier and laurel wreaths):

On the reverse is the old-style painting done by Little Man (two Olympic wrestlers):

And a close up of My Girl's soldier:

After taking two spring classes to work on the vases they were put aside for the summer. When we got back together with our Art/History/Nature Study group in the fall, the second class saw a return to the vases. Many were completed during that last session, but there there are a couple of more details to finish on the vase that The Ones I Love worked on, the border design being the main thing, but the result is beautiful already!