Light and shadow - LOLPS art club

Feb 11, 2015

Chiaroscuro, the technique of painting light and shadow, is one of the techniques that has been used by realistic painters for hundreds of years. It was the topic introduced to the 20 students at Land O'Lakes Public School on February 9 at their first session of the school’s popular art club, which is now in its third year there. Headed up by grade 7/8 teacher Mr. Hull, an award-winning painter in his own right, the club is open to students from grades three through eight and this year the club attracted 20 enthusiastic young artists, many returning for another year.

Mr. Hull began the class by explaining the technique of chiaroscuro and demonstrated how artists have used it to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat two-dimensional canvas. The basic idea is that light and shadow within a single artwork result from one or more imagined light sources and that the objects within the canvas are articulated three dimensionally based on where they sit in relation to that/those light sources.

Hull began by showing the students slides of various paintings, a few Rembrandt portraits and some of his own portraits of different staff members from the school. He asked the students to identify the position of the imagined light source in each work, which he explained is best done by looking at where the darkest shadows and brightest highlights fall within the painting. “Rembrandt is the classic example to use when demonstrating this technique,” Hull said, “since his paintings often depict a luminous figure in a deep sea of black. Chiaroscuro is just one element of design but it is a very important one when trying to make images appear three-dimensional.”

Following his talk Hull set up a spotlight in the classroom and invited the students to draw a number of balls set up on desks around the class. Using white and black charcoal on grey paper the students set to work and almost instantly a distinctive hum of focused creativity took over the room. As the children worked, Hull and his assistant Mr. Campbell answered questions and gave helpful suggestions to the students. Next, the students will move to the gym where they will paint still lifes that will be lit from a single light source, thereby furthering their understanding of the technique of chiaroscuro.

“Typically a lot of art work you see these days can tend to be flat and muddy but when you throw a strong light source on the subject matter and introduce the technique of chiaroscuro, the students begin to develop a much better understanding of how to make their paintings more three dimensional. In teaching this technique, I also want to open their eyes to the idea that everything they see in everyday life is a result of this idea and that they can apply this technique and paint from life using it.”

Hull is planning an art show at the school when the club wraps up in the coming months, where students, staff and the community will be invited to view the students’ finished works.