viernes, 28 de septiembre de 2012

ARTS & CRAFTS (6th Grade): Unit 2 - Graffiti: Art or vandalism?

                                       THE QUESTION:                                     

Graffiti... Is it art? Is it vandalism? Along this unit you are going to discover not only the answer to this question but also the techniques that are necessary to make good art.

First of all I want you to watch the next pictures. Is that good art for you?


I hope that we all agree: obviously that is not art. And that is not graffiti, because graffiti is much more than this... I recomend you to watch the next video. It is an example of good street art made through graffiti techniques. Its author is called BLU. I hope you enjoy it!


Amazing, isn't it? Without any doubt this is art. Now pay attention to the next pictures of other brilliant examples of graffities around the world:


There are some famous STREET ARTISTS that make good art with sprays: Shepard Fairey, Haring, Zephyr, etc. (see more here). But one of the most popular is BANKSY. His work is admired  in every place of the world and in fact, he has made at least one graffiti in every continent. The only thing that nobody knows is his face because he has never been caught making his art. He doesn't want to be recognised but people pay millions to have his works hung on the walls of their houses. Now you can watch some of his most famous works:



                                         THE ANSWER                                         

 So, the answer to the question (art or vandalism?) depends on three aspects: WHAT, WHERE and WHY:
  • WHAT? What did the author paint? Was it something interesting? or Was it only his/her signature?
  • WHERE? Where did the author paint the graffiti? Was the author allowed to paint in that place or not?
  • WHY? Why did the author paint the graffiti? Did he/she want to communicate something? or Did he/she only want to put his/her name in every place?
As a conclusion, the rule to know if a graffiti is art or not is easy: if it is funny and makes the boring interesting, uses in a rigth way the spaces and tries to send us a message, then, we must consider thar it is ART.


                                        TECHNIQUES                                        

There are several ways to paint a graffiti in a wall. In our class we are going to learn about four of them:
  • NORMAL GRAFFITI:  when you paint directly with the spray over the wall.










  • STICKER ART: when you first paint your drawing on a stiker and then stamp it on the wall (you dont paint the wall directly).

  • TEMPLATES: when you make the negative of your graffiti in cardboard. Then, you cut it and put it on a wall. And finally, you spray the paint over the template. The positive part of the graffiti appear painted on the wall when you retire the cardboard.  






  • SPRAY ON PLASTIC: When you spray paint on a plastic surface you can play with the colors that are under the others. It seems to be magic!

                               SAFETY PRECAUTIONS                                 

For your own security, when you are painting a graffiti you must wear some special things:

  • RAINCOAT or something similar (if you want to keep clean your clothes ).
  • PROTECTIVE GLASSES (if you don't want to have problems with your eyes).
  • PROTECTIVE MASK (if you don't want to have problems with your lungs).







                                      LEARN MORE                                     

In this section you will find other interesting things about the topic of this Unit. I hope you enjoy it!

  • STREET ART VIEW: this is a fantastic way to locate the most hidden gaffities around the world (in fact, you can upload your own pictures of your favorite graffities in your city!). (clic here)
  • WYNWOOD, THE GRAFFITI CITY: Wynwood is the place where every graffity fan dreams with because there, graffiti is legal. All big graffiti artists have painted there and for so it is considered as a big graffiti museum. (clic here)
  • GRAFFITI CREATOR: This is the easiest way to create your own graffiti. You can make it online and then print it to put it on your bedroom wall. (clic here)
  • GRAFFITI PLAYDO: Do you want to paint a graffiti on a real wall? Well, you can't. But you can do it on a digital wall using this application.  (clic here)







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