Theme: Cityscape Storybooks
Topic: Misa Nikolic - Architectonics
Artist Background:
Exploring Vancouver’s heritage buildings is one way of seeing the stages of development of the city. As cities grow over time, older buildings mix in with the new to display a variety of styles, time periods, and building uses, all in the same area. Misa Nikolic’s paintings in Architectonics reflect his interest in the architecture and history of buildings in downtown Vancouver. He focuses on how different styles of architecture from different time periods exist together to reveal the history of a place.
Misa has created a series of paintings to depict a re-interpretation of the history of the area. Buildings are depicted from a viewpoint that focuses in on the style of architecture so the function and exact location of the building is obscured. The series of images reveal a story of the passing of time that exists in the cities where we live.
Objective:
Students will gain a better understanding of a contemporary artist’s work.
Introduce different types of architectural styles.
Younger students will develop their cutting and constructing skills.
Develop an understanding of the uses of colour, shape, and line.
Develop an understanding of ‘composition’ in works of art, in particular, how to position images or symbols with text to create a story.
Introducing students to the idea of narrative; telling a story with images and text.
Materials:
Paper for drawing (thick paper: card stock or poster board) cut into long rectangular shapes (i.e. 6” x 12”)
Pencils and erasers
Drawing materials, choice of: oil pastels, crayons, pencil crayons, or felts OR a combination of all of these
Scissors
Felt pens for writing text OR cut and paste text printed on a computer
Samples of buildings and city scenes from books, posters, or photocopied photographs.
Preparation:
Introduce the idea of stories in art by reading a book with colourful illustrations or have many pop-up style books on hand to look at in the classroom.
Introduce the different styles of architecture by looking at examples from Roman and Greek architecture in books or video. This can relate to a project studying Ancient Rome or Greece, or looking for copies of these styles in modern architecture. Another option is to look at the buildings in your city, and doing a walking tour of a downtown street. Compare the different styles in buildings’ appearances, the different uses (offices, shopping, residential), and different times when they were constructed.
Procedure:
Introduce students to the idea of a narrative. Students will be creating their own storybooks using illustrations and text. Have some of your favorite storybooks on hand as examples. As you show students samples, ask your students: Can you tell what story the artworks tell? How do the words and the pictures relate to one another? How do the words work with the pictures…are they placed side by side, on top of each other, or in some other way? What materials or art techniques does the artist use to help tell the story (i.e. paint, fabric, photo, etc.)? How would you tell your own story? How would you design your own book?
Have students think about the city in which they live. What sort of buildings do we see everyday? (If doing a walking tour of a street, have students take notes and sketches of the different buildings.) What are some of the different uses for buildings? Can they recall (or draw from life) the skyline of the city? How many different shapes of buildings are there?
Have students sketch in pencil a city skyline using line only. Keep the drawings simple, not including too many details. Include different shapes and sizes of various buildings. This can be done from memory, from photographs to copy from, or from direct observation.
What story does your cityscape tell? Students can try a creative writing exercise where they write a poem, story, or song about their cityscape. The focus can be on a memory, notes they took on a walking tour, or a poem they write about living in the city. These should be at least 10 words long, no longer than one paragraph. This will be the text for their books.
Using a ruler, mark on your long piece of paper every few inches. This will be how wide each page will be, so decide exact width according to the length of paper and enable at least 4 pages. Take the rectangular paper, and fold along these lines you have marked for yourself. Fold into an accordion style book, each fold will be a “page”.
Draw out a cityscape that fills the entire paper. Use simple lines and shapes to begin, then begin to add details. Students decide if each page will be a building, or if they will have more than one building per page. Add windows, doors, and any other architectural elements. Students may want to add landscaping details as well.
Once they have drawn out their buildings in pencil, students can begin to cut out the “roofs” of their buildings and any windows or doors. Younger students should only cut out the roofs, older students can cut out windows with sharp scissors.
Have students think about how to place the text for their story. How would these words flow through the book? Will text be added while you draw and colour your cityscape, or to be printed and pasted in later?
Students begin to colour and draw details into their cityscape. Add architectural details, colours for each building, and other things that may have relevance to their story. Add their text until the book is complete and tells their story.
To conclude, have students view each others’ works. Can
they guess the narrative? Can they guess what the different
buildings are? Discuss the different ways each artist told
their story.
Architectural Terms:
Arcade: a series of arches supported by pillars, columns, or piers.
Arch: A curved or pointed structural member which is supported at the sides or ends.
Base: The lowest part of architecture, for example, the bottom part of a column.
Capital: The head or crowning feature on top of a post or column. The capital will reveal the style of column: Tuscan, Doric, Greek Ionic, Roman Ionic, Corinthian, etc.
Caryatid: A human figure, usually female, functioning as a pier or column.
Column: A supporting pillar consisting of a base, a cylindrical shaft, and a capital.
Cornice: Any crowning projection, also known as crown molding.
Frieze: a panel below the upper molding or cornice of a wall, usually depicting a scene in relief sculpture.
Post and lintel: Vertical supports (posts) are bridged by a horizontal lintel. One of the oldest methods of construction, used by the ancient Greeks. Stone posts were usually placed quite close together in ancient structures, but with modern materials like steel, concrete, and wood this is not necessary.
RESOURCES:
BCATA Journal for Art Teachers. Various issues.
Chalmers, F Graeme. Classical Architecture in Our Community: A Heritage Workbook for Social Studies and Art. Western Education Development Group, UBC. 1979.
Oliver, Nancy M. Discovering Vancouver’s Heritage Buildings : Student Sourcebook. Compiled from notes by Dr. G. Chalmers, the Planning Division of Vancouver City Hall, and Exploring Vancouver 2: Revised Edition by Harold Kalman.
Buffalo Architecture and History: Illustrated Dictionary - http://ah.bfn.org/index.html
Left: Misa Nikolic , West from Westin, 2005
36x24 in, acrylic on canvas