Tea Set Painting

community: women 18+ | Chez Doris: women's shelter (Montreal) | January to march 2009

Project Plan

Getting ready for a tea party

Painting teapot, teacups and saucers

Population: the women at Chez Doris. Aged 15 and over, with various physical disabilities such as arthritis, difficulty walking, little hand-eye coordination, hand paralysis, etc. Some also have psychological disabilities such as anger management issues, addictions to drugs or gambling, personality disorders (schizophrenia among others), kleptomania, etc.

Special Needs: The teaching is done on an individual basis to be able to tend to the different needs of every woman. Those with physical difficulties need help- but only the minimum- for them to feel they are doing most of the work (it’s more rewarding). For those with mental disabilities, patience and calm are key to communicating. If an incident occurs, stay patient and clam, and if there is a threat to other women, be assertive- if necessary, go get assistance.

Length: 2 hours (1 session)

Learning Objectives:

• The women (especially those with physical disabilities) will refine their motor skills by working in detail on smaller surfaces (teacups)  with smaller material (small brushes)
• They will learn to cooperate by working on the same object (different sides)
• They will gain a sense of pride in giving their works to Chez Doris for other women to use to drink tea.
• They will also learn about primary colors, secondary colors, color mixing and harmonies, using them to create a design on their cups.

Materials:

• Teapot and 5 to 10 teacups and matching saucers
• Blue, yellow, red, white, and black paint. (Porcelain paint if an oven is available. This type of paint needs 24 hours of air-dry and some time cooking in the oven. The final product is dishwasher safe. Another solution is Ceramic paint. This needs no oven, takes 1 hour to surface-dry and 8 hours to dry completely. The final product can be rinsed with lukewarm water then dried.)
• Styrofoam plates to mix the colors onto
• Turpentine/eco-turf (solvents) to clean the brushes (not 100% safe. Keep an eye on this material. Keep away from people who seem to have a negative reaction to it.)
• Glass containers for the turpentine (do not use Styrofoam or plastic cups because it will eat right through)
• Small paint brushes
• Brown paper or rags to wipe the brushes
• Hand-out with color wheel and examples of harmonies with complementary pairs and analogous triads
• Inspirational material (this can be anything around the room, or you can bring in postcards, old calendars, anything that can be made into a painting)

Art Form: painting

Technique: painting on ceramics

Vocabulary: primary colors, secondary colors, harmonies, complementary pairs, analogous triads.

Motivation: time: At the beginning, I give a basic (approx. 10 min.) motivation, and then I repeat it to the women as they come in. It’s an ongoing motivation that takes an individualized approach.

Procedure:

• Set up the stations ahead of time. Put a teacup and saucer in front of every seat, and the handouts, paintbrushes and paints in the center.
• When the women come in, invite them to sit down, show the teapot and teacups and explain that they will work individually to paint the teacups and matching saucers. Tell them that the cups will be there every week for tea during the art class, but that no teacup belongs specifically to one person- so they are to share. If they wish to take them with them, suggest they come get it back at the end of the semester during the last art lesson.
• Show them the color wheel and explain the primary colors and the secondary colors (obtained by mixing the primary colors).
• Then, show them the color harmonies: complementary pairs and how they are opposite each other on the color wheel (show a couple of examples, and ask them to find one themselves as well), and analogous triads and how they are touching on the color wheel (again, show a couple of examples and ask them to find one themselves).
• Ask them to pick a color harmony that they think looks best, and to find a picture in the pile of inspirational material or an object in the room that they could paint using that color scheme. Time for art making!

Art Making: time: 1 hour and 45 minutes. Ongoing motivation as the women come in, and ongoing response as the women progress in their work.

Procedure:

• Either have one brush set up for every color or tell them to pick only one or two brushes and to clean it in the turpentine (solvent). Don’t forget to wipe the brush on the brown paper or rag otherwise the paint will become sticky when dry.
• Mix colors into Styrofoam plate before painting
• Paint the saucer and teacup to match, according to the color harmony chosen and using the inspirational material and/or object in the room as subject.
• For the teacup: get every woman to work on it one after the other, adding small elements every time to make a whole. Try to get them to figure out a theme and color scheme as well.

Response: time: ongoing as the women progress and once they finish as well. All the women work at different rhythms and have different ideas; so once again, an individualistic approach has to be used.

Procedure: Go around helping the women, asking them several questions as:

o What type of harmony did you pick?

o Why did you pick it?

o Why do you think they look pretty together?

o Do you remember how to mix [insert secondary color here]?

o What color would you add to make this color darker? Lighter?

o Why did you pick this design?

o Do you have a specific theme?

o Do you think your work is finished?

o Would you like to add more?

o Did you think about everyone else that’s going to use this cup and saucer?

o Do you think they’ll like it?

o Does this make you want to come back next week for tea?

o Did you have fun?

o What would you change/ prefer for next time?

Clean up: time: 5 minutes before the end.

Procedure: women clean up their spot, and sometimes help for the rest of the materials if they feel like it. If it’s lunch or bingo, they all rush downstairs, and we clean up, which is not a problem because they are very clean women. The clean up is easy and fast, and it allows for more response time and to get to know my coworkers and the women who come to Chez Doris better. It’s also when we brainstorm for the lesson to teach the next week.