The inspiration for this project came mainly from the famous British artist Ian Berry (1984-), a British-born artist who uses upcycled jeans, jackets, and other denim clothing to create life size portraits and landscapes. The idea for his denim artworks came from a simple observation he made as a child. One day, when his mother started clearing his room, he noticed a pile of denim jeans on the floor, having different shades of indigo (blue). His process involves cutting, stitching, and gluing various shades of blue hues to create contrasting shadows and detail in his artworks. The many layers of blue become somewhat three-dimensional “paintings”.
Each A3-sized artwork was divided in four quarters, where groups of four students compiled one artwork on one the four pieces. Constant communication among the group members was required to align the works. The students found the denim fabric quite challenging to cut, but as the weeks went by their fine motor skills improved, and they were also able to successfully identify stitched pieces of denim pockets which they used to add contrast and details to their artworks, ending up without any wasted material.
Shape and colour formed the core learning outcome of the Grade 6 students groupwork projects, using abstract artist’s artworks as academic examples. The students used colourful felt fabric, a material that has a strong woolen but smooth texture and which made cutting easier than that of the denim fabric. The compiled artworks were executed by groups of four students and then assembled to form one bigger art piece. The famous artists’ artworks serving as examples came from Joan Miro, Paul Klee and Keith Harding. The works were colourful and very flexible in shape, which contrasted with the Grade 7 student’s denim artworks. Both sets of artworks, though, expressed the presentation of students’ creative efforts at different stages in their artistic learning journey.
