Wax Resist

Joan Miró

Miró started painting figurative landscapes, people and scenes like many other artists but his work gradually became more and more abstract. Joan Miró is best remembered for bright colours and interesting shapes that inhabit his paintings and prints. He wanted to use signs and shapes that stood for different aspects of nature, aiming to show nature as it would be depicted by a primitive person or an intelligent child.

Ask the children to identify some of the shapes that Miró used then see if they can use some of the same shapes in their own work.

Norval Morrisseau

Norval Morrisseau is a Native American Indian artist from Canada who paints illustrations that illustrate the ancient Ojibwa stories told to him by his grandfather. His work is vibrant in colour and suggests a childlike simplicity with flat 2-dimensional shapes.

Discuss the animals and birds that Morrisseau used. Ask the children to think of similar creatures in stories that they are familiar with and use them in the same way.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri

An Australian Aboriginal artist who painted some of the earliest and most highly thought of dot paintings in the modern Aboriginal art movement. Most of his richly coloured art was inspired by Aboriginal mythology known as the Dreaming or Dreamtime.

After looking at Tjapaltjarri’s paintings experiment with a range of materials to make dots then compare to see which is most effective. Try using cotton buds, corks and other found objects.