Arts Around the World: Tiger Paintings and Ink Wash Bamboo Painting from Korea

The fourth country on our Arts Around the World journey this year is South Korea, which is especially fun since Ms. Kim's family is from South Korea! 

We began by learning about the country and looking at artwork that features the tiger. In Korean history and culture, the tiger is a guardian that drives away evil spirits and brings good luck – a symbol of courage and power. It appears in many Korean myths and folk stories, and is a favorite subject of Korean painting and sculpture. The mascot of the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul was a tiger and the recent 2018 Winter Olympics had a white tiger mascot.

We looked at some Korean paintings featuring the tiger and noticed the tiger's striped pattern and the different ways tigers were depicted. We looked at the tiger's face and noticed that they are symmetrical. For our own tiger paintings, students folded their paper in half and drew half of the tiger's face. Then we painted one side, with one color at a time, and folded it and pressed the paper together to get the paint to transfer to the other side.

This was challenging to do, as students had to work quickly to get the paint to transfer before it dried. So once enough paint transferred, students also evened out the paint on both sides of the paper with a paint brush. For our next project, students learned about ink wash painting. Ink wash painting is a type of brush painting that uses black ink, like the kind used in East Asian calligraphy. The goal is not only to paint the subject but to capture its spirit with the fewest possible lines and tones. Mountain landscapes, nature and animals are common subjects. Artists usually grind an ink stick over an ink stone to make black ink.

We looked at examples of ink wash painting and used bamboo handled brushes to paint our bamboo using ink. We learned three different techniques to paint the stalk, branches, and leaves.

Below are examples of our artwork, inspired by South Korea, on display at International Night in May. 

The last project was a fan design. Fans, or "buchae" in Korean, come in many different shapes, including a leaf, oval or a half-moon shape, and are made with different materials such as silk, bamboo, and feathers. Fans were used for special ceremonies, musical events, to exchange greetings, and to show your status. We also watched a video of a Korean fan dance, before designing our own fans using marker.

Arts Around the World

This year, 2nd grade artists will be traveling around the world in their art and music classes! Ms. Patashnick and I are collaborating on an integrated curriculum focusing on art and music from Mexico, South Africa, France, South Korea and New Zealand. In art class, we will be learning about the culture, art forms, techniques and artists from those countries. In music class, students will be learning songs, culture, musical traditions and about musicians from those same countries, as well. 

To start off the year, students previewed artwork from each country. Each group of students received images of artwork from a different country. They began by sharing what they noticed about the artwork with each other, and made predictions about what materials were used and why the artists might have made these artworks. Students also considered whether the artwork had a function of some kind and shared information they already knew about that country. For example, some students at the New Zealand table noticed that the designs reminded them of the movie, Moana.

We are starting with Mexico this month, so check back to find out what we are learning about! In May, students will demonstrate what they have learned and created throughout the year at a culminating art and music showcase for their families and members of the Hosmer community. Feel free to ask your students about their artistic and musical travels throughout the year!