Apr 2, 2012

Plasticine Trees





My special needs students created these plasterceine versions of trees. It was a great medium for them to work with that allowed them a different kind of control than painting or colouring. They worked on 1/8 inch plywood or masonite sheets. They did need some help first having a tree sketched out as a starting point, and then filled in their colours with the plasterceine clay. For my students with developmental delays and limited dexterity this was a really good project. Most spent a little over an hour working on it, and a few other students needed more time than that.

This would work well for an elementary art class, or junoir high. It could also be adapted with more requirements or themes for a high school class. There are various illustrators out there who use this medium, which could be worked into a lesson to show real-world connections. Here is a great site for illustrator Barbara Reid who illustrates children's book mainly using the relief plasterceine method, and a sample of her work below:


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