Art in Flight: 8th Grade Metal Relief

I always love to mix up the medium every few lessons, and a unique challenge I find is working with metal-aluminum pans, or metal pie tins. Using a dull pencil or paint brush bottom, the students simply draw into the back of the metal (over a magazine cushion) and watch the lines raise up on the other side. First we looked at 19th century artist James Audubon & his bird studies. After doing a bit of research, they selected an Audubon painting to recreate into their metal pans.

The students were required to show a) clear outlines by continuously pressing over their contour lines, b) 3D relief by rubbing into the spaces of their metal shapes until the area raises with the heat of the metal. Lastly they need to show texture in the image-repeating lines, dots, etc to create actual raised texture. 8th grade painted a wash of black ink overt their finished pieces and scrubbed away the raised relief with a wire mesh sponge brush for a burnished effect. Here are the results!