BLUE WILLOW CHINA
vintage china plate, inspired by a pattern produced in China during the 18th c.
Art Style: Domestic Art
Activity: painting, drawing
Materials: black/blue/grey construction paper, white paper, scissors, glue, blue paint, oil pastels
Meet the Artist: The blue willow design was said to be used as secret propaganda - a way for the Hung society to defy the Manchu leaders who were in charge. The bad people in the story were a symbol for the bullying Manchus, but it took awhile for the Manchu leaders to notice that a story was being told and given that meaning on plates. Once they figured it out, it is claimed that they tried to destroy all of the dishes with this pattern, but somehow one got smuggled into England during the 1700's and the design became immortalized. Art can be a powerful way for even weak and unrepresented people to have a voice in their societies.
Discussion: Art, if you are looking, is all over the place. Have you ever noticed the designs and decorations that are a part of the every day objects that you use? (Examples could be skateboards, quilts, fabric on cushions, clothing, etc.) Have you thought about the things these designs might be communicating? Look at the slide of the plate. What do you see? What makes you say that? What more can you find?
"Blue Willow" is an animated short film made by New Zealand filmaker Veialu Aila-Unsworth, based on the old chinese fairy tale of Blue Willow. (See the beautiful trailer here). Go here, if you'd like a link to a slideshow made from movie stills that you can use to tell the class the story.
Discussion: Art, if you are looking, is all over the place. Have you ever noticed the designs and decorations that are a part of the every day objects that you use? (Examples could be skateboards, quilts, fabric on cushions, clothing, etc.) Have you thought about the things these designs might be communicating? Look at the slide of the plate. What do you see? What makes you say that? What more can you find?
Activity: Fold the white paper in half, and have the kids draw half of a vase. Cut it out, unfold to reveal a symmetrical vase shape. Use blue paint and paint a chinese-like design on the vase. Glue the vase to the background, and using pastels, draw flowers coming out of the vase.
Paper Plate Variation: This is a fun variation that we did with success in 7th grade - instead of doing the vases, the kids painted their own blue willow plates with blue tempera paint onto paper plates. Before starting to paint, we went back to the first plate slide, and made a list on the board of the design elements found in the plate: border design with a repeating pattern, birds, pagoda/temple, chinese structure, bridge, willow tree, water/river, plants, waves. This seemed to help the kids to have a starting point. The image below is from a blog where I found the idea - and the kids' plates from our project looked pretty similar.
Paper Plate Variation: This is a fun variation that we did with success in 7th grade - instead of doing the vases, the kids painted their own blue willow plates with blue tempera paint onto paper plates. Before starting to paint, we went back to the first plate slide, and made a list on the board of the design elements found in the plate: border design with a repeating pattern, birds, pagoda/temple, chinese structure, bridge, willow tree, water/river, plants, waves. This seemed to help the kids to have a starting point. The image below is from a blog where I found the idea - and the kids' plates from our project looked pretty similar.
Student Work:
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