by Chiara Cola
This activity is dedicated to the beauty and majesty of animals and nature as well as their fragility, and our delicate relationship with the natural world. We have to love and care for each other but also for our planet earth. Preserving it means preserving our future. We are ‘One’.
Don’t forget to share your images or post online and tag @natsatclub and @lmetnatsatclub
To develop this project further, create a fashion design based on your drawing by going to the Fashion and Nature project.
Overview
The starting inspiration is the work of two amazing photo-documentarists: Ami Vitale and Joel Sartore. They have dedicated their lives to portraying vulnerable animals but also to the people who take care of them all around the world. They both work for National Geographic.
Their work brings a message of love and hope.
Materials needed
- Paper (or something to draw or paint on, can be a sketchbook, paper canvas, it’s up to you)
- Drawing or painting tool/s (pencils, pastels, acrylics, oil paint, watercolours, markers, again it’s up to you!)
Activity: Portraying an animal
Throughout art history, artists have frequently represented animals in paintings, drawings, sculptures etc.
Step one: Choose one (or more) of the photographed animals below:
Photo Ark Project by Joel Sartore
Step two: Create an accurate portrait of the subject. Attempt to capture their beauty and power as well as the marvel of all their details.
Use your own style: pencils, pastels, acrylics, oil paint, watercolours, markers – make it a vibrant image of life! This is your special tribute to this amazing being and to nature.
Step three: In the portrait, include the name of your chosen photo and your signature.
Step four: To develop this project further, create a fashion design based on your drawing by going to the Fashion and Nature project.
Thank you for taking part in the London Metropolitan Art&Design Saturday Club Workshop.
Don’t forget to share your images or post online and tag @natsatclub and @lmetnatsatclub
by Chiara Cola
Gallery
The following were created by Club members from London Metropolitan University
by Elizabette
Butterflies by Elinora. Himalayan Monal Pheasant by Sarah.
by Louis
by Emily
Contributed by Chiara Cola, Art&Design Saturday Club tutor at The Cass, London Metropolitan University
Chiara is a digital artist, print designer and creative consultant, who exhibited in Italy, UK and US including at Cinecittà Film studios, Whitechapel gallery, Harvey Nichols and Art Basel Miami.
Her work spans different creative fields including costume design for film, having collaborated as textile artist with Academy Awards winners Milena Canonero (in several productions including “The Grand Budapest Hotel” by Wes Anderson) and Gabriella Pescucci for the TV series “Into the badlands”.
Chiara has been lecturing in different institutions, including Accademia Costume e Moda in Rome, London College of Fashion, NABA in Milan, Polimoda in Florence, IED Madrid. She is currently a Tutor for the Art&Design Saturday Club at London Metropolitan University, together with Jane Roberts, and Associate Senior Lecturer in the BA Course of Interior Design at The Cass. She is also Industry Mentor for London College of Communication.
“I am so happy and proud to be a Tutor of the Saturday Club of Art & Design at The Cass for the second year. It is being one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. So inspiring to work with our Club Members and to see how audacious and brave they are in their creativity, reinterpreting the briefs through their personality and manipulating materials in innovative ways in their projects.”