By Sylvia Hunt
On July 18-19 of 2005 as part of Fresco School's outreach program, Children's Fresco workshop took place in Los Angeles. Workshop was conducted by the founder and instructor of the Fresco School, iLia Anossov and me, and what a joy this was, so here is how this adventure unfolded . . .
The kids, approximately 22 of them, ages ranging from 5 to 12 yrs, were from the Summer Camp of Bryan Hawkins Kenpo Karate School, and showed up early Monday all very excited about the painting adventure, although not really quite sure what a fresco was. . .
Day 1: Drawing
They gathered in the fresco studio and Ilia began the day with a short overview of the meaning of 'fresco' and displayed an exhibit made by his son, Phillipe, which showed the different steps in making a fresco.
We had them choose from a selection of drawings of different Karate symbols and the children, all happy with their choice, traced them on tracing paper. We had them decide what two colors they wanted to use; one for background, one for Karate symbol, and we wrote these on each drawing for the next day.
In order to visually show the children what they would be doing the next day, iLia did a fresco demonstration of a Karate symbol, while the kids watched in awe, and added their own comments, 'use brown', 'use blue-green', 'use yellow'.
We then had each child come up, choose a color and write their name on a large tile plastered by our expert, Ian, just to give them the feel of painting. Since they are all at different levels in their writing skills, we ended up with a very special fresco painting with all of the signatures of the class and a beautiful work of art.
Day 2: Painting
While Ian prepared the tiles with the final intonica layer of plaster, Ilia and I prepared the pigment colors of red, blue, green, brown, yellow, orange and purple.
As the children watched, Ilia and I used a pencil to trace each drawing over the intonico, making a slight indention in the plaster. The children began to paint, and at the end of the day, we stood back and looked at 22 pieces of art, each different and beautiful in its own way. The class ended with a little quiz that the kids could do to further their research of fresco painting, and some prizes for those who submitted their entries!!
I left that day with a great feeling of accomplishment. We had brought to these children a touch of history, and let them experience how art began. They left here knowing what fresco meant, and how the lime plaster, reacted to the air, and the pigments would all dry as one, to form a fresco painting that will last for hundreds of years. If only this could be shared with more children across the United States. So very important this is.
I wanted to thank Bryan Hawkins, the owner of the Bryan Hawkins Kenpo Karate School for bringing us these well behaved boys and girls, the photograhper Mike Mandevil, my little co-helpers, Julia, Elizabeth, and Phillipe, and of course Ian and Ilia for making this wonderful experience possible!
Sylvia Hunt,
Fresco artist and assistant instructor.
FrescoSchool.org
