What is Texture?
Texture in art refers to the surface quality or “feel” of an object. This can be actual, where the artwork has a physical texture that can be felt, or implied, where the artwork visually suggests a texture.
Why Teach Texture?
Texture adds a tangible depth to artistic creations, making them come alive. It helps students understand and appreciate how artists use this element to convey emotions, create a sense of realism, and enhance their compositions. By learning about texture, students can add another dimension to their own artworks, bringing their creations to life.
Strategies for Teaching Texture
- Hands-on Exploration: Encourage students to touch and feel a variety of objects with different textures. This could include fabric swatches, pieces of wood, stones, etc. This tactile experience will enhance their understanding of texture and its variations – smooth, rough, bumpy, soft, hard, etc.
- Use Artwork Examples: Show various works of art and discuss how artists use texture. For example, Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ and Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’ are excellent examples of how texture can be used to create a sense of movement in a painting. This will help students develop a critical eye for texture in art and understand how it contributes to the overall effect of a piece.
- Incorporate Texture in Art Projects: Give students a chance to apply what they’ve learned by incorporating texture into their art projects. They could experiment with different materials and techniques to create various textures in their artwork. For instance, they could use thick paint for a rough texture or smooth out the paint for a smoother texture.
- Drawing Activities: Use drawing activities to explore texture. For example, have students draw fruits and vegetables while focusing on their textures. They could try to replicate the roughness of an orange peel or the smoothness of an apple skin. This activity will help them understand how textures can be represented visually.
Activities
- Texture Hunt: Organize a texture hunt in the classroom or outdoors where students find and sketch various textures they find around them. This could include the roughness of tree bark, the smoothness of a pebble, the pattern on a leaf, etc. This activity encourages observational skills and helps students understand and appreciate the variety of textures in their environment.
- Texture Rubbing: Provide students with different textured materials like sandpaper, bubble wrap, lace, etc., and crayons to create texture rubbings. They simply need to place the paper over the textured surface and rub the crayon over it. The resulting image will reveal the texture of the material underneath. This is a fun and easy way to explore and record different textures.
- Creating Textured Collages: Allow students to create collages using cut-outs of different textured materials. They can use fabric scraps, pieces of foil, sandpaper, dried leaves, etc. This activity reinforces their understanding of texture and also encourages creativity and fine motor skills.
- Textured Clay Sculptures: Provide clay or playdough for students to experiment with creating different textures. They can use tools, their fingers, or press different objects into the clay to create a variety of textures. This hands-on activity allows students to physically manipulate materials to create texture, enhancing their tactile and visual understanding of the concept.
