Drawing a Bicycle

Roman's Bike

Ana's Bike

Anjali's Bikes

Blind Contour Drawings by Ms. Chiu's Class

In June, we pushed all the tables in the art studio together and put my bicycle up on the giant table we'd created. The simple act of placing a bike on top of a table generated huge excitement in the school. Before school, I would happen upon parents and their children standing in front of and speculating about the bike on the table. Jack, the custodian made a joke about it and Ms. Goldberg told me that I had "made the day" for her class and that the bike on the table was all they could talk about enroute to a field trip.

The 2nd, 4th and 5th grade students drew the bike. I demonstrated how to make a blind contour drawing and explained that artists, like athletes, often have ways to warm up before beginning a more involved project. I stressed that this was more about seeing than about making a perfect drawing.

We made three drawings-a blind contour drawing (5 min.), a drawing using one's non-dominant hand (5 min.) and a final drawing with the pencil held in the usual hand and the eyes making the usual measurements and judgements.

Starting off with exercises that insured that nobody's drawing was going to look "right" really helped. I heard quite a bit of laughter during the warm-ups and students spontaneously showed their work to friends sitting nearby.

For the final drawing, I insisted that the bike be drawn from observation but allowed imaginative elements to be introduced, as well. Elementary age students are capable of making exquisite drawings from observation but I believe the fun begins for them when they are free to invent.