Frottage Landscape Collage: Easy Soft Pastel Art Lesson for Beginners

I teamed up with ACMI (Art and Creative Materials Institute) for this lesson to tell you more about their safety seals. This lesson is perfect for the start of the school year because it is easy and approachable. You can tailor the lesson for students 7th-12th grade.  Get the full lesson plan and step by step video tutorial here. 

ACMI Safety Seals

You’ve probably seen the ACMI safety seals on the back of your art supplies but you might not know what they mean. ACMI (The Art and Creative Materials Institute) works with board certified toxicologists to test the safety of art supplies. These seals indicate that the materials are safe for consumers when used as directed. The AP (Approved Product) seal indicates that the product is non-toxic when used as intended and can be safely used with children. Look for the AP seal when working with students 6th grade and younger. The CL (Cautionary Label) is for products that can be safely used with students 7th grade and older when used as directed, never use a product with a CL seal with a student younger than 7th grade. 
I teamed up with ACMI to create this lesson (full lesson plan and video tutorial) for the start of the 2022 school year. Since I’m a high school teacher I designed a lesson for 7th grade-12 grade using both AP and CL labeled products. The seals make it easy for teachers and parents to know that the materials they choose for their students and children are safe. For more detailed information about the safety seals check out the ACMI website. 

What is Frottage?

Frottage is a drawing technique popularized by Surrealist artists of the early 20th century where the artist creates a rubbing of a textured surface using a pencil, crayon or other drawing tool. ​

Frottage by Surrealist artist Max Ernst

Why Chalk Pastels/Soft Pastels for the start of the school year?

Chalk (soft) pastels are easy to use, they come in a variety of bold colors and are approachable for beginners because they are similar to sidewalk chalk. I like to use the frottage or rubbing technique because it gets students to see everyday objects in a new way- as textured surfaces they can use in a work of art. This lesson also doesn’t require a lot of specialized drawing skills so even students new to art can feel successful, but it is still challenging for experienced students. 

Skills Covered in the Lesson:

In this easy chalk pastel lesson for beginners, students will learn to notice the textures in objects in their everyday life. They will learn the basics of pictorial space: foreground, middle ground and background and how to use contrast in their compositions to create dimension. This lesson could also be used to explore color schemes. Students will have to plan out their design and work through a process to glue the pieces of their college in the correct order to create the layers of the landscape. ​

Materials

Here's a link to the products I like to purchase for this lesson

• Chalk pastels
• Spray fixative
• Spray glue
• Spray adhesive
• Colored paper
• Tissue paper
• Drawing paper
• Textured materials for frottage rubbings (leaves, bubble wrap,plastic items, coins, metal grates)