Stencil Wall Art
This work was produced by students of Gill Mercer in Beijing, China
The gallery of completed stencil artworks can be found below the written text. The photos take a few seconds to download.
Grade 10 students at Beijing BISS International School are studying Visual Arts in the IB (International Baccalaureate) MYP (Middle Years Program). This program expects students to develop knowledge and understanding about the Art forms studied and be able to investigate and write about Art using appropriate terminology related to the Art Elements and the Principles of Art.
These students studied different forms of “Wall Art” throughout the ages, to find out how and why humans expressed themselves in this way. This included aspects of Prehistoric cave art, Roman mosaics, Italian Frescoes, Mexican Revolutionary Murals and the stencil art of Banksy and others.
For their own artwork, they were asked to investigate a social, political, personal or environmental issue that they were strongly concerned about and they would like to make a statement to make people more aware.
Brainstorming was done in words, then in images and then they put their ideas together into a composition. They then had to transfer their drawings into a stencil format using as many layers of stencil that was necessary to convey the image.
The students had to make their own “wall” out of board and paint the wall texture, as they were not allowed to paint a real wall in the school. They also had to use acrylic rather than spray paint, as the only spray paints available in China are extremely toxic.
The students also were asked to reflect on the process and evaluate the final artwork in terms of the impact it had on the viewers.
These works can be cross-referenced to the file on street artist Banksy found under Exhibitions in the Main Menu on the Home Page.
You can leave a comment in the space provided below and/or offer to contribute examples of your own student works on any theme.
Janey Lin. 2011.
Michael Jackson\'s life was ruined by fame and fortune.
Christine Chiang. 2011.
The planet is being consumed but money and power are more important to some.
Hend Al-Mufti. 2011.
The lure of designer labels and the desire for beauty and power are all consuming in modern society.
Chloe Pack. 2011.
Young people are affected by the desire to be slim. The tape measure is the metaphor for the constraints of society.
Jee Yeon Park. 2011.
Snow White is holding a bomb. Even young girls are used as suicide bombers, not everyone is how they appear.
Yu Lynn Tan. 2011.
We have the power to save endangered species.
Ji Yoon Kim. 2011.
Many people assembling iPods in factories in China have had their health affected by poor working conditions.
Na Young Park. 2011.
This artwork is about racism and sexism and shows implications of genetic manipulations.
Jeong Min Ha. 2010
My artwork represents many people around the world who do not have access to clean drinking water and if we keep polluting we all may be drinking toxic water in the future.
Akash Dubey. 2010.
My artwork shows that eating processed food can be harmful to your health.
John Oh. 2010.
We are all puppets of society and my artwork shows a person being manipulated by the power of money.
Youn Kyoung Lee. 2010.
My artwork shows a pretty girl on a shopping trip but be careful, not all is what it appears at first, she is carrying a bomb. Even women and girls are used as suicide bombers.
Chan Woon Choi. 2010.
A scarecrow is a friendly way of distracting birds from crops but sometimes things are not always what they appear to be and pacifists can become aggressive. So, BE CAREFUL!
Nitish Joshi. 2010.
Living in China we are all aware of the restrictions on this society and there is a popular T-shirt that says I Love China. I have changed this to make a sarcastic statement about the government.
Hui Yun Jung. 2010.
My artwork is about racism. I am showing that people should not be discriminated against in any form and especially in inter cultural relationships.
Pichayut Nithagon. 2010.
The environment is the topic of my artwork, but there is hope as shown by the flower growing out of the rubbish bin.
Min Sik Park. 2010.
The fence represents many societies that are divided, especially Korea. It also shows that we can and should be able to break free of these restrictions.
Richard Lin. 2010.
Darth Vader is usually a very ferocious image. My picture shows that he also has a soft side and this means that there can be some good in everyone.
Mohammed Al-Ali. 2010.
Children are often victims of war. I am trying to show that all children have the right to be kept safe.
Kyoung Ho Kum. 2010.
Death awaits those who chase money. Money cannot buy happiness or health.
Ji Hye Kim. 2010.
My artwork shows a polar bear crying blood because of the global warming will affect his environment.
Dong Hwa Sin. 2010.
I am showing the horrors of plastic surgery. Everyone wants to look different than they are and Asian women want to look more western and many, from an early age have an eyelid operation to give them the western look of the double eyelid. We should be satisfied with what we are.
Annie Chen. 2010.
My wall artwork shows a baby who represents all the children in the world who are forced into working for little money while multinational companies, represented here by the Google sign, reap billions of dollars.
Hikaru Taniyama. 2010.
I am showing Colonel Sanders, as KFC is the most widespread fast food in China. The little skulls represent the popcorn chicken that is very popular but very poor nutritionally. I am saying that people should avoid eating processed food for the sake of their health.
Janet Ching Ting. 2010.
The birthday cake with candles represents the celebration of life while the atom bomb shows how much devastation was caused by humans. In Japan the bomb affected babies and young children.
Ji Woong Choi. 2010.
My message is about racism, which still remains despite the changes in society. It shows an evil smiling Klu Klux Klansman clutching the shoulder of an African American (maybe it is Obama).
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Great to see kids doing something worthwhile with this kind of art. Good blog for teachers.
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