Oh, What a Crayon Can Do! According to the Crayola website (2015), Binney & Smith created the first set of Crayola crayons in 1903. The first box had 8 different colored crayons: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, and black. As of 2015, there are over 120 different colors to choose from. You can even customize a 64 count box (Crayola, 2015). Since their creation, crayons have been found their way into art classrooms across the United States and the world. Artists from preschool age to grown adults have used crayons to produce quality artwork. The medium is not just for filling in coloring pages, but can also blend, melt, and enhance paintings. In my research I have found a wide variety of techniques that crayons can be used for. I have found examples of artwork from a range of ages from four to sixty-eight. Perhaps the first thing that very young children learn is something that we often take for granted, namely they learn that they can, in fact, create images with material, and that the activity of making such images can provide intrinsic forms of satisfaction. (Eisner, 1978, p. 6) The simple medium of a crayon can provide children with the opportunity to create artwork from a very young age. With it’s paper covering, inexpensive and easy availability, and washability, even an infant can experience the satisfaction of mark making. The youngest artist in my research collection is 4 years old. Her name is Grae and she lives in Kuwait. Figure 1: Leaf Rubbing Collage by Grae. 2014 Her artwork is of leaf rubbings (Figure 1). She collected leaves with her mother, placed the leaves under her paper, and rubbed the crayon on the paper. The impressions that are left are the veins of the leaf. Eisner’s observation of “intrinsic forms of satisfaction” rings true in a project like this. I have used this activity in my classroom and have seen the satisfaction among my Kindergarten and First Grade classes.
Figure 2: Untitled by Justin. 2015
Justin, a Kindergartener from Savannah, Georgia, used crayons in a Picasso-esque artwork (Figure 2). Along with his classmates, Justin drew a face and torso on a large piece of paper, drew facial features on a separate paper, cut them out and glued them on their original portrait work. Collage is a
great way to spice up a crayon project. “Much of children’s artwork reflects their growing propensity to depict subject matter in realistic or conventional terms…” (Louis, 2005, p. 347) Harley, a Third grader from Montana, depicts her subject matter as realistic as she can (Figure 3). Harley’s crayon drawing may seem simple. She created this work during a free draw time where she could draw whatever came to mind. Harley drew herself standing next to a flower, Figure 3: Untitled by Harley. 2014 and her art teacher as a feminine version of Thor. Harley was trying for visual realism in her drawing. Walter is a Fourth grader from Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. He drew a purple crayon that filled his large paper. To achieve a realistic drawing, Walter uses layers and values of purple to show the light and shadows on the crayon. These two examples show students working with a medium that is flexible and can help them work at their artistic development. Most of us know that crayons are good for drawings and can be layered to achieve great results. I found Figure 4: Untitled by Emily. 2015 some uses for crayons in artwork that went beyond a doodle. Emily, an Eighth grader from Fort Myers, Florida melted some blue crayons on a paper (Figure 4). The meltings resembled water being blown out by a whale. Her artwork uses crayons in a non-traditional way.
Figure 5: Lion by Cameron Milton. 2015
Cameron Milton, an adult artist from Washington took it a step further and created this lion with melted crayon (Figure 5). The texture that he creates reminds me of Jackson Pollack’s paintings. There are layers of crayon to achieve this crayon “painting”.
Another use for crayons is as a watercolor resist. The wax of the crayon repels the water of the watercolor paints and can make for a wonderfully fun project. This unknown artist used a white crayon to create the raindrops and ripples for a rain storm (Figure 6). The blue and black paint fill in the rest, but the white remains. Then, a prepared bunny is placed in the spring rain. Using crayon as a watercolor resist is not only fun, but can also demonstrate the principle that “Knowledge is constructed” (Eisner, 1987, p. 253). Most, if not all, of my students had never experienced this form of art making until I chose to demonstrate the technique in my classroom. Crayons and watercolors are easy and inexpensive art media, so my Figure 6: Untitled by Unkown. 2015 budget can afford to have my students participate in this process. While researching crayon artwork, etchings were a very common use for crayons. These etchings are created with layers of crayons. The first provides the color, the second provides your black etching surface. As the black is scraped away, the color is then revealed. Karron, in Seventh grade from Shreveport, Louisiana, used crayon etching to draw his two favorite football teams. His doesn’t use black, but a variety of colors to over over his base colors. As the colors are scratched away, his artwork reveals the Louisiana State University Tigers and the New Orleans Saints represented in his artwork. Figure 7: Untitled by Karron. 2014
Ellie, a high schooler from Asheville, North Carolina, used the etching technique to master texture and depth of field in her underwater scene (Figure 8). Austin, a Senior from Tallahassee, Florida, worked with the black to portray values on his octopus (Figure 9). With careful precision, Austin was successful in creating a high quality artwork with the simple medium of crayons. “Work in the arts, in sum, provides children with the opportunity to develop the sensibilities that make
Figure 8: Untitled by Ellie. 2015
aesthetic awareness of the world possible� (Eisner, 1978, p. 10) Crayons will continue to be used by all ages, but their potential has been realized by artists all over the world. Minnie Evans was one artist who mastered crayon artwork (Figure 10). The opportunities are endless. Crayons have been around for 112 years. Have we tapped into all they can do, or is this just the beginning? Be sure to see the other possibilities of crayon on my Pinterest board. The link is below. Figure 9: Squid Dreams by Austin. 2015
Figure 10: Untitled (Faces at Median) by Minnie Evans. 1960
Pinterest board link: https://www.pinterest.com/njones1219/possibilities-of-crayon Website: http://njonesart.weebly.com/projects.html
References Austin (2015). Squid Dreams [Crayon Engraving]. Florida State University School, Tallahassee, FL. Artsonia. Crayola. (n.d.). History. Retrieved May 18, 2015, from http://www.crayola.com/about-us/ company/history.aspx Eisner, E. (1978). What do children learn when they paint? Art Education, 31(3), 6-10. Emily (2015). Untitled [Melted Crayon and Crayon]. St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, Fort Myers, FL. Artsonia. Evans, M. (1960). Untitled (Faces at Median) [Crayon]. Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY. artnet.com Grae. (2014, September 29). Leaf Rubbing Collage. Retrieved from http:// mamapapabubba.com/2014/09/29/leaf-rubbing-collages/#_a5y_p=2704684 Harley (2014), Free Draw [Crayon]. Foothills Community Christian School, Great Falls, MT. Justin (2015). Untitled [Crayon and Collage]. Marshpoint Elementary, Savannah, GA. Artsonia. Karron (2014). Untitled [Oil Pastel and Crayon Etching]. Caddo Middle Magnet, Shreveport, LA. Artsonia. Louis, L. L. (2005). What children have in mind: A study of early representational development in paint. Studies in Art Education, 46(4), 339-355. Milton, C. (2015). Lion [Melted Crayon]. Pasco, WA. Etsy. Walter (2015). Untitled [Crayon]. Kerby Elementary School, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI. Artsonia.