I would like to share my experience in conducting a fresco painting workshop for a group of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.

The idea for the workshop came about after the students returned from an educational trip to Europe, where they saw first had the frescos in the Sistine Chapel, and also in the Basillica at Assissi.

Knowing of my painting background, the school approached me to conduct the workshop. At the time, I had never painted a fresco, although I had read about the technical aspects of the process. So it was an entirely new experience for me as well!

My first problem was locating lime plaster, I couldn’t find any. And I didn’t have 6 months to 3 years to slake any either. I ended up using a commercial product, sold by the Sidney Harbor Paint Company in Studio City, California. The product is called “fresco”, it was a lime based wall covering, but it was not pure lime. However, it was all I had, so that’s what we used. Sidney Harbor also sold lime based paints, so we used those as well.

The students painted their frescos onto the backs of 12” x 12” ceramic tiles, that had been soaked in water overnight. The first week I had them put on a float coat, the lime product – sand proportions were guestimated, using paint stirrers to apply and smooth the mixture.

The following week we applied an intonacco, again the lime product – sand proportions were guestimated. After waiting for the plaster to set up, the students all commenced with the painting. I am happy to report that “frescos” were a success. The plaster mixture adhered very well to the tile, and the paint absorbed well into the surface. Six months later, the colors have developed well, although on most of them there were surface cracks.

The important thing is that the students actually participated in the fresco painting process. The materials were not perfect, but they did create some wonderful works of art. And it absolutely gave them a strong appreciation for the work that Michelangelo and Giotto did, they learned that fresco is an involved process, and they also had a lot of fun.

Now that I have participated in two of Ilia Anossov’s fresco workshops, and have learned about the proper tools, materials, and techniques for buon fresco, I am looking forward to repeating the workshop this year.

Mickey Bond

Hi Mickey,

I am a 5th grade teacher in Los Angeles, and I would love to teach my kids how to paint fresco. However, I'm not much of an artist myself. In reading your post, I had a few questions for you:

1. What is a "float coat"? (i.e how is it applied, how thick, etc.?)
2. What is an "intonacco"? (same as above)
3. What do you mean when you say "sand proportions"?

I apologize for my naiveté, but like I said, I'm not much of an artist, just interested in exposing my students to lots of different styles of art. If there are any references you can point me to that explain the basics of painting fresco, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Scot Oschman

LAST EDITED ON 20-Mar-02 AT 10:13 AM (PST)
 
Dear Scot!

TrueFresco.com offers a "Discover Fresco Workshop for Children" Kit.
This Kit comes with the following:

11 of 12"X12" Fresco Tiles
*
2 pounce wheels
*
10LB ready to use
intonaco fresco plaster
*
5 ready to use non-toxic fresco paints in paste form
*
15 brushes
*
dusting cloth with dusting powder
*
tracing paper
*
printed instructions
*
video of studio's children workshop
*
trowel

This is all you need to run the workshop - it is easy after watching the video.

Since you are in LA you can pick up the kit at our Downtown studio where we can show "how to" to you in person.

For pricing info and more go to
http://www.truefresco.com/workshop/children

you can call our office at (310) 337-2783

Thank you so much for the quick reply! As I have 32 students in my class, the kits are going to be out of my price range, unfortunately. Do you sell the video and/or instruction manual separately? Our school just doesn't have the budget for this type of thing now, but I'd really like to do some fresco paintings with the students.

Thanks again,

Scot Oschman

If you look at the pricing options the cost per child is around $15.00 - not to much considering that children will paint real frescoes.
By all means this cost should be passed on to parents.
If your school is in low income area contact our office - TrueFresco.com sponsors "Discover Fresco" workshops for under privileged children. So it might cost nothing at all.

Parents are giving the children for lease or they are selling them. what is meant by frescoes. What I understood was that the things prepared by the children would be kept in the workshops.
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john

it's is upto the class what to do with frescoes.

what do you mean leasing/selling children - is that what your company does? i removed the link until we clear that.