Westridge Upper School Painting & Drawing Gets Messy with Artist-in-Residence Lila de Magalhaes

Fresh off Spring Break, this week Upper School Art Teacher Roni Shneior’s Painting & Drawing class dove into a new project guided by guest artist-in-residence Lila de Magalhaes.

De Magalhaes, a Los Angeles-based mixed media artist who will spend several class periods with the students over the coming week, demonstrated a fun (and messy!) tie dye technique in her initial visit that will serve as the foundation of their project. Using upcycled bedsheets, students will make unique, dyed fabric canvases on which they will create their own pastel paintings.

The tie dye technique, de Magalhaes explained to students, served as a way for her to push against her own tendency toward perfectionism in her art. “A white canvas forces us, sometimes, to come with a plan of what we’re going to paint,” added Shneior. “So the idea here is to make a mess and use the tie dye to start the painting. This way we’re finding shapes and colors that inspire us to create a new thing—shapes we didn’t plan or have full control over how they were going to come out.”

De Magalhaes showed students how to wrap string/rubber bands around the fabric and dip them in large buckets of hand-mixed dye to create colorful patterns. Click here to view more photos.

Westridge School, 324 Madeline Drive, Pasadena, (626) 799-1053 ext. 200 or visit www.westridge.org.