It’s that family time of year, so we thought it would be nice for Christmas to return to the pupils of Maryland Primary School in London to show some of the final pieces from their Op Art project.  The junior Op Artists here are all 4 years old.

Each piece is shown alongside the Bridget Riley work it was based on.  The italic text is a description from Dale (the teacher who helped the children to create the pieces).

Movement in Squares

“We made ‘Movement in Squares’ by cutting squares of black sugar paper and sticking on to white paper.  The children cut strips from the squares, making them progressively smaller.”

Composition with Circles

“We recreated ‘Composition with Circles’ using a cup to print with black paint.”

Shadow Play

“Shadowplay was made on a large scale.  Every child drew around a template on to a colour of their choice.  They then cut them out and we assembled a whole class picture.”

Fall

“Fall’ was created by cutting our own stencils, then drawing around them numerous times to create the repeating pattern.”

Two Blues

“We created 2 blues by cutting shapes from 2 different shades of blue and arranging them on white paper. 2 oranges was our version of 2 blues.  We printed different shades of orange and arranged them in to a whole class ‘fire’ picture for bonfire night.”

Thanks once again to Dale, Lorraine and all the children of Maryland Primary School for making this project happen and Happy Christmas to everybody!

The latest additions to the Op Art Gallery are the work of 71 year old Op Artist Terry Healy.

“I have always been interested in art and started drawing at a very early age but it was not until the late 1960’s that I really started to paint in Oils.   I was always interested in geometry and when I first saw the paintings of Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley everything clicked into place and I started experimenting with my own ideas.

It took sometime before my own ideas really took hold and putting them into practice was yet another learning curve namely with light, shade, perspective and colour and I am constantly learning new ways to express what I have learned over the years into my new work.   Now that modern computers give us such a rich colour palette this extends not only the ideas but colour too and one can achieve these ideas very quickly and my new works ‘Xroads’ and ‘Kinetica 34’ expresses these graphically.   Complex variations are quickly achieved which otherwise would take days to draw and colour  are almost infinite in there variations.   The programme I use is Photoshop and I have yet to find another one that enables me to achieve my ideas.   I have also been involved in Graphic design for many years designing anything from Album/CD covers to leaflets and again with modern computers ideas and variation are endless and quickly produced.

I have no formal training even though I wanted to go to Art College but other commitments denied me that opportunity.”

All images copyright Terry Healy.

Collections: 

Bradford University

Leeds Grammar School

Stanley Burton

Simcron Architects, Cleckheaton.

Exhibitions: 

Leeds Art Gallery ( Art Group) 1971/1976

Yorkshire Artists Exhibition 1971

One Man Show – Swarthmore Educational Centre 1972

West Riding Exhibition, Wakefield 1973

Sheffield Open Art Exhibition 1974

Bradford University 1976

Aside from his love of Op Art, Terry is a huge music fan, with tastes ranging from ambient through to blues, rock, Delta Blues, Trance, and 1940’s.  Terry has his own small recording studio as he used to mix for local bands.  Another great thing about Terry is that he has a pub in his basement overlooking the garden with a jukebox and sound system.  Excellent!