Airbrushing at Fairhills

Airbrushing

Fairhills High School has incorporated a Semester course teaching students how to airbrush amazing creations, learning basic control skills with the use of stencils to create firstly a lamp illustration and then moving on to more challenging media to produce Batman. We aim to bring in outside influences that are relevant to the students with the next part of the course focusing on Stencil Street Art that has been made famous by Banksy, a mystery artist producing murals on walls in America. After producing the stencil street art project of Elvis, students will then choose their own portrait to be turned into stencil street art, which they will airbrush themselves. 

Later on in the subject, we will move on to airbrushing caps and T-shirts with cartoon designs that students can wear. We will be working with paints specific to cotton that do not wash out, with the ability for students to look at marketing their productions to the public. 

The course begins with students working at tables to airbrush, but quickly moves to the professional easels that are set up in the classroom. Students are also taught how to take care of and clean an airbrush and troubleshooting problems that commonly occur with the airbrushes. They then have the ability to continue their learning with Airbrush Venturi in their own time, during classes that run in School Holidays or on a Wednesday evening at Fairhills High School, enabling them to develop their skills to the point they can produce freehand airbrushing artworks without the need for stencils. Some of these works, such as the Tiger, can be seen in the Foyer of the Office area at Fairhills High School.

I have been teaching students of all ages to airbrush for over 10 years with Airbrush Venturi, and have also had many years experience teaching Maths and Science in the Secondary School system. I love airbrushing as it can be taught to anyone who has the will to listen and learn - the most amazing part is you do not need to have an artistic background - I certainly don't!! The method taught has been extensively researched, tried and tested for over 25 years. I have personally airbrushed a great many things, from my children's bedroom walls and ceilings, to cars, to signs, to T-shirts and caps, to standard picture frames, to beds, to people (body art and temporary tattoos) to 10m wide x 5m high murals and backgrounds for many school productions and even cakes! You are limited only to your imagination which is what I love most!

But the best part is, watching students produce amazing artworks that surprise them every time, as they did not expect to be able to create such spectacular artworks with such little effort!

Elli Burdan.