Op ArtBridget Riley

What is Op Art?

Op Art, short for Optical Art, is art that is composed to ‘fool the eye’ into thinking that a 2 dimensional drawing appears 3 dimensional.

Line, shape and color are careful chosen and precisely put together to make your brain think that the painting or drawing has movement.

It became popular in the 1960’s and is still created by artists today.

Bridget Riley“The Mother of Op-Art”

• Bridget Riley was born in 1931 in London and spent her childhood in Cornwall and Lincolnshire.

• She went to college in London from 1949 to 1955. Her first solo art show was in 1962.

Cornwall

Lincolnshire

London

Arrest 1

Pause

Cataract

Descending

Movement in Squares

Orient

Intake

Fall

Step 1Lightly trace hand with a pencil.

(Take any rings off before tracing)

Step 2Using a BLACK GEL pen, start at

the edge of the paper. Begin drawing a straight line toward your hand. When you get to your hand draw a curved line over your hand. Imagine that your pen is ‘crawling over your

hand’. After ‘crawling over your hand’ return to a straight line until you reach the other side

of the paper.

Step 3Continue drawing lines, close together up and down from

your original line. Try to keep the spacing between the lines small and even. You will see your hand start to ‘emerge’

from the paper!

Draw lines until your whole paper is covered.

Examples