Waldorf Walls: Color and the Lazure Technique
Growing up attending a Waldorf school, one of the things I would look forward to most at the end of the year was the excitement of getting to move into a new classroom the following year. The next grade always felt so much more cool, and moving to a new classroom meant moving into a room of a new color!
If you've attended a Waldorf school, or have had a child attend one, you may have also noticed that each grade's classroom walls were a different color. If you've traveled and visited other Waldorf schools, you may have noticed that their classrooms were different colors too, and that generally they were the same color as the classrooms of your local Waldorf school.
This has to do with the Steiner's color theory, and his indications on how color impacts us. As I discuss in this episode with my guest, Charles Andrade, the featured colors on each classroom's walls is just one way Steiner's color theory impacts the lazure painting technique in Waldorf schools.
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Artist and Master Lazurist, Charles Andrade developed his painting style out of his initial training in Anthroposophic art therapy, which he studied at the Tobias School for Art in England and through color theorist, Liane Collot d’Herbois. He was also schooled in the art of Lazure, a unique wall treatment that creates healing interior environments. Charles has been professionally Lazuring and teaching Lazure workshops in over 60 Waldorf Schools worldwide including schools in North America, Europe, India and New Zealand. He has owned and operated Lazure Custom Wall Designs for over 25 years - a mural and decorative painting business, specializing in Lazure for schools, businesses and homes. Additionally, he lectures, teaches fine art classes, veil painting and offers Lazure workshops worldwide. He is currently working on a collaborative book project about all aspects of Lazure and recently created a popular DIY Lazure kit with custom Lazure brushes and colors along with an instructional online video available on his website: www.lazure.com
As mentioned above, Charles is a master Lazurist. In the episdoe we discuss Steiner's indictaions for painters, as well as how the first Waldorf classrooms were painted, also as indicated by Steiner. Charles has also taught art in a Waldorf school and beyond explaining why Waldorf classroom walls are painted using the Lazure technique, we also talk about how art is introduced through the grades and how that meets the child developmentally. Towards the end of the episode Charles and I talk about how he uses the Lazure technique in homes and how he'll use colors that suit the needs of individual spaces, and those living in the home. I already want to Lazure the walls of my home now!
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For more about Charles and his work, and if you're interested in booking a Lazure workshop, visit www.lazure.com
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