we'll keep on biggering and biggering...

November 06, 2017

That's one of my favorite lines from the Lorax and I loved getting all into it with my kids at home when reading the book to them. It also suits this first week back to school project pretty well too:)

School started this week here at Zamo and we are getting back in the creative mindset. For the past 4 years I have done a collaborative art mini lesson with the upper grade students to give them a low stress opportunity to create and to go over my art room rules and expectations.

I LOVE doing these at the beginning of the year. (well, actually any time I get the chance- see my Gee's Bend and Eleanor McCain projects too:) These collaboratives really click with my love of textile design and pattern. My own work tends to swing back and forth from representational landscapes and interiors to more abstract pattern heavy colored works.

I realized on my drive home yesterday that all of these projects have had one shape in common- the circle. I also realized that they also have another cool thing in common- they have all been inspired by women artists (Lee Gainer, Georgia Gray, Lea Anderson, and now, Maritza Soto).

I came across Maritza's very cool modern take on the drunkards path quilt pattern on pinterest and immediately thought it would be a good fit for my opening week project. I decided to add a little more visual variety by quickly sharing Mexican talavera designs and talking about the repetition of line, shape, and color in them... and the presence of symmetry to boot.

Maritza Soto's modern drunken path pattern

I always focus on unity and variety with this opening project, both visual and as it relates to our student population. Each of our students have similarities with one another, but each of them brings something different and unique to the table too:)

After a quick rundown of my rules and expectations, I talk about the inspiration of the project, and then we are ready to dive into the hands on. At this point we have about 20 minutes to work!

Students fold their square paper 2 times to quarter it. I emphasize having the one fold on the left and the 2 folds on the bottom. Students then take their quarter circle stencil and trace the curve onto the folded paper. One cut on the curve later and they have a whole circle... or 2 halves, or 4 quarters, depending on whether they got the fold locations correct.

Even if they end up with 2 or 4 pieces, it's okay because they will end up cutting the circles apart in the end anyway.

Students have about 10 minutes to draw a design on their circle, trying to create something that shows symmetry. They then cut their circles into quarters, reassemble them on a white square and glue them down.

The final piece is to have students put glue on the back of their white square, decide the direction they want it to go, and glue it onto an even larger white sheet.

The final collaborative could end up any size depending on how many kids are involved and how big the original circle shapes are. I did this with all of our 4th and 5th grade classes, as well as a couple 3rd grade. Probably about 400-450 kids. I plan on assembling them in our auditorium as our stage backdrop as soon as I can. Visually, projects like this are fun because of the look from far away and the detail of the designs when you get up close.