Texture Self Portraits

For the first unit of the year, we started exploring how artists can cut and arrange paper shapes to make a picture or design called a COLLAGE.  Students carefully examined, compared and contrasted artists Jacob Lawrence, Frida Kahlo, and Faith Ringgold.  

Self Portrait with Necklace of Thorns, 1940 Frida Kahlo

Self Portrait, 1977 Jacob Lawrence

We concluded that all three artists created work that told a story about him or herself and their interests.  Students spent the first two days creating their bodies out of paper shapes, scissors, and glue, trying their best to have their pictures resemble their face and body.  Next, we defined TEXTURE as how something feels and chose a variety of textured papers and fabrics to add to our art.  Students were encouraged to add something to their work that helps tell the viewer something about them self or what they like to do.  Lastly, similar to artist Faith Ringgold, we used the printmaking method of stamping different objects to create a shiny frame for our beautiful collages.

Student Examples

Shopping at the material store

Stamping their borders

School display

Free Form Shape Mobile Installation

Second grade culminated their unit working with paper, by creating these free form shape mobiles. In preparation for these paper mobiles, we examined Brooklyn based artist Mia Pearlman and her vast use of paper to create installations (defined as art created for a specific space) inspired by weather patterns. Students learned a variety of paper sculpture techniques and created two types of paper sculptures using a base. The following class we compared French artist Henri Matisse with American artist Alexander Calder and discussed how both of their artworks incorporated shapes hard to describe and often seen in nature.  We defined those types of shapes as FREE FORM and compared them to other shapes such as GEOMETRIC and SYMBOLS.  Next, we used Matisse’s method of drawing with scissors, which he became very interested in during the last part of his life when confined to a wheelchair.  

With created a variety of FREE FORM SHAPES with our scissors by curving or point the edges of our geometric shapes and even adding some NEGATIVE SPACE with some cut outs.  The last part of this project, was to attach them to a string so they could become mobiles.  After closely observing the “father of mobiles” Alexander Calder, we defined a mobile as a type of KINETIC ART (ART THAT MOVES).  Our finished free form shape mobiles were combined to form an installation that hung in our halls. This art piece is also a test for how much self control our little ones have when passing it by in the halls.  

Mia Pearlman

The Creole Dance, Henri Matisse, 1950

Fish, Alexander Calder 1944