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Awesome autumn cut-ups
Arts & Activities, Oct, 2007 by Paula Guhin
Fall is the perfect time of the year to create boo-tiful kaleidoscopes. Your students will find this engaging activity so much fun it's almost scary! If Halloween is off-limits at your school, consider a harvest theme using motifs of colorful fall leaves, sheaves of wheat, gourds, apples and more.
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But for those who can employ ghosts, bats, black cats and jack-o'-lanterns, this is a goodie for all your little goblins to undertake. I found it flexible enough to be age-appropriate for upper-elementary students, middle-schoolers and beginners in high school.
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AHEAD OF TIME Select an assortment of bright art paper or construction paper in oranges, browns, yellows, reds, golds, gray, black and white. The more colors students can choose from, the more varied and unique the finished works. Cut the paper into 6- and 9-inch squares, enough for at least three or four pieces per student.
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GETTING STARTED Demonstrate folding a square twice--a 6-inch piece becomes a 3-inch square--and drawing a shape on it so big that it "touches" the sides of the square. It's especially important that the design goes right off the two folded sides. Explain that you're creating "hinges" on those two sides that will hold the shape together later.
Draw a model on the blackboard and pass around another example for the students to examine. Walk around the room and check students' work as they draw, say, a fat spider or pumpkin. When you're satisfied that the shapes will hang together when cut and unfolded, ask the students to proceed without cutting the folded hinges.
If your students are mature enough to handle craft knives properly, ask them to cut out openings within the shape to add interest to their work. (Remind them to keep their non-cutting hand out of harm's way!) Eyeholes, mouths and other open-work make the finished work more lacy and appealing. The square must remain folded when such details are cut, so students must press hard through all four layers of paper. Place an old magazine beneath the work to protect the tabletop.
FINISHING Young artists are surprised when they open their folded cut paper at how remarkably different the pattern looks when compounded. You can dazzle them by producing another such design--one created similarly but of another size and color--and overlapping it behind or in front of the first. Generally, designs with more "holes" look better arranged in front of more solid shapes.
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Finally, use an un-cut 9- or 12-inch square of yet another color as a background. Encourage students to plan first and glue later. If they rotate the pieces and try different layer combinations, they're sure to orchestrate a pleasing arrangement.
Additional accents can be used to enhance the works. Small yellow paper pieces might be slipped behind a black cat's eyeholes before gluing, for example. Or crescent moons could embellish a design at the four corners. Older students and gifted younger ones should add more layers to increase the complexity of their work.
"Boos and ghouls" (urn, boys and girls) of all ages enjoy and succeed at this project, so be sure to add it to your bag of tricks. It's a treat, and others viewing your display of such spirited work will find it frightfully clever.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upper-elementary to high-school students will ...
* combine colors and values in an aesthetically pleasing manner. practice using craft knives, scissors and glue safely, neatly and responsibly.
* create original works that are symmetrical and complex.
MATERIALS
* Pencils
* Scissors
* Construction paper
* Craft knives
* Old magazines
* Glue
Paula Guhin is now retired from teaching art at Central High School in Aberdeen, S.D., and serves as a Contributing Editor for Arts & Activities.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Publishers' Development Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
