In this “classic” Calvert project, sixth graders first
learned about the history of tessellations (and artist M.C. Escher, who is
famous for his unique tessellations like the one pictured here) before creating one of their own.
Tessellations, which have been around for thousands of years, are a special
kind of pattern/design made from repeating shapes called polygons (closed shapes with three or more sides). In tessellation designs, congruent polygons fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces that repeat again and again- they could go on forever! Students painted their unique tessellation designs using acrylic paint in a warm or cool color scheme of their choice.
I loooooove this project!!!! A question for you, they did their tessellation on one paper and their selfies on another paper, correct? Was the portrait cut out and pasted on top of the tessellation? Thanks for your help :)
ReplyDeleteI am wondering the same thing.
DeleteYes- two sheets of paper, cut out and glued on top!
DeleteWhat kind of photo editing program did you use to get the photos to look like that?
ReplyDeleteI don't! I take a photo of each student with a spotlight pointing to one side of their face. Then I just upload the pics and use a projector to project them onto the paper. We just trace the dark and light shapes on the photo. I am sure you could edit them in Photoshop or something to reduce them to just two values or something, but we just use the real pic and separate the values ourselves!
DeleteHow did that work logistically with the projector? Did you have more than one? What did other students do while someone was using a projector?
ReplyDeleteThey are all working on painting their tessellations while they come up one at a time to do their face tracing. I only have one projector. We can usually have 4 kids trace in a 45 minute class period
DeleteHello, I am a first year art teacher. I am wondering what kind of paper you are painting on here? Are you using acryilc paint?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Just my regular 18x24 white sulphite drawing paper that I use for all our art projects. Yes, acrylic paint- I order from Sax and use their "True Flow" half gallons for this project
DeleteLOVING this project! Looking for a bit of advice if I try it. My class sizes range from 28-32 students per class. If I have the students work on a smaller scale (i.e., 12x18), do you think it would be possible to get at least 5 to 6 students' portraits traced per class? Any problem areas I might run into with large class sizes?
ReplyDeleteyou could probably get that many traced- but some of the details in the teeth, eyes, etc, might be pretty tricky that small. Even with my 18x24 paper size, the kids end up using these teensy little detail brushes for those areas...
DeleteIm curious about the spotlight and photo method. Just like a flashlight? Shine it on one side... take the pic.. and then you use a projector to shine it on paper... correct? do you put th epic on your computer and then shine it on the board?
ReplyDeleteyes, exactly. I use a little clip on spotlight lamp that I also use in the classroom to shine light/shadow on still life setups. A flashlight would totally work- you could just get another student to hold it while you take photos.
DeleteYes, Just used a regular projector to shine it right onto the board where I hung the paper to trace.
what was your process to get them to do the tessellations? Thanks
ReplyDeleteWe used the process from the book called "Tessellations : The History and Making of Symmetrical Designs" by Pam Stephens and Jim McNeill. There is also an accompanying video. I am sure you could just do a simple Google search! We used 4" squares, 3x5" rectangles or hexagons that I cut by hand (I used triangle graph paper to create it). I suggest sticking to squares to start.
Deletethis is brilliant. Did the students do the portrait on a separate page to their backgrounds and cut and stick the portraits to the background?
ReplyDeleteyes, exactly
DeleteLove this idea! What kind of angle did you use for the light?
ReplyDeleteWhichever angle produces the right amount of shadow on half the face! Usually just shining the light directly from one side to make sure half the face is lit and half isn’t
DeleteThank you for this project idea. I have yet to teach how to do a tessellation project. This is a very cool way to do a portrait project too. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks- good luck with it!
DeleteIs there any artist to whom I can connect this concept for artist study
ReplyDeleteI taught the kids about the history of tessellations in ancient Rome and Islamic art, such as the decorative tiling of the Alhambra palace. I also familiarized them with 20th century artist M.C. Escher who was well known for his tessellation designs.
DeleteOnce when teaching this project, we patterned the tessellations and had them overlap onto parts of the portrait, similar to Kehinde Wiley's portraits.
What’s the average amount of time for a student to complete the project?
ReplyDelete