Louise Nevelson Inspired Mini Assemblages - 2nd Grade
These were a lot of fun for my 2nd grade group. First I found some recycled cardboard to use as our base. I told the kids a couple weeks ahead, to look around their house for bits of stuff they didn't need: hardware, old legos, bottle caps, buttons, anything about the size of a half dollar or smaller. I also had a collection of odds and ends to choose from. We looked at Nevelson's work and I explained how she used cast offpieces of wood to create her amazing large assemblages. I encouraged them to mimic her grid style of composition with chopsticks they could break or straws they could cut to create columns and rows. Some of them got really creative, building out in a very 3 dimensional way. Lastly I spray painted them black to create the look of a Nevelson piece.
These masks were made with cardboard I pre-cut. I gave the children sponges for making geometric stamps and q-tips to make small dot designs. We talked about repetiton and symmetry (in simple terms.) We also did some oil pastel and paint scratch art at the tops. I created holes and tied rafia.
