My students were given a 5" X 5" square of foam core and some National Geographic and Arizona Highways magazines. They were instructed to find a full page landscape scene to be used for their background. When they found a page that they liked, they traced their foam core onto the page, then cut the square out of the magazine page and glued it onto their foam core.
The next step was to find and cut out interesting images. A small ziplock snack bag with their name on it is useful to store images until the next class. When they had a variety of images, students then arranged them in different ways before gluing them onto their foam core to discover what worked best.
After gluing the magazine images onto their foam core, students embellished their collage with yarn, beans, glass beans, sequins, and a final coat of mod podge.
I started this project by showing my students photographs of some indigenous people of Panama and their famous textiles known as MOLAS. We discussed reverse applique as it is used in the making of a mola and the hard work that it requires. Each student in the fourth grade made their own version of a mola using construction paper, then my early finishers made an oversized paper mola. I hung their work for everyone to see and enjoy.
My Hopi students almost always infuse some aspect of their culture into their artwork. I love to see where they take their projects. In the large bird posted here, you can see a turquoise necklace, a feather on a headband, and tootsies or moccasins on the feet of the bird. The large piece is framed by a border of geometric designs frequently found in Hopi art (other tribes too).
Excellent Work Fourth Grade!
