Lesson Reflection
The focus for this lesson was on contemporary artist, El Anatsui, and non-traditional materials. Antasui’s sculptures are made from large quantities of milk tins and bottle tops that are often discarded in West Africa due to limited recycling technology. Inspired by his artistic process and social concern for environmental awareness, students used a non-traditional material found in our
culture: food packaging or chipboard. It has become a common industry practice to bag, wrap, and box many of the foods we eat. Students used chipboard as an art material to call attention to the problem of excess waste material in daily consumption. Sixth graders created concentric shape sketches on various food packaging boxes using the idea of the mandala by starting with a small shape in the center and working their way out with concentric lines. Students were allowed to choose either the printed side or the backside of the chipboard box for their final artworks. Next, students painted their concentric shapes with tints and shades of intermediate colors as we listened to African world music to help bridge our cultures. The individual pieces were then cut out and students worked as a large group to assemble the final artwork with colored wire. The concentric shapes were added to the individual artworks created by the seventh graders to create one free-form mandala.
I am very proud of this group of students. They came together in the end to form one cohesive, thought-provoking assemblage artwork and captured the true inspiration of El Anatusi! "Art grows out of each particular situation, and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up." -El Anatusi, 2003
Click a photo to enlarge.
The focus for this lesson was on contemporary artist, El Anatsui, and non-traditional materials. Antasui’s sculptures are made from large quantities of milk tins and bottle tops that are often discarded in West Africa due to limited recycling technology. Inspired by his artistic process and social concern for environmental awareness, students used a non-traditional material found in our
culture: food packaging or chipboard. It has become a common industry practice to bag, wrap, and box many of the foods we eat. Students used chipboard as an art material to call attention to the problem of excess waste material in daily consumption. Sixth graders created concentric shape sketches on various food packaging boxes using the idea of the mandala by starting with a small shape in the center and working their way out with concentric lines. Students were allowed to choose either the printed side or the backside of the chipboard box for their final artworks. Next, students painted their concentric shapes with tints and shades of intermediate colors as we listened to African world music to help bridge our cultures. The individual pieces were then cut out and students worked as a large group to assemble the final artwork with colored wire. The concentric shapes were added to the individual artworks created by the seventh graders to create one free-form mandala.
I am very proud of this group of students. They came together in the end to form one cohesive, thought-provoking assemblage artwork and captured the true inspiration of El Anatusi! "Art grows out of each particular situation, and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up." -El Anatusi, 2003
Click a photo to enlarge.