Lines and Circles

The inspiration for this project came from a couple of places. I first became aware of the circle designs of Kaffe Fassett in my knitting and quilt making years ago. He actually works in many varied media now. See his website here. I knew I wanted 4th

graders to work with similar circle designs. Then I saw a line project at Artsonia ( Elsmere Elementary School, Delmar, New York) that I thought would go well with our circles. See their projects here.

We have been working on complementary colors and many of my students are still working on mastering the concept, so this will help to reinforce that.

We'll start by choosing 2 construction paper strips that are complementary colors (opposites on the color wheel) and carefully fold them in half lengthwise.

Next, students will make cuts along one side ONLY to the fold.

They will fold the flaps alternately in opposite directions, keeping the two colors together.

We'll use white glue on each flap.

I am asking students to start their line at any edge and make it curve.  Any additional lines must also start at an edge and touch another line.  I am trying to avoid random, floating lines and set up a connected design.

Finally, children will use a black marker to draw a circle design, starting in the center and working outward.  I am asking that they use the colors in one of their lines in their circle design.  Actually, I am hoping that we can accomplish all this in our 50 minute session, but realistically, I am not sure that everyone will get to the circle part. But, we'll see!! I thought this was fun to make. It actually got me started making mandala designs in my own art journal. I hope the class will like it as much as I did!!