I love collaborative projects in the art room. Of course, I love the students individual projects too, but seeing them work together to produce a large piece of art is so nice to do once or twice a school year! This year my students made these beautiful torn paper mosaics for a local non-profit organization's annual silent auction. The organization assists families in need in our community and so it was really meaningful to be a part of the event, in particular, because...
...some of my own students benefit from the event. My classes happen during the day in this order: 4th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, Kinder. We began the projects early in the morning with 4th and worked on them all day long. It took about three days of class to finish each paper mosaic and there were eight mosaics at a time being worked on in groups of 2-4 students at all times. By the end of the third day we had these beautiful paper mosaics done! They brought $650 for the non-profit organization at the auction, so that was an added plus!
The projects were simple to make. We started with sturdy foam core board or heavy corrugated cardboard. Really, we just used what I had on hand in the art room. Then we drew the people on the boards. I circulated throughout the studio giving student groups a task to do the background, the shirt, the pants, etc. They used white school glue and glued a section at a time, probably about an 8"x8" section, finishing each section before they moved onto the next glued place. My 4th graders finished off the faces and had a lot of fun adding their own finishing touches...a flower in the hair, curled paper eye lashes, etc. We also tore paper to spell one word on each mosaic. When the mosaics were finished, we coated them with about three coats of Modge Podge to seal them.
I was just really pleased with how these turned out. The idea was born out of a desire to do something significant for the event to use as decorations, but also to sell, and that wouldn't cost me a lot of money in supplies. Also, we wanted what we did to be meaningful and tell a story. The interesting part that you may not have figured out yet is each board actually represents a family that the organization had helped throughout the year. They gave me a list of people...for example, mother with two grown sons, etc. and then we made the ages of the people fit the families that the organization had helped. We didn't worry about matching hair color, etc., but we did make an effort for the mosaics to be multi-cultural. There are so many things that could be done with this project!
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| This photo shows the paper mosaics being used as story-telling decorations, as well as for sale in the silent auction. The photos below show the finished large mosaics as well as some process photos. |
