Arpillera Inspired Landscapes (Kindergarten)

     It's not really a secret (at least not in my own head!) that I have a huge art teacher crush on Cassie Stephens. Her blog is fantastic and I hereby command everyone to go check her out immediately because she is the well dressed, funky fabulous art teacher we all dream of being. So when I chanced upon her Chilean Arpillera inspired 2nd grade lesson on Pinterest I was like ERMAHGERD ALL OF THIS RIGHT NOW. But! My 2nd graders were deep in the mountains of Panama exploring Molas-there was no time to travel to Chile! Then a thought struck me: kindergarten. 

     Of course! My brilliant little kinders could definitely pull this off, such famous last words. Seriously, it was great and I'm pretty sure I learned more than they did. 

     First off, aprilleras are stunning pieces of fiber folk art from the Andes and to learn more about them, check out this prezi by Cassie Stephens. I know she is AH-MAZ-ING, I'm pretty sure she figured out how to live in a reality of 28 hour days because seriously, how does she have time for this? I didn't end up using the prezi for my kinders because it was geared for a slightly older audience, but I was able to modify the information for 5 year old brains and they were excited! I was excited! We were all excited! And then we made textured paper. 

     I have 30 minute class periods but I have the rare advantage of seeing my students every day, so we can get more than you'd expect accomplished in a week. 

• Class One: Textured Paper! I ran through this like a drill sergeant. Smocks! Trays! Paint! Brushes! Texture tools (tooth brush, fork, sponges, etc)! BEGIN! I have never seen my kiddos have so much fun as they did when I let them go (kind of) wild on some paper with some paint. 

• Class Two: Making Mountains! We ripped, we tore, we conquered the Andes mountains all while talking about foreground, middleground, and background. 

• Class Three and Four: Decorate Them Mountains! In Cassie Stephen's lesson she had her students make origami houses and it was too adorable to pass up. Plus origami is great for those little fine motor skills. I took two class periods to let them decorate their mountains and traveled around from table to table helping each group make their houses. I had a few exceptional students who needed no help from me, but most of my students needed some extra assistance on the final fold to make the roof. 

• Class Five: Make Some Holes, Sew Some Yarn! I punched the holes in the each landscape myself and my wrist still hasn't forgiven me, but it was much easier than if I'd tried to have my kiddos do it. Such tiny hands! Sewing yarn through the holes to create a border was one of the hardest things for them to do. We take that kind of coordination for granted as adults!

Arpillera Inspired Landscapes Achievement Unlocked!

     During that week I pulled more than a few clumps of my hair out because at first I kept comparing my students' artwork to the beautiful artwork I saw on the original lesson. I'm disappointed to admit it wasn't until around Day Three when I was suddenly hit in the face with some truth. This project is not for me and it's not about how aesthetically pleasing I find their work. It's about my kinder babies and their development as brilliant artists. How can they discover their sense of pride and creativity if I'm telling them where to put their mountains and which colors work well together? This is about them and they were fabulous. 

Paper Molas (1st and 2nd Grade)

As we travel around the world, my students and I are stopping to visit Central and South America starting with Panama! I admittedly was not as well versed in the art of Latin America as I should've been before I began this adventure and then I discovered the molas of the Guna people. 

The word "mola" in Gulegaya, the language of the Guna people, means "shirt" or "clothing" and the mola itself is a beautifully decorated cloth panel heavily influenced by the flora and fauna of Panama. 

The vivid colors and bold lines of these cloth masterpieces had me like what! I knew I had to share them with my kiddos and they loved them too! My students are always impressing me, but I have to admit, they outdid themselves this time. 

On my solo travels through the wide world of the Internet, I came across many lesson plans that used the mola as a way to demonstrate or reinforce shape and cutting skills. Instead, I decided to have my students think about their pencils as a needle and thread. We wove our way through exploring line quality and decorative designs. For some of my kiddos it was a struggle to imagine a fish or bird without a "background," but as you can see they soon found the experience liberating. 

This one is particularly impressive. Notice her use of the leaves around the bird. So amazing! And from a seven year old! If only she had finished hah!

I will definitely be using this mola project in the years to come. Not only did I have a blast, my students produced some amazing work. In the future I'll give them more time! It was kind of amazing how engrossed they became and how meticulous they were- 6 and 7 year olds are not known for their attention to detail!

Happy art-ing!