Schapiro for Middle Schoolers

February 21, 2016

Schapiro for Middle Schoolers

So I wanted to do a collage project with middle school aged students that had a lot of collage elements, where they had to pay attention to details.
Miriam Schapiro was the obvious choice for their art history element. Here are some of her images for inspiration.

http://www.danspapers.com/2011/07/art-commentary-with-marion-w-weiss-2

Schapiro: I'm Dancin' as Fast as I Can, 1984

Presentation

Stepanova and Me, after Gulliver 1993

I stumbled upon this great Miriam Schapiro inspired lesson resource:
http://www.projectarticulate.org/lessons/actionFigureCollage.pdf and decided to go from there.
I used their wonderful template of a mannequin. I printed it out and then cut it out!

My students will base their collage upon a famous person or themselves whichever they prefer. I thought since Schapiro based several of her collage's on Frida Kahlo I would base mine upon my favorite artist Vincent van Gogh!!!!!!!

Next I wanted him to be sitting in a chair so I positioned him onto a chair I drew on another piece of paper. He looks funny without any arms!

Next I painted another sheet of background paper using the straw and drip method. I dripped food coloring onto the paper and then blew it around with a straw to create a cool background. Then I added another sheet of paper as the "ground".

Floor added, a piece of patterned scrapbook paper cut at an angle to appear more like a floor. A technique Schapiro used often in her artwork.

Now I sat my mannequin in the position I wanted him to be in. I traced all of the parts onto a blue paper...Schapiro did not use real colors, so neither did I! At this time I also added things like details to my person's clothing, facial features, and extras such as paint brushes, palettes,etc...

Now I am ready for colors/patterns to be added to clothing and extras. I used my daughter's scrapbooking papers for this step and it just so happens that I found one with flowers on it for my Vincent van Gogh collage!