Middle school students were introduced to “Agamographs”; the work of artist Yaacov Agam, Focusing on artwork which moves or appears to move, students were challenged to develop their own piece of “visually kinetic” artwork.
Many students found it helpful to work out their design on “practice” paper first, and then place it against the window with their final paper over it to trace the design. They could choose to paint with tempera, color it with markers, or use both mediums.
Students developed three separate 9×12 works, which they then manipulated in special ways….
Using another piece of paper, cut to the size of 9×18, students measured and then drew 1-inch x 9-inch lines across the blank sheet of drawing paper.
After all of the lines were drawn, students carefully folded along the lines (so that the paper would bend either way), and used glue to help create “mountains” on the paper. Each 1-inch tall “mountain” was separated by a 1-inch wide “valley.” They had to use more than one piece of 9×18 paper to create twelve “valleys.”
Students selected one of their 9×12 drawings/paintings to fill the “valleys.” They carefully cut it into 1-inch strips and glued it in place.
After filling the “valleys,” they cut another one of their pictures into strips to put on one side of each “mountain.”
Students cut and glued their final drawing/painting to the other side of each mountain. We realized–after creating the first one–that only 11 “valleys” are needed, so subsequent students cut 1/2″ off of each side of their “valley” painting in order to keep it centered.
The finished pieces:
I later did this project with high school students, and these are a few of their pieces:
Dana:
Shuo:
Ivy:
Jessica:
