Art with Mrs. Elliott : When People Are Stuck At Home, Artist Edition 3: The Materials Around Us

Hello my most ingenious brainiacs!

You can read today's letter, or you can listen to me read it to you in this video I have embedded. Let me know how you feel about listening to it versus reading it. I want to do whichever works for you. It has been lovely to attend your virtual circles and hear some student voices! At the end of this post I have attached lots of student work that artists have been sending along. Bravo, children! You are amazing.

Cresencio Perez Robles, circa 1970's

Today, I will tell you about how artists use what they can find around them to make their art. People around the world have been making art with the materials from their environment for thousands of years. Artists do not have to own lots of fancy materials from art stores to make artwork successfully, or to become famous.

The indigenous Huichol (sounds like “wee-chol”) people of the Sierre Madre Occidental mountains in Mexico have used the materials around them to make art for a long time. For many generations, Huichol artists have used stone, clay, bones, and seeds to make beads for jewelry. Huichol artists also produce Nierikas (sounds like “near-eeka”), which are paintings make from lambs wool yarn. The yarn is traditionally glued on with a mix of resin from trees and beeswax, which are both available in the natural environment. Nierikas told stories, mythology, and life experiences of the Huichol people.

Artist José Benítez Sánchez

The artist José Benítez Sánchez is renowned for his yarn paintings. He was born in 1938 in San Pablo, Mexico. He used to be a janitor for the Instituto Nacional Indigenista in Tepic, Mexico. The director asked him to display his yarn paintings there at work. He became famous for his artwork. His yarn paintings are now in collections all over the world. Here is one you might like.

Yarn painting by José Benítez Sánchez

How can you use the materials already around you to create amazing artwork? Let's brainstorm some of the things that you might have in and around your home, and make an artwork with it. Make sure to first ask your grownup for permission to use these things.

Natural objects, such as feathers, stones, leaves, sticks, shells, pinecones, seed pods.

Plastic bottles and caps

Paper junk mail

Bubble wrap

Cardboard, from food boxes or mailed packages

Used makeup brushes

Used kitchen sponges

Old fabric, from outgrown or tattered clothes, cleaning rags

Found objects, such as greeting cards, used wrapping paper remnants, postcards, playing cards, odd puzzle pieces, outdated maps

Kitchen utensils

Toys, such as little cars

Let's make a mandala today with objects from around your house. Mandala means "circle" in Sanskrit.

Here is what you need:

Assorted supplies from the list above.

The basics:

Begin with a shape in the middle. A mandala is a radially symmetrical design that starts at the center, and you add on "rays" like the sun all around it. Add on all around it, then repeat in additional layers.

More ideas to try:

Can you make a mandala using only warm colors? Only cool colors? In shades or a single hue? Can you make one from only things in your bedroom? How about from only things in your kitchen?

Here is one I made this morning:

Another artist who makes artwork from the things in his environment is the contemporary (living and working now) British artist Andy Goldsworthy. He lives in Scotland. He is 63 years old. He is very famous in his own lifetime, and there are many books written by and about him. He makes artwork from the materials he finds on the land where he lives. There is a wonderful documentary movie about his work called Rivers and Tides. Ask your grownup if it would be okay for you to watch it. The best word I know to describe watching it is "mesmerizing". Mesmerizing means that your attention is held as if by a magical force.

Andy Goldsworthy

Sometimes Andy Goldsworthy makes mandalas, like maybe you will try today. Here is one he made with rocks arranged around a little hole he dug. When he is done, he uses a camera to take a photograph of his work.

Notice that this one is monochromatic- made only from tints and shades of black

Here is another one he made from leaves.

This one is made with warm colors

What can you make a mandala out of today? Can you make a mandala out of all your socks? Can you make one using slices of an apple you are going to have for a snack after? If you want to share your work, please ask your grownup to email me a photo of whatever you have made. I miss you!

Love,
Mrs. Elliott

And as promised, here are some of the many wonderful works of art you have been making at home. I am so proud of you for finding so many ways to be creative!