G7-9 Creative Mind New Media

3D Art – Kusama Pumpkin

In Creative Mind New Media students are learning about Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and her use of optical illusion art. Students have defined art vocabulary in their journals that relates to Kusama’s methods and are now creating their own optical illusions with their very own Papier-mâché pumpkins.

First students watched and discussed a demo on Papier-mâché.

After, students attempted to blow up a balloon and tie string around them, to create a pumpkin shape. There were some problems with this step because students were learning as they were going. Many students’ balloons popped in the process of blowing them up or tying string. After some experimenting students were able to start the Papier-mâché process.

Currently students are still adding to their pumpkin shape but soon their pumpkins will be painted in a way to create an optical illusion with the use of color and shapes.

The IB framework links to this lesson because of the student’s communication and thinking that goes into working together to design a successful plan for the shape of this pumpkin. Students had to also be risk-takers as they were blowing up their balloons because they were very scared of the balloons popping in their face.