Last year, I traveled to the city of Barcelona, Spain. Seeing the still-unfinished La Sagrada Familia in person was a complete thrill! At every turn, I marveled at the magical genius of Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece.
While taking in the wonder of it all, I thought about how I could share this experience with my art students. Gaudi's whimsical tile work and cathedral towers most captured my imagination, so I decided they would be the focus of a future art project. The question of what, when and how remained a mystery.
Our school had recently received a "green grant" to educate students about recycling and reusing materials, so I wanted to include those ideals in my lesson plan. At that time, a local machine-embroider business was giving away their empty thread spools to anyone willing to come and get them. My "aha!" moment was when I realized the size and shape were perfect armatures for towers. Air-dry paper clay would mold well around the spools. But, what could be used for the colorful mosaic pieces? Real tiles would be too big and there was no money in the budget for them anyway. Then, it hit me! Use something most elementary art teachers have scads of: broken crayons!
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For several weeks after assigned projects were completed, students and I prepared for the Gaudi project by taking a few minutes at the end of the period to unwrap and sort broken crayons by color. I then cut the pieces even smaller with pruning shears, leaving some of them uncut. When there was enough of each color, it was time to begin the Gaudi unit!
I created a slide show with my Barcelona photos and images downloaded from the Internet. My students enjoyed learning about Gaudi, and were inspired by his amazing architecture and colorful tile work.
Next art session, students covered their spools with the air-dry modeling compound. Part of the assignment was to create a three-dimensional form--cone, sphere, cube, etc.--at the top of the towers. Pieces of crayon were then embedded into the soft compound to resemble Gaudi's mosaic tile work. (A bit of white glue was also used to ensure the crayon bits would stay put.) The towers would be dry by our next class, so students worked diligently to complete their tile work during this single class period.
The next session involved grating unwrapped crayons that hadn't been cut up. Using small cheese graters I found at the dollar store, students grated two or three colors of crayons over a paper plate. They then used a small paintbrush to apply white glue to areas of their towers and sprinkled on the grated crayon.
During the final studio session, students used tempera paint to add finishing touches. Our towers were unique, colorful and whimsical--fitting tributes to Antoni Gaudi's original structures.
I was gratified to share part of my vacation with my students by engaging them in this creative experience, which combined art history and environmental responsibility. While Gaudi might have frowned at the use of our recycled crayons and plastic spools, he would have applauded our efforts at innovation and creativity.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upper-elementary students will ...
* learn about architect and artist Antoni Gaudi and his Art Nouveau style of work.
* use three-dimensional forms to create mosaic towers based on Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia.
* use recycled materials in a work of art.
MATERIALS
* Air-dry modeling compound/paper clay
* Old, broken crayons, unwrapped and cut into small pieces
* Images of the La Sagrada Familia cathedral and Antoni Gaudi's other work
* Pruning shears or very sharp scissors
* Empty embroidery thread spools
* Small cheese graters
* Cakes of tempera paint
* Paper plates
* White glue
Suzanne Thomas is an art teacher for Holland Elementary School, in the Springfield (Missouri) Public Schools.
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