For our Homespun Art projects I try to use various sources, so that we get exposed to a broad range of approaches. For this project, we used the book 9 Famous Artists Your Children Will Love.
Because we are studying abstract art in Classical Conversations right now, I tried to find an abstract artist who brought another dimension to what we’ve already studied. Because of the 3-D nature of mobiles, this project was perfect! First we read about the artist, then we skipped to the back of the book to the section with art projects for kids, based on each artist. I lucked out on this project, because I already had a mobile frame out in the garage, which I’d used to hang photos over my son’s cradle when he was a baby.
We went online and looked at pictures of Alexander Calder’s mobiles, then talked about the shapes, patterns and the sense of balance he used in his art. We then decided which colors and shapes we wanted, and set to cutting them out of our construction paper. Whala! A study of an abstract artist made fun!
