shine like a diamond.

We are off and running at Zamo!

As usual, I am starting the school year off with a collaborative project that is low stress and high impact. a little background- during the first week I meet with classes for 30 minute mini lessons. This allows me to review art room rules and procedures and to get students creating right away. Kids end up creating for about 20 minutes.

This lesson always emphasizes unity and variety in both art and our school community and beyond. I make a point of introducing textile artists, fabric designers, and quiltmakers with these lessons due to the modular nature of the designs and because I feel that they are often neglected in art education and the art world.

This year, I discovered the work of Tula Pink through instagram and her "TriDazzler" quilt jumped out at me from her feed. I love the repetition of the diamonds and triangles and how the colors repeat in a looser visual way. The main adjustment we made in our approach to Tula's quilt design, was that the center line of the diamond could be rotated either horizontally or vertically.

The prep for this project is pretty simple compared to some others that I have done (looking at you Libs Elliott project and the Latifah Saafir/Sylvia Sutters project;)

I precut a bunch of 6x6" squares that covered the spectrum of colors, plus any tints and shades of those I had available. I then cut a bunch of those squares in half.

Before each class comes in, I place a square & triangle at each seat. As classes move through, I progress through the collection of colors I have to create a loose gradient across the install. I don't have a formula to the progression, it's more of a feel when having colors enter and exit, and re-enter the overall arrangement.

Students glue the triangle onto their diamond.
Students rotate their diamond, so the center line is horizontal.
Students add lines from the top and bottom of the diamond to the center line. They need at least 2.
Students add any colors like like to their smaller triangles, leaving at least one piece the color of the paper on top and bottom.
Students put glue on the back of their diamond.
Students bring their piece to the larger paper quilt and place it on, making the decision to have the center line vertical or horizontal, repsonding to the diamonds already in place.

end of day 1.

end of day 2.

I still have 2 days to go. I am out of space to assemble the full install on my tile floor. There are 14 classes that will take part in this over the next two days. My plan is to add one more section of length to make it 22' long and one more section of height along the whole thing to make it 9' tall. The final install will go on the back wall of our auditorium, so that we have have a dynamic piece of art up by the second week of school.

I can't wait to see this whole piece assembled on the wall. It's always interesting to see these come together and it's particularly cool to see it in different ways- the diamonds up close during the activity, on an angle while up on a ladder above my floor, to the finished piece to take in while standing back from it.

Our kids are always stoked to participate and watch it grow, too. Depending on the size of your school, you could have everyone take part. 

If you're an art teacher and want to try this- go for it! Just be kind and cite your sources:)