The primary focus of my elementary art curriculum is contemporary art, but I still connect the present with concepts or artists from the past to reinforce how the latter informs the former. One example of merging the past and present is an art lesson my fourth-graders did this year—a mashup of the traditional Japanese concept of notan with the work of contemporary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
The primary focus of my elementary art curriculum is contemporary art, but I still connect the present with concepts or artists from the past to reinforce how the latter informs the former. One example of merging the past and present is an art lesson my fourth-graders did this year—a mashup of the traditional Japanese concept of notan with the work of contemporary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
This lesson was one part of students’ shape unit, and in it, they gained more understanding of natural and geometric shapes, positive and negative shapes, and 2D and 3D shapes.
Starting with Notan
We started by learning about the traditional Japanese concept of notan and how it is basically the play and balance of light and dark shapes with and against one another. It emphasizes the importance of both positive and negative space in creating a successful, harmonized composition. This design concept was introduced to the West when Japan’s borders opened in the mid-1800s, but it was present in Japanese art hundreds of years before that.
We looked at cut-paper examples as well as a few landscape ink paintings and noticed the mirroring and balance present between dark and light elements.
Introducing Yayoi Kusama
Next, we turned our attention to a few tentacle installations by Yayoi Kusama. Students were immediately engaged with this artist’s work and intrigued by the scale of her sculptures. They noticed how Kusama’s tentacles are examples of notan as she plays with the contrast in color and value between the tentacles and the circles that cover them. Students also noticed how Kusama alters the size of circles to enhance their sense as 3D forms.
Cut-Paper Collage
Students’ design challenge was to create a mixed-media collage that incorporates elements of Kusama’s work and the concept of notan while practicing shading and composition.
Each student was given a 12 x 12" (30 x 30 cm) sheet of colored paper and a 5 x 5" (12.5 x 12.5 cm) sheet of either black or white paper. I asked them to draw a minimum of one tentacle shape, starting on each edge of the smaller sheet of paper. I modeled using two stretched out “S” lines to create the shape; students can create their own version with zigzags or blocky lines. Students cut out their shapes, centered the smaller square on the larger, and flipped the cut pieces outward to occupy the negative space of the larger square. They used an additional sheet of paper to add more tentacle shapes to that negative space. Once students were happy with their compositions, they glued the pieces in place.
Making It Pop
Next, students added the drawn elements to their collage base. They countered the natural tentacle shapes with geometric circles of varying sizes in the negative space of the large square. They were asked to give the tentacle shapes a 3D appearance by adding circles that go from small on the edge to large in the center of each tentacle.
The final step was to add shadows or highlights to the tentacles to emphasize the contrast between the flat 2D shapes and the implied 3D forms of the tentacle shapes.
When students completed their designs, they reflected on the concepts involved with this exercise and the shape lesson that preceded it the week before. I encourage my students to not only think about the lessons or concepts of the day, but to connect them to the bigger picture developing over the course of the school year.
Reflections
Whether you use this notan and Kusama mashup straight up with your students or you look to other examples of historical and contemporary art to merge, I think you’ll see that student engagement is high. Students also gain the opportunity to see how what happens in the art world today is connected to and influenced by the artists and events of the past. And that’s a valuable awareness for them to have as they make their own journey through the world.
Don Masse is an art teacher at Zamoramo Fine Arts Academy in San Diego, California. DMasse71@gmail.com
NATIONAL STANDARD
Creating: Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.
RESOURCE
Yayoi Kusama: yayoi-kusama.jp/e/information/
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