Pumpkins like Yayoi Kusama

 You need:

1. black construction paper
2. colored paper
3. black marker
4. black fineliner
5. scissors and glue
6. white pencil

About the artist
Yayoi Kusama (1929) is a Japanese artist. She creates paintings, sculptures and large installations with mirrors and lots of light, symbolizing infinity. All her artworks have one thing in common: polka dots. That's why she's affectionately known as 'the princess of polka dots'. 

From an early age Kusama wanted to make art, but her traditional Japanese parents didn't like this. That's why Kusama left for NewYork and joined artists there, including Andy Warhol. 

By adding all-over marks and dots to her paintings, drawings, objects and clothes she feels as if she is making them (and herself) melt into, and become part of, the bigger universe. She said:

‘Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity. When we obliterate nature and our bodies with polka dots, we become part of the unity of our environment’.

View and discuss artwork of Kusama. 

• use of large and small polka dots 
• backgrounds are often filled with triangles
• use of bright colors
• her installations suggest infinity

What to do?

1. Draw three pumpkins on the colored sheets and cut them.
2. Draw bigger and smaller dots on the segments using black markers.
3. Draw triangles on the black sheet with a white pencil - start with a zigzag line.
4. Paste the pumpkins on the black sheet.

Works of art are made by students of grade 4. 

Catching leaves

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A3 size
2. oil pastels
3. liquid water color paint
4. brushes

What should you do?

• Trace your hand (thumbs point to each other) on the bottom of the sheet.
• Color them with oil pastels. 
• Draw some swirling autumn leaves above the hands and color them with oil pastels. 
• Paint the background with diluted liquid water color paint leaving some space on the edges.
• Variant: choose real autumn leaves instead of drawn ones. Stick them on the drawing AFTER painting and drying the background.

Works of art made by students of grade 3. 

Autumn leaves with tissue paper

You need:

1. white drawing 
2. tissue paper in autumn colors
3. brush
4. jar with water
5. white crayons

What should you do?

• Show different shapes of autumn leaves. Discuss shapes and colors. 
• Draw different leaves on the sheet with white crayon. 
• Tear parts of tissue paper (not too small). Use warm autumn colors. 
• Stick the pieces by wetting the sheet part by part and laying them in it. Watch out: no two same colour pieces next to each other. Be sure the tissue paper is wet enough to bleed.

• Let the artwork dry a little. When it's still moist a bit, pull of the tissue paper.

Works of art made by students of grade 3.