Notan in Complementary Colours

 

These Notan designs were created by grade 3 and 4 to reinforce their learning of  complementary colours. I love this lesson, however the one thing that can ruin it is students misplacing their cut pieces, so I would recommend the use of a zip lock bag for each student with their name on it! See my previous lesson here for more information.

 

African Mask Collages

 

 These collages were created by Grade 1 students who are creating African inspired art works this term. The idea for this project came from this image and I thought it could work as a Notan-type project. 

After viewing images of African masks, students were given two pieces of coloured paper of their choice which were folded long-ways down the centre. A semi circle (with an ear) was drawn on the fold and cut through both layers to create two identical head shapes, one of which was then cut vertically down the middle. The cut piece then became the piece the students drew shapes on for the facial features and patterns, flipped over and glued to the other side of the face to complete the shape. We also used hole punches to make dots to glue on as decoration or details.

This was an ambitious lesson to do with grade 1s, but I'm glad I did as they understood it a lot better than I had anticipated!

Black and White Notan

This is a Japanese design technique called Notan. I am unsure of how long ago this technique originated as I haven't been able to find a lot of information about it. I was introduced to this activity recently by another art teacher. 

These were made by some of my grade 3 students using one sheet of black paper and one sheet of white paper.  It's great for a one-off lesson for shape, symmetry, reflection and cutting skills.

Students draw shapes around all edges of their page, the only rules being: the shapes go off the edge of the page and must be able to be simple enough for them to cut out. Then they flip out the cut-outs and glue them down. Simple but effective (what we all want!).