BCA: Virtual Family Art Saturday, May 2021

Grids and Patterns Mixed Media Composition Get creative and make art together!

Explore grids, patterns, and repetition inspired by Diane Gabriel’s geometric design drawing featured in our recent BCA Center exhibition Pivotal Moments: Select Works by Diane Gabriel. Create a mixed media work of art using found natural and repurposed materials that evoke Gabriel’s experimental approach to art making and her interest in nature, cycles, and transformation.

Activity Age Range: The whole family!

Materials Needed: Paper, pencil, marker, chalk, collected found objects and recyclables from around your home such as bottle tops and buttons, natural materials from outside your home such as leaves, flowers, rocks, and sticks, craft materials such as yarn, pom poms, buttons, feathers, and white glue. Materials are open-ended, you choose!

CONNECT This activity connects with our BCA Center exhibition Pivotal Moments: Select Works by Diane Gabriel.

Featured artist: Diane Gabriel Vermont artist and educator Diane Gabriel worked in a variety of media including drawing, printmaking, photography, collage, and mixed media sculpture. Gabriel’s Untitled (#12 Square Designs) is part of a larger series of geometric drawings of squares and circles the artist created early in her career. She created designs in each gridded square using a variety of mark-making techniques and puncturing the paper to form a sequence of patterns. This work represents Gabriel’s lifelong interest in series, cycles, and transformation. Gabriel used an experimental approach to materials and art making and often used natural and repurposed objects in her work.

How can works of art explore grids, patterns, and repetition?

How can nature objects and repurposed materials be used to create mixed media compositions?

What natural and found materials would you choose to experiment with to create a geometric grid design inspired by the work of Diane Gabriel?

Diane Gabriel Untitled (#12 Square Designs), 1978 Graphite and colored pencil on paper 28.75 x 26" Courtesy of Mark Stoler

Look closely at this work of art. Describe what you see.

How many squares has Gabriel used to create the geometric grid design?

What patterns and textures can you find within each square? Which patterns are repeated?

How do the repeated patterns remind you of cycles in nature?

Learn more about our BCA Center exhibitions at burlingtoncityarts.org

CREATE Step 1: Gather your supplies Materials are open-ended. You may choose to work with the following materials: -Paper, Drawing Materials such as pencil, markers, chalk, and Glue -Foraged Natural Materials: Sticks, leaves, flowers, rocks, grasses, seeds, etc.

-Found Craft Materials: Buttons, yarn, pompoms, feathers, beads, etc.

-Found Recyclables: caps, cardboard, foil, etc.

This family art experience embraces the possibilities of unique materials! You choose!

Step 2: Draw a grid on paper Explore using different papers and drawing materials. Experiment with drawing different numbers of intersecting lines to create sections of your grid.

Step 3: Create patterns with drawing materials, found natural materials, or objects inside the grid Play and Experiment. Challenge yourself to create a different pattern in each section of the grid or repeat a pattern.

Paper and Chalk

Yarn, Sticks, Button, Pom Poms, Feathers, Chalk, and Glue

Paper and Marker

Craft Sticks, Twigs Pom Poms, Buttons, and Glue

Step 4: Draw grids outside Explore using different drawing materials and natural materials. Experiment with creating different numbers of intersecting lines to create sections of your grid.

Sticks on Rock

Chalk on Sidewalk

Step 6: Explore other grids You may find grids that already exist, like a page from a calendar or a tile floor.

Step 5: Create patterns with found natural materials inside the grid Play and Experiment. Challenge yourself to create a different pattern in each section of the grid or repeat a pattern.

Pinecones, Stems, Clover, and Rocks

Leaves, Petals, Rocks, Sticks and Seeds

Step 7: Create patterns with found objects inside the grid Rocks and Flower Petals

Step 8: Reflect on the artwork you have made by using grids and experimenting with a variety of materials!

How can you use these same materials to create a different pattern?

What other materials can you imagine using in your art?

What are some other ways can you create a grid structure?

Happy Creating!