String Art

The Essential Question
How can students use emotion to make art?

Objectives
Students will engage in mindfulness to create a work of nonobjective art based on the breath.

Materials
acrylic paint, dish soap, 6" to 8" (15 to 20 cm) pieces of yarn or string, canvases (stretched or board), small and large plastic cups, palette knives

Procedures
1. Guide students in a mindful breathing exercise, asking them to breathe slowly and notice their breath in their body.
2. Demonstrate how to create a wet base on a canvas with equal parts paint and pouring medium (dish soap).
3. Students choose two to five paint colors and mix them in separate cups with a 3:2 ratio of paint to dish soap.
4. Students place a piece of yarn or string into each cup, making sure to saturate the yarn or string.
5. Begin guided breaths by directing students to inhale while they place their paint-covered string onto their canvas.
6. Instruct students to exhale as they pull the string from the canvas to reveal their first abstract form. Students repeat this breathing process with other paint-colored strings until their composition is complete.

Assessment
Students write three to four sentences reflecting on the emotions they felt during the exercise and answer questions relating to what they noticed when they focused on their breathing.

Vanessa VanDerveer is a student teacher at Cuthbertson Middle School in Waxhaw, North Carolina.