We all have one—I’m talking about the junk drawer. Maybe it starts with a Taco Bell sauce packet or a screwdriver or some craft supplies you hurriedly swept “out of sight, out of mind” into the drawer. And now we are all mostly at home, looking for things to do or trying to entertain our children. Let’s tackle the junk drawer today—we can create something cool and then after find homes for all of those random items—Mom will appreciate the creative effort.
Make something cool out of my junk you are thinking? Art is all about finding inspiration in the most unlikely places. Let’s think about the Newcomb potters in the LSU Museum of Art collection. These artists took common Louisiana plants you might pass by and transformed them into stylized patterns. Or Willie Birch who creates papier mache sculptures adorned with rusty nails, bones, and broken glass that talks about African culture and tradition. Today we will be making pattern with the objects to create an abstract piece of art. A pattern is art where a motif repeats indefinitely. A motif is an element in a pattern— Our junk will become the motif in the pattern!
Supplies:
Paper
“Junk” Things like tape rolls, scissors, colanders, cheese graters, pliers, etc
Different colored markers or colored pencils
crayons
Use what you have—You just want something to trace with and something to color in the outlines.
Steps:
Go on a scavenger hunt—find those random objects that may need to be re-homed, kitchen utensils, garden tools, etc. If possible try and find a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
Select an object and a colored maker or pencil. Place it on the paper and carefully trace it.
Now, shift the object a little and trace it again—keep repeating and overlapping.
Switch things up. Pick a new object and a different area and do the same thing.
Keep adding elements and colors until you are happy.
Now, look at your drawing. You can chose to leave it as is, or color in the spaces. Change color at each overlapping shape.
For any cash strapped college kids, this could be a really great way to get some unique art on your wall. All you need is paper and a thrift-store frame. Or if you really wanted to be fancy, pick up a larger, stretched canvas from a craft store for a bigger impact.
Let’s Talk About What We Created
When you are finished, let’s sit down and talk about your art. Have your parents be the art critic and ask:
What where the materials that you used? What were the tools?
What inspired you to make this art?
Is this abstract or realistic? Why?
What inspired you to use the colors you used in the art?
Share with us what you ended up creating from your junk drawer below:
