Art Adventure: Cubism

Many people know that Pablo Picasso invented Cubism, but he didn't do it alone. Georges Braque also helped develop cubism.

The idea is that to get a complete picture of any object (or person), you have to show all sides and aspects of the object. Just showing what a vase of flowers looks like from the front is not the whole "truth" of the vase of flowers. We need to look at every part.

After deconstructing the elements of an image, they then used them like building blocks to reconstruct the image.

Cubist Pictures

Supplies:

• paper
• scissors
• pencil
• pastels, paint, crayons or colored pencils (your choice)

It's confusing enough to think about all parts of an object, so first fold a sheet of paper into six equal sections and then unfold.

Use the creases as a guide to cut the paper into rectangles.

Pick an object or group of objects that are interesting. It could be a musical instrument, flowers, or something from the kitchen. I'm going to show you a ketchup bottle.

Use only one little rectangle at a time. Draw some part of the ketchup bottle. It could be the whole thing, or just a little part.

Ideas: looking down on the bottle, just a little part of the label, from the front, from the side, just the cap, just the ketchup.

Fill up each little rectangle with some part of the object.

Then once they are all done, assemble all the pieces. Move them around until you like how they look and glue them down to another sheet of paper.

It's challenging for kids to think about drawing something from many different perspectives. But the results are usually exciting.