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Frida Kahlo was a famous Mexican painter who lived from 1907 to 1954. You might recognize her from her famous unibrow which she liked to show off in her paintings. What you might now know, however, is that most of her paintings centered around her own struggles and sadness. As a young girl, Frida was in a really bad accident that left her with pain and injuries for her whole life. Despite this, she taught herself how to paint and used her sadness to create beautiful works of art.
Like Frida, we’re going to learn how to use colors and symbols to create a collage that shows how we felt when something was hard and what we did to feel better. |
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For this project, you can use whatever materials you have to get as creative as you want! Below is a list of materials that you need for this project, as well as some extras you can use if you have them.
Required Materials:
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Extra Materials:
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Now grab some paper and a pencil, it's brainstorming time!
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I want you to think about a time that was very hard for you. This could be anything from the time you broke your leg or something that made you really sad like the death of a pet or someone who was very important to you.
This could also be as silly as you want like when you spilled your drink, or couldn't find your favorite toy. Feel free to turn to your parents or someone you feel comfortable with and talk to them and take as much time as you need. Once you have chosen what you want to collage about, write down any words that make you think of it. This could be anything that reminds you of this event or any feelings you have about it. |
If you want your own version of these brainstorm blobs click the button below!
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Frida Kahlo used these symbols a lot in her art. For example, a hummingbird represented love in a lot of her paintings. You are probably familiar with a lot of different symbols such as a heart meaning love or a smiley face meaning happiness. However, sometimes people have special symbols that only have meaning to you. Think about your struggle or event. What images or objects remind you of it. There are no wrong answers! Write down on your piece of paper, or on a brainstorm blob, any of these objects or images. |
Save this sheet of paper because it will become the background to your collage!
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Think back to the "Hard Times" section and what words you wrote down to describe your event, I want you to think about what colors remind you of these feelings. Again, are no wrong answers! Maybe purple reminds you of being frustrated, or green reminds you of being confused. A lot of the times colors have specific meanings to us without even realizing it. Grab your colored pencils and a blank sheet of paper and color the page with the colors that reflect your feelings. Fill up the whole page using any type of marks as long as you make sure to use the colors that remind you of this event. |
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1. Spread glue onto your mixed media board (or whatever backboard you are using). Make sure to get all the edges and don’t use too much glue.
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2. Now get your sheet of paper with your colors and carefully place it down on your glue covered backboard. Try to get the edges to match up but you might have to take it off and try again which is okay as long as the glue is still wet.
Now you have a background! |
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3. Get out your magazines or other collage materials. Look at the symbol list you made and try to find these images or ones like them in the magazines.
4. Carefully cut out these images using your scissors. Be careful and ask for an adult if you need help!
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5. Glue these images onto your background. You can combine them in any way you want as long as you think about what these symbols mean to you
6. You are probably going to be left with symbols that you can’t find in your magazines or books and thats okay. You can draw them yourself using markers, colored pencils or any other materials you might have.
If you are uncomfortable with drawing them you can just write them down or represent them in any way that makes you comfortable. |
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7. Next, think about what you did to feel better when the difficult thing happened. What did you do, or someone else do to feel good again?
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8. Draw, write, or add pictures of the things you did to make yourself feel better to your collage.
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9. Finish up with any last final touches or drawings. Now you have a finished piece of art while practicing how to express yourself.
Optional:
I used this dried piece of eucalyptus because it is my favorite plant
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Add any special objects you might have that connects to this event. This might mean photographs or pieces of fabric. Just make sure to ask your parents or an adult before using these materials!
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Remember that this project might be hard for you. Maybe this is your first time really thinking about this subject and how it made you feel. No one really likes to think about hard times but thats why it is so important to. Hopefully now you will have a piece of art that is the combination of both hard times and how you got through them. Although times may get tough think about the people in your life you can talk to and don’t be afraid to use some of these art skills in the future.
