"Feet, what do I need them for when I have wings to fly." - Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo had polio when she was 6 and was severely injured in a bus accident at the age of 18. Some say she wore long skirts and focused on her outer beauty to mask her inner pain. We wanted to share the Mexican spirit in our students' work, and were sure to include a Mexican folk inspiration in our work.
During our recent Frida Kahlo lesson, we discussed Frida's Wounded Deer painting as well as her various self portraits. Working with 1st-4th graders, we focused on the idea of using art to express one's feeling and emotions, and talked about how Frida had a life with many trials which were showcased in her many spectacular paintings.
On the first day, we gave our students the option of either painting a Frida portrait, or painting their own face on the body of a wounded animal. In the second class, if the student's animal was wounded, we asked them to add an element of healing or hope to the project. These paintings were mounted on cardboard and inserted into the middle of the box. Some of the students included leaves coming from the internal sides of the box.
The students used a variety of materials to make a mosaic effect onto their boxes. We used "Welbond" in large squeeze bottles.
Of course, we can't talk about Frida without discussing Diego Rivera. We took a break from our dioramas and worked collectively to make a mural based on a Diego Rivera painting. We used this idea to make our own Diego Rivera mural.
We taught the kids the basic grid method. The original painting was divided into squares and each student was required to enlarge one square of the painting onto an 8x8" piece of paper.
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