Yarn Painting

Grade Level

Duration

Three weeks to work on the assignment. The school arts program operated on an A and B schedule. The class time was 90 minutes.

Materials

Tacky glue or Elmer’s glue, 20”x16” cardboard or canvas panel, toothpicks/chopsticks, practice paper, pencils, erasers, scissors, assorted color yarns, and multicolor yarn

Media

Fiber Arts

Lesson Objectives

The student will…

identify line, texture, and color in yarn paintings.
recognize yarn painting as a traditional Mexican craft form.
Design and create a yarn painting by gluing sets of yarn to cardboard/canvas panels.
Assess their artworks.

Essential Questions
Where is Huichol yarn painting from?
What is Huichol yarn painting?
What are the characteristics of Huichol yarn painting?

Introductory Activity

View examples of yarn paintings created by the past and present Huichol people. Discuss the stories, events, myths, and history expressed in their imagery.

Students plan designs on practice paper and then transfer the designs to cardboard/canvas panels. For this lesson, students researched flowers and a vase.

Lesson Process

Using one color at a time, students apply glue within individual shapes and press yarn down into wet glue with a toothpick or chopstick. Keep the toothpick/chopstick clean so the yarn will not stick.
Continue with the same procedure within the remaining shapes. Press strands of yarn as close together as possible and fill from the outer edges to the center.
For the background, use multicolor yarn.
Fill in the table.
Students cut three to four flowers from cardboard. Fill in with yarn. Use hot glue to attach to the yarn painting.
The teacher and students critique the final product. This can be done as a gallery walk.