Alma Thomas Inspired Eclipse Art Project

Mar 13

Alma Woodsey Thomas was an African-American artist and art teacher. She produced many notable works, including Eclipse in 1970.

This project is inspired by her piece, though it uses paper in a mosaic pattern instead of paint on canvas.

Time required: 45-60 minutes

*Note: this project is not difficult, but it does take time to make it look nice so encourage your students to go slowly to ensure the best final product.

Materials:

White paper
Strips of construction paper
Chunks of construction paper (for center circle)
Scissors
Glue stick
Pencil

Teacher prep:

Before starting, I cut strips of construction paper using the large paper cutter. This makes it easier for students to make their cuts, yielding straighter paper tiles.

Steps:

Using one of the small construction paper chunks, cut a circle and glue it somewhere on your paper. It does not need to be centered.
Choose the paper strips that you want to create your design. My example is a rainbow but students were free to choose 3 or more colours of their choice.
Snip the paper strip into smaller pieces. Try to make them roughly the same size. I model this for my students.
Glue the paper tiles around the circle. We found it easiest to use the glue stick to make a line of glue and stick the tiles to it, rather than putting glue on each one individually.
Continue this process with the next colours. Try to keep your rings of paper tiles close together.
Once you reach the edge, that ring stops. In an effort to get it to the edge, you may have some tiles that hang off, simple trim this at the end.