Radial Symmetry
This was our final project of the year in Art Foundations.
For this project, each student began by designing a 6x6 square, creating a composition that radiated our from one of the corners. Then we traced our design onto one corner of our 12x12 paper, and rotated and traced it three more times, creating a large design that radiated (mostly) symmetrically out from the center of the page. Students then identified a color scheme they wanted to use — monochromatic, analogous, complimentary, split complimentary, triadic, tetradic, or square — and used this scheme to color in their design that enhanced the composition.
These were such a fun way to finish off the year with Foundations. The students really seemed to enjoy the process of creating a repetition-based design, especially in the midst of the chaos that the end of the year always brings. Upon reflection, my fellow foundations teachers and I agreed that this would also be an excellent way to begin the year, as it easily combined several elements of art and color theory without requiring the students to immediately begin drawing realistically.
