Art Round-Up

Ms. Amsler’s 7 Red art class has just completed another one of her amazing art projects: The Radial Symmetry Name Design!

It’s a name design great at the beginning of the trimester, because seeing the names all the time can also help Ms. Amsler figure out and remember everyone’s names. It uses very simple materials, but everybody's is very unique and personal. “I would say it’s pretty much universally successful,” Ms. Amsler says. “I like to start with a lesson that makes everyone feel successful and good at art.”

Students start out creating a unique design of their name on a right triangle. Having finished this, they Sharpie and trace their name to create a unique and beautiful pattern on a piece of square paper. “Even if the design is simple, the finished symmetry is very complicated from the repeated patterns,” Ms. Amsler says. Students are given the choices to color with markers or colored pencils, and even add final metallic touches once they are done. 

Ms. Amsler saw this project in an art teacher Facebook group, but the other teacher did the project differently. Instead of using a light table for tracing, they transferred the graphite prints by folding it over and tracing, which is much more complicated. “It wasn’t my idea, but I have taken the plan and made it simpler with broken-down steps,” Ms. Amsler explains.

The part where everyone struggles is the beginning of the tracing. Until students have a couple sections done, it can be hard to figure this step out. Sometimes students will trace the design on the wrong side of the paper, but Ms. Amsler notices that once they’re done two or three sections, the students generally learn how it works and are able to complete it independently.

The goal is to spend more time on their preliminary design because the more effort you put into doing the first part, the better it will look in the end. “Some students, at first, are not thoughtful about their lettering style, so their result in the end will not be as good,” Ms. Amsler says. However, is it clear that many students put in the effort and were able to create masterpieces.

It was a fascinating journey to be able to see items as simple as someone’s name become something so beautiful and complex. But that’s what art is all about–to find inner beauty in things you would never imagine it hiding in. I can’t wait to see the next amazing project Ms. Amsler has to offer to her students!