Maker Monday: Blythe Bohnen – Body Gesture Art

Blythe Bohnen is a contemporary artist with roots in Minimalism and Conceptualism, working in various media including painting, drawing, and photography. Much of her work focuses on gesture, specifically her own body’s movements in the process of creating marks on canvas, paper, and in photographs. For this #MakerMonday art activity, we’ll think about the ways we can move our bodies, then create “marks” on surfaces or in photos with the movement of our bodies.

For more on Bohnen and her series of self-portraits, check out our Work of the Week.

Questions for Engagement

• What are some different ways you can move your body? Spin, twist, bend, jump, run, walk, flap your arms, circle your head, etc.
• What kind of marks could you make when moving your body in different ways?
• What kinds of materials could you use to make marks or to show the movements your body makes?

Suggested Activities & Materials

Capturing Motion (with a friend or family member)

Materials: digital camera or smartphone

1. Ask a friend or family member to do this activity with you.
2. Have your friend/family member do jumping jacks, spin around with arms open, swing on a swing, or jump off a low, stable stool or chair.
3. Take photos of your friend/family member in motion.
4. Look at the photos you took. Can you see blur in your photos from the movement of your friend/family member’s body?
5. What other body movements can you capture?

Capturing Motion (selfie)

Materials: digital camera or smartphone

1. Try all the same activities above, but take photos of yourself as you do them.

Can you capture the blur of your own body in motion?

TIP: If you don’t see much blur in your photos, try taking the photos in an area with less light, like inside instead of outside, or at dusk.

Gesture Drawings

Materials: Large piece of paper, tape, and something to draw with like a pencil, markers, crayons, or chalk

1. Do this activity at a table where you can stand or sit.
2. Place the large paper on the table. You might want to tape the paper to the table so it doesn’t move when you draw.
3. While holding a pencil over the paper, rest your elbow and arm on the table.
4. Keep your elbow still while moving your hand and arm in sweeping motions back and forth.
5. Draw on the paper while moving your arm back and forth. Repeat this motion several times (or a lot of times!). What kind of lines do you create with this motion?
6. Now try this again, but keep your arm still. Only move your hand from your wrist. Move your hand back and forth many times, drawing on the paper as you go. What kind of lines and marks do you make with this gesture?
7. Repeat these steps as many times as you like. Try switching the colors of the pencil, marker, or crayon. Move the paper around. Try filling up your paper with lines and marks.

Dance Painting

Materials: washable paint, paper plates, large paper, tape or rocks (optional: music)

1. This project can get messy. Find an appropriate place to do this activity, like outside. You might also want to wear play clothes or something that can get paint on it.
2. Choose a few colors of washable paint. Pour a single color on a separate paper plate.
3. Place a large piece of paper on the ground. You may want to tape it down or place rocks on the corners so that the paper doesn’t blow away, stick to your feet, or move.
4. Place the paper plates of washable paint on the ground next to the large paper.
5. With your bare feet, gently step one foot, or both feet, in the paint.
6. Start dancing on the paper. (The paint can get slippery, so be careful that you don’t fall!)
7. If you want, you can add more colors of paint to your dance painting. Try doing different kinds of dance steps. How do the different dance steps affect the kinds of marks you make?

TIP: Try playing music while you dance. How does the type of music affect how you dance, and the marks you make?