Maker Monday: Name Creatures

It’s #MakerMonday, and our art activity is name creatures! We’ll be inspired by William Albert Lanier’s text-based artwork to combine literacy and art, using our own names to create creatures.

Questions for Engagement

• Look at the artwork by Lanier for 30 seconds. Write down the first five things that you see.
• How are the letter Es different? How are they the same?
• What shapes do you notice? Some shapes are created inside the letters, and some shapes are created by the way the letters are arranged.
• What color or colors stand out to you? Why?
• Letters are usually used to create words, and words are used to communicate or to share information or ideas. What do you think the artist’s trying to share with us?
• What’s your interpretation of this artwork? (What do you think it means?)
• Would this artwork have the same meaning if it were a different letter?

Materials Needed

• Paper
• Window (for tracing)
• Colored pencils, markers, or crayons

Activity

Similar to the example we looked at, we’re going to create an artwork using letters. You get to use your name to create art! Each step has a picture (in the image gallery at left) to show how to do that step on the last page.

1. Use any sheet of blank white paper. Turn it in the landscape (horizontal or longways) orientation.
2. Fold your paper by bringing the bottom corners up to meet the top corners (the fold should be at the bottom, and the open part at the top).
3. Write your name along the fold as large as you can with a dark color.
4. Flip your paper over, and place it on a window. You should be able to see your name show through. If you can’t see it, try tracing over it with something darker like a marker. Trace over the letters. (You’ll be writing your name backwards this time!)
5. Open your paper. You should see your name written twice: once the correct way, and once backwards. They should be touching in the middle.
6. Draw lines to connect the letters together to create an imaginary creature. Since this is an imaginary creature, it can have any kind of body parts that you want. If you don’t want to make a creature, you can turn your name into an abstract design.
7. Add pattern and color to finish your artwork.