This
book of collage art ideas is an excellent resource for busy parents and
caregivers and will be a pleasure for them to share with children from toddlers
to primary school-age children.
Artist
Shannon Merenstein wrote the book with the art educators from the Eric Carle
Museum. Eric Carle is, of course, the master of picture book collage
illustration, with books spanning generations such as The Very Hungry
Caterpillar and The Grouchy Ladybug.
The Eric Carle Museum, situated in the US, has its own
Art Studio dedicated to making collage art with the museum’s visitors under the
guidance of Art Educators.
The philosophy
that guides the book and the museum is:
When
you treat children with respect as artists, wonderful things will happen.
All
art projects in the book are open-ended, meaning that instead of every child finishing
with the same cookiecutter product, they end up with unique artworks.
What
is more, each collage project is not only concerned with the look of the final
product but instead focuses on the process of creating art, all the while using
imagination, following interests and being guided by the stories children tell
through their art.
A
focus on using recycled materials as art materials makes many of the activities
sustainable, low cost and easy to find!
There
are 24 workshops listed in the book. Each
chapter is themed from ‘Places and Spaces’ to ‘Nature’ to ‘Contrast’ to ‘Tell
Me a Story’. Each workshop lists the tools and materials needed, the process,
and adds sections with ‘follow-up thoughts’ and ‘other ideas to try’ which I
found valuable.
As
an illustrator and art teacher, I love mixed media and creating beautifully
textured papers for upcoming projects. Every week, I share art experiences with
school-aged artists. I’ve explored several workshops from this book with them.
Our
favourite so far is workshop 3: Playing Dress Up. After taking a photo
of each young artist and printing these out as black and white copies, the
children used collage materials such as fabric scraps, coloured papers, washi
tape and more to dress these images of themselves limited only by their
imagination.
Other
workshops, I recommend are workshop 14: Look Inside. A cereal or shoebox
is decorated inside and out, and with some strategically cut holes becomes a
‘Look Inside Box’.
The
two workshops in the chapter Tell Me a Story use an image as a starting
point and look at sequencing a story with a beginning, middle and end.
But
really, all the workshops are suitable and well developed and will be a great resource
for families who love to playfully explore the arts.
Title: Collage
Workshops for Kids: Rip,
Snip, Cut, and create with inspiration from The
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Author: Shannon Merenstein
Publisher: Quarto Publishing, $29.99
Publication
Date: 26th September 2018
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781631595202
For
ages: 3+
Type: Activity Book