Brainstorm geometric shapes with students.Post and briefly go over the vocabulary.Rub the paper shapes onto the glue stick.If shape is varied, cut or tear the squares in half to make rectangles. Mix the torn pieces in with the precut shapes to add visual interest and emphasize the Thomas influence of the art work. Keep the patterns simple: ABAB, in color.Cut background mounting paper if necessary.However, pieces can be pre-cut into squares if time is limited or you’d like to leave the tearing portion out of the lesson. The ideas is that small hands can tear or cut these pieces into smaller tiles. Precut small pieces of colored construction paper into approximately 1” wide strips.When growing up, she made small pieces of art such as puppets, sculptures, and plates, mainly out of clay from the riverbed behind her childhood home. Her serious artistic career began later in life. Materials & SuppliesĪlma Woodsey Thomas (Septem– February 24, 1978) was an African-American Expressionist painter and art educator best known for her colorful abstract paintings. Repetition: the repeated use of particular elements of visual arts to create a pattern, movement, rhythm, or unity. Mosaic: a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass. Additional VocabularyĪbstract: an art style that uses color, line, shape or form to create a composition which may or may not have any visual reference to the world.Ĭollage: a way of making artwork by gluing different objects, materials, and textures to a surface.Ĭraftsmanship: A way of working that includes following directions, demonstrates neatness and the proper use of tools. Pattern:the repetition of elements of art in an organized way. Shape:an element of visual arts a two-dimensional (flat) area enclosed by a line and are geometric: shapes and/or forms that are based on mathematical principles, such as a square/cube, circle/sphere, triangle/cone, or pyramid or organic: shapes and/or forms that are irregular, often curving or rounded, and more informal than geometric shapes. Color:the visible range of reflected light.