It was in December of 1995 when I landed my first official teaching gig, granted it was only a 40% semester-long slot for a teacher cutting back her hours to finish a master’s program. I had big shoes to fill, not only was she a popular teacher but the quality of her student's work was top notch. It was a good starting point and I welcomed the competition. Now some of you might be asking "competition?" Let me illustrate, I believe that humans are naturally competitive and to have an experienced teacher in your presence will inspire you to be a better teacher and in the end it benefits the students. I understand and accept that I can always grow and become a better teacher, but being the only Art teacher at a school and the lack of professional development and/or meetings with other art teachers is like living in a vacuum. This is one of the reasons why art blogs are great; it promotes the idea of sharing.
This approach to making molas is borrowed from Ms. Jill Gartland during my six-month stint at the long-gone Baseline Middle School in Boulder, CO. I like doing this project every couple of years with middle school.
Supplies: construction paper, x-acto knives, cutting boards, white color pencil, paperclips, pencils, rulers, and paper.
Vocabulary: mola, layers, bridges, boarders, outline, negative/positive space, cutting, overlapping, lines, warm/cool colors, and shape.
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Step 1: Use pencil and paper to design outline of an animals (lines can be used as a bridge to connect the animal to the border). Step 2: Transfer rough draft idea to the top layer of the construction paper. IMPORTANT-the student should only draw on one side of the paper even if they make an error. |
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Step 3: Once the outline and bridges have been established, the student will use an x-acto knife to cut away the negative space. Step 4: Place the paper with the outline and bridges on a different color paper and draw different shapes or even multiple shapes within the large negative space. Cut those shapes out. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMTZlDFi02vdZVINu2ju0YGOL02GpThgMRfWFCvayjJjyFHz9MwNl5URzT7BU6DjaCJnIcNHquE2cswtiUaKnZdZ0JG95PThCawNqiqNTwIHj5BuZVibt1jc4OvVUGNXf0Q0IgJfQPMBl1/s280/IMG_1689.JPG) |
Step 5: Repeat step 4 for 4-5 more layers of paper. The final sheet should not be cut. Step 6: Flip the papers over so that the sides with the pencil are not showing and glue the papers together. |
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Working on their second layers. |
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Removing shapes to create negative space. |
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Making shapes to cut. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQzaf1xUjzMpJt2tQApS3fto5Re3cpIUzL9-J1pfzxuXiXeZWssaD2UKIGcdsT74qS8_EyVIZtXZuKzLR3s5N043s6cKg9sADt_fBtquJagoDZ2vhBIpCZ5ZajqjxT9QMnaUDD4VkowMJ/s400/IMG_1367.JPG) |
Getting detailed. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZjGA0bRnvwyeWo4w4ckIqdZkXzIkKzCuw6wdTF-j4v2HQFJ8-a6IPdZJTWnQMSJp9sg6pO0hg-TtUb7Z433VtwakJ9LGVSL4THK9g32X-167ulZtSxZGWYAh2kLU1WXbmBRssb9H3vD9/s280/IMG_1668.JPG) |
Hanya's |
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Farida A's |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh073Cay0wjFDcTZab1i1iim2bECLSCa3UbNEmFgEnNM1laliMtW39VkZAgnzu9N37pYzPHy6HOJ2Mr7rt6u4ozdxG71jOwG1ldoUL8SY0sHCoEc389Y7TkQnxekPZLmRfn5gHE6hY9f6oD/s280/IMG_1670.JPG) |
Andrea's |
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Kawthar's |
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Naman's |
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Ahmed's |
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Shady's |
Great! I do paper molas when I am teaching about the Cunas, culture. I teach Spanish in High School and this project you have shown gave me more ideas. GRACIAS :)
ReplyDeleteThis is great! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHow long does this usually take students? I teach on block schedule (80 minutes, every other day). Thank you for sharing your work.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delayed reply. Thank for the comment Doña. These will take 2-3 80 minutes block classes.
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