Folk Art

Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2

Immerse your students in a world of colour and pattern with USA artist Heather Galler and create a stunning patterned landscape. This is an easy project that can be made more complex depending on the initial drawing. Keep it simple for Kinder and add more complexity for year 2. Heather Galler is a contemporary USA artist whose works are explosions oc colour and pattern. Kids can draw their own landscape and add colour with paint and pattern with paint pens or markers.

The Warli people are from Maharashtra in central India. They create stunning, high contrast folk art works that depict traditional village life. Warli paintings are made using simple shapes such as circles, triangles, and lines to depict people, animals, and trees. Warli art tells stories about farming, festivals, and nature with paintings on the brown mud walls of their homes using white paint made from rice and water. We use white and brown acrylic paint to create an artwork based on the Warli style. Kids can create their own village scene using the dancing characters and farm animals.

Grade 3 and Grade 4

Matryoshka are also known as Babushka stacking dolls. These Russian Dolls are a fun toy for children and a great subject for an artwork. Kids can choose a colour scheme and make their own patterns to decorate their artwork. If you have a set of these dolls bring them into the classroom as it’s a great way for kids to see what they are painting.

Babushka means Grandmother so kids were excited to paint their grandmas, and many decided to gift them their artworks too! We provide templates for a simple body shape and head so kids can get a good starting shape, or they can draw their own.

Mexican Hearts are a colourful way to explore the culture of Mexico.  They are a vibrant form of Folk Art that are often made from embossed tin or wood. They symbolise faith, healing and miracles from the largely Catholic country of Mexico. The hearts incorporate elements such as flames, thorns, wings and small charms known as ‘Milagros’. These beautiful, handmade pieces reflect cultural and religious traditions, we can all relate to such as hope, and gratitude in Mexican art and life.

Grade 5 and Grade 6

Polish embroidery is a regional Folk Art featuring vibrant colours and intricate patterns which are often used on traditional folk costumes. The designs can signify the person’s place of origin and connection to nature. Instead of embroidering cloth we will draw and colour a symmetrical design using either blue or red. There are many types of Polish embroidery. Images for inspiration are included in the lesson plan.

Sante Fe is located in New Mexico in the USA. It is an historic desert city known for its unique blend of Native American, Spanish, and modern culture. We have a gorgeous Sante Fe Folk Art cactus pot to create using a Navajo Native American Indian design and a range of cactus plants made from modelling medium. Design ideas and plant refeence images are provided as well as a detiled lessonplan on how to create several different types of cacti to plant in the pot!