Minnie Evans is an African-American artist from Wilmington, North Carolina. She created vivid and colorful works of art based on her own dreams and visions. Her art is considered to be surreal and includes bright colors, nature themes, animals and faces. Her works were also often symmetrically balanced. If you’d like to see some of her works, visit the Anthony Petullo Art Collection here. My 4th grade students learned about Minnie and created symmetrical and surreal works of art!
The materials you will need include: 9 x 12 heavy white sulphite paper, a paper plate palette with a variety of tempera paint colors (I used neon tempera), a medium sized paintbrush, thin and thick black permanent marker, and neon oil pastels.
After giving students some information about Minnie Evans and show some of her more symmetrical works, I like to have students start with the simplest print-making process. They start with folding their paper in half so they have a “painting side” and a “printing side.”I then give them a paper plate palette with a variety of bright colored tempera paint (I used neon tempera here) and direct them to paint lines and shapes on the right side of the fold and print onto the left side. “Right” and “left” don’t technically matter, I just tell them this to make it easier for all of us!
It’s important that every time they paint a line or shape, they immediately print it onto the left side of the fold by folding the paper and massaging with their hand. I also remind them to lay the paint on THICK for a good print! Once they are satisfied with the composition, students place their work on the drying rack.
The following week, students use thin and thick permanent markers to draw in imagined details, faces, and more! I encourage them to look at the various lines and shapes and go with the first thing they think they see! They have a lot of fun with it and get pretty creative!! I also lay out neon oil pastels towards the end to add extra areas of color, texture, and detail if needed!
Check out these student examples!
