Art in Practice: All covered in dots.

Art project ideas inspired by Yayoi Kusama.

Before we delve into the creativity, I’m making changes to my paid Substack subscriptions and how many articles I publish each month. I love writing and sharing my ideas in this space but it is becoming too much work, with my other commitments, to share 6 or more articles each month. I’m also feeling a burden, (which is making the whole thing less fun for me), at having to produce and share so many ideas for paid subscribers.

So, moving forward, I’m going to reduce the cost of my monthly subscription to just $6 AUD. Those who choose to subscribe (or continue with a subscription) will receive 2-3 printable activity sheets for FREE each month PLUS access to all the past printables I have shared in previous articles.

All the other articles I write will be FREE for anyone to read. Sharing creativity for FREE makes me happy and by not charging, it means I can just share when I’m feeling inspired, reducing the stress of having to come up with loads of fresh ideas each month.

Going forward, this is what Creative Spaces Substack will look like:

FREE SUBSCRIBERS:

• I will share 3-4 articles each month with a strong focus on using creative practices to build community spaces as this is what I most love writing about.

• I will share occasional ‘Art in practice’ articles sharing art project ideas.

• I will aim to write a monthly ‘Tales from our table’ article sharing a more personal insight into our home education and family life.

PAID SUBSCRIBERS:

• Will receive all of the above PLUS 2-3 printable activity sheets for FREE each month.

• You will have access to the archive of articles and all the past printables I have shared for FREE.

• Paid subscribers also receive a warm feeling for supporting all the creative work I do here and in the wider community.

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Let’s get to the arty stuff...

Welcome to Creative Spaces,

My approach to creativity is all about exploration, playfulness and learning through the process of making art. It’s not about being perfect or even the end result at times. For me, it’s about the journey. Thank you for joining me as we embrace the mess and explore together.

Today I have a few PATTERN covered project ideas inspired by the art of Yayoi Kusama to share with you. These projects stem from art activities that I have conducted in workshops I facilitate. I aim to share my experiences with you, the successes and the failures, in the hope that they inspire a little creativity in your home or community spaces. Most of the projects can be adapted to suit all ages, including adults, creativity isn’t just for the kids!

In the workshops I host, and here in these articles, my aim is not for you to produce cookie cutter replicas of an artwork or idea. The projects I share are very open-ended. They are designed as a starting point. Through the process of making art, each artist will explore their own creative ideas and create their own unique interpretation of the initial project idea.

PATTERNED COLLAGES

Someone commented on my MINI MAD THINGS Instagram account recently, when I shared a Yayoi Kusama inspired craft, that ‘this artist is SO OVER DONE’. I think they meant that you often see kids art projects inspired by Kusama and maybe we need to celebrate other artists too. While I agree, we should celebrate and learn about a diverse range of artists, I absolutely love Kusama’s work. Her vibrate use of colour and pattern are so engaging for children. So I’m here for all your Yayoi Kusama inspired art projects!

This first project idea is super simple. We created dot and pattern covered collages using the printable shapes you can find as part of our YAYOI KUSAMA PRINTABLE ACTIVITY PACK. After colouring in all the shapes, we cut them out, stuck them onto a colourful piece of card and added more dots and stickers.

PAID subscribers of Creative Spaces and download this printable for free from the link at the bottom of this article. If you’re not a paid subscriber, you can download the printable for a few $ from my website.

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YAYOI INSPIRED FLOWERS

I recently made these 3D cardboard flowers with our home education ART CLUB. The children in ART CLUB are unfailing independent in their ideas and art making. Lots of them, although they thought Yayoi Kusama’s huge flowers were cool, decided to do their own thing and decorate the flowers with unique colours and designs. I offered the project, some inspiration and they interpreted it in their own way. No cookie-cutter replicas of artworks here.

When my son was at school, I would often look at the walls of art displayed, and seeing 30 replicas of essentially the same thing, I would wonder what is actually being learnt here? Is the art making more about teaching children to follow instructions and conformity, rather than allowing space for their own creative expression or ideas to develop?

I understand that within the constraints of time, budget and curriculum, teachers are probably doing the best they can but, to me, those walls of identical artworks, are maybe more about making an aesthetically pleasing display for parents than the children thinking creativity.

Yayoi Kusama inspired cardboard flowers.

To create these flowers, we cut the petals and circles out of cardboard using the template in our YAYOI KUSAMA PRINTABLE ACTIVITY PACK (which paid subscribers to Creative Spaces can download below). We then used masking tape and hot glue to assemble the flower before painting and adding dot stickers. The results were pretty cool.

OBLITERATION ROOMS

Recently we created this miniature ‘Obliteration room’ inspired by a project in the lovely book Mini Artists. The book includes some fantastic artist inspired activities for younger children age 4-8 years old.

Using an old cardboard box and cardboard we created a mini room scene, painted it white then added lots of colourful dot stickers.

Miniature obliteration room inspired by Yayoi Kusama.

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I hope you have enjoyed these dot covered art project ideas. Below I will share a link for PAID subscribers to download the Yayoi printable for free.