Art in Practice: Patterned buildings of dreams

Antoni Gaudi inspired craft activities

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 for you inspired by the architect Antoni Gaudi. I aim to share my creative ideas with you, 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.

GAUDI INSPIRED COLLAGE MIRRORS

MATERIALS:

• Cardboard

• Hot glue

• Masking tape or paper & glue for paper mache

• Paints

• Colourful collage materials including old paintings and coloured card cut up into pieces, beads and glass gems

• A small hand-held mirror

• PVA glue or Mod Podge

Begin by creating a base for your mirror using cardboard. We then added a frame shape that fits the size of our mirror onto the larger card base. After adding more cardboard shapes to decorate our base, we made the construction stronger using masking tape. You could add layers of paper mache, which create a stronger finished product, but we chose a quicker, mess free version using layers of masking tape, which I call tape-a-mache.

After completing our mirror frame construction, we started to paint. We used acrylic paint but poster paint would work fine. Once the paint was dried, we added a mosaic of colourful card ‘tiles’, beads and gems.

The final step, once everything is dry, is to add a layer of ‘varnish’. You can either use Mod Podge or PVA craft glue to seal your paint and mosaic. Finally glue the mirror into position in the frame.

Creating Gaudi inspired mirror frames

GAUDI CARDBOARD BOX TOWN

MATERIALS:

• Cardboard boxes, cardboard tubes and egg cartons

• Hot glue

• Paints

• Colourful collage materials

• Other small componants like corks, wooden shapes or wooden craft sticks

Get creative with all your ‘junk’ materials to build curvy Gaudi inspired buildings with lots of turrets. Once glued, paint and decorate your imaginary buildings with bright colours and mosaic collage.

Creating Gaudi inspired buildings with ‘junk’ materials

SIMPLE GAUDI CITY COLLAGES

If you are looking for a simple Antoni Gaudi inspired art activity, I have created a set of printable activity sheets for you to download, print out and get creative with as home. You can colour, cut and create city collages or use boxes to create a 3D city. You can find this printable on my website or I have shared a link below, for paid subscribers to this Substack, to download the printable for FREE.

Antoni Gaudi printable activity sheets

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Thank you for taking the time to read Creative Spaces, I hope the activity ideas I share inspire a little arty fun in your Creative Spaces at home, school or in your community.

Recently I have reduced 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.

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.

FREE GAUDI PRINTABLE ACTIVITY SHEETS FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS BELOW: