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Teaching artist Stephanie Krause demonstrates how to find shapes in everyday objects, and then how to draw on folded-up paper to create four different pictures in one.

Vocabulary You Will Learn:

• Organic shapes—Shapes with flowy or irregular edges.

Materials You Will Need:

• A piece of paper
• A drawing utensil

How to Use Organic Shapes to Create Many Pictures in One 

1. First, lay your piece of paper in front of you horizontally, so the long edge is toward you. Fold the paper in half, bringing the left and right edges together; when you open the paper back up, the center crease should be perpendicular to the long edge. Next, you want to fold the left and right edges of the paper to meet at the center crease. Carefully fold the right side of the paper toward the middle, so the right edge lines up with the crease in the middle. Now, do the same with the left side. You should now have two flaps (let’s call them “doors”) which you can open  to reveal the paper underneath. 
2. Next, with the doors folded closed, draw a large, organic shape across their surface. Once you’ve created the shape, ask yourself what it looks like to you. Does it look like a creature? A landscape? A robot?
3. Next, you’re going to add details to turn your shape into whatever you’ve decided it looks like. For example, if you think the shape looks like a creature, you can add eyes, scales, wings, toes, or fins.
4. Now it’s time to open one of the doors on your paper, which will hide half of the drawing you’ve created. On the blank paper revealed underneath, you are going to draw something new to complete the half of the picture that remains. For example, if you made a creature, give it a new front or back half that is completely different from the one it had before!           

5. Now, close the door that is open and open the door that was closed. Do the same thing you just did in step 4 with this newly revealed part of the paper: create a new half to go along with the part of the picture that’s on the closed door.
6. Finally, you’re going to open both doors, revealing the completed picture underneath, and see if you’d like to add any more details. If you drew a creature, you might want to draw a setting to show where the creature is, or add a few more features to the creature itself.

In this video, Stephanie teaches us how to use our imaginations to turn everyday shapes into other things, and then to use a drawing of an organic shape on folded paper to create four pictures in one. She also suggests other things we can do, like working with a friend to create the different parts of our picture. If you want to go even further, think about these questions: 

• At the end of the video, Stephanie talks about how we can use our pictures to create a story. If you tried this, who would your characters be? Where would they live? How do they know each other? How would your other pictures from this activity play a part in the story?
• Stephanie shows us, at the beginning of the video, how to look at everyday shapes and objects and imagine that they become other things. Could this inspire the first shape that you drew in that activity? Could you draw the shape of an everyday object, and then add details to turn it into something else?
• If you start the activity over and draw the same shape on the front of your paper, what other possibilities can you dream up for what this shape could become? Can it become a different kind of creature? Or instead of a creature, can it become an object or something in nature?
• If you add color or other textures (like pasting on glitter or other materials) to your initial pictures, does that change your ideas for what the pictures underneath could look like? Does it make the final picture underneath the doors more or less cohesive?

Accessibility

Don’t forget that you can turn on “Closed Captioning” to view the YouTube video with English captions.

More about the Teaching Artist

Stephanie Krause is a book artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, primarily working with elementary and middle school students. She believes we can all learn to see the world through “artist eyes” and find joy in the unexpected—like seeing animals in the clouds or dancing branches. Stephanie hopes to foster students’ spirit of exploration and creativity, and their ability to find art in the unexpected. To learn more about Stephanie, visit her website: .

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Director, Digital Learning

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Manager, Digital Education Resources

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Manager, Operations and Audience Engagement

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Content Specialist, Digital Learning

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