Tribal Vibes

Tribal Vibes  - Day 3

Bear Paw Studio - Kid's Art Camp

Art Safari - Sept. 24 - 27, 2012

Cassie's Tribal Collage

We have used our artistic talents to create giraffes, elephants, leopards, monkeys, toucans, and other exotic wildlife so far on our Art Safari, and today we had a little fun creating tribal warriors and colorfully dressed women.  First, we looked at photos and fabric panels depicting African traditional clothing, ceremonial costumes, and textile patterns, noticing the colorful patterns and unique styles.  Then we used paper collage to create our own stylized African tribal people based on two Asanti wall hangings we had in the studio.

The first step involved drawing and/or tracing stencils to make our people and their clothes.  We used black construction paper for the people, and previously painted watercolor paper for the clothes.

Cassie traces around the warrior's robe.

The women's hand, feet, and head were drawn freehand and cut out, then glued to the back of her dress, which was traced and cut around a pattern.

After the woman was glued to a background of mat board, bundles and baskets were cut freehand and added to her head.  Then patterns and details was added with markers to the clothing and bundles.

Hailey thinks about adding patterns.

And here are the wonderful patterns Hailey added.

After making the woman, we had just enough time remaining to make the warrior, and did it in much the same way.

Danielle  has her warrior's body ready to glue.

Melody glues her warrior.

We pin them up on our gallery wall for our show.

The beautiful women are like wallflowers, waiting for the warriors to come along.

Finally, the warriors are finished and join the women.  Everyone is beautiful.

We loved how the women could balance so many baskets on their heads, and enjoyed the variety of intricate patterns and bright colors in the clothes.     

Here's a closeup of each couple and the proud artist:

Gretchen, age 8

Emma, age 7

Danielle, age 9

Hailey,  age 9

Melody, age 10

Cassidy, age 10

It was a busy and exciting day, with so much good work by the artists.  We'll be back soon for our final day of the Art Safari!  See you then.

Betsy Bear, Safari Guide