LEGO Printing with Gold and Silver

Portraits inspired by Sandra Silberzweig

Sandra Silberzweig is a contemporary artist from Toronto. She has a condition called synesthesia, which is a crossing of the senses.  This means that she may "hear" colors or "see" music.

Here is a poem she wrote called "When you are a synesthesia goddess ...... your day dreams are always in color"
I am a synesthesia goddess
I have no fear of color
It lives in my soul, dances in my heart
Spills out of my fingers flowing down a canvas
I can see your aura
Taste the color black
Feel the chill of the green wind
Smell blue butterflies
Hear the yellow rain
Life is never boring when inspiration is always around


Click here to read more about Sandra Silberzweig, the work she has done to share her experience with synesthesia and how she has turned this condition into a driving force for her creative work.


Silberzweig's paintings are bold, colorful and imaginative.  She primarily paints stylized, patterned-filled portraits. 

I worked with the third and fourth grade classes to create an assessment rubric for this lesson. We talked about what qualities artwork would need to get into the "Wowy-Zowy Zone." Students used this rubric to inspire revisions of their work and self-evaluate.  Click here to view this rubric.


Third and fourth grade artists looked at examples of Silberzweig's artwork, then created portraits inspired by her unique style.  We used chalk pastel and oil pastel and focused on choosing warm and cool color combinations and creating patterns.

Matisse Goldfish Collage by Grades Three and Four

Third and fourth graders looked at Henri Matisse's Goldfish painting as inspiration for their Original Works Fundraiser collages.  We started by painting a variety of colored paper using different watercolor techniques.  Then we used crayons to create a patterned background using watercolor resist.  We looked at several examples of Matisse's paintings and collages for inspiration for the patterns and colors of the background and shapes to include in our collages.  

Painted paper using liquid watercolor paint, salt, plastic wrap, bubble wrap and other techniques:

Collages inspired by Matisse's Goldfish:

Repetition in Art

What is repetition, pattern, and rhythm? How do they relate to each other?

Repetition refers to one object or shape repeated; pattern is a combination of elements or shapes repeated in a recurring and regular arrangement; rhythm--is a combination of elements repeated, but with variations.

Click here for another resource about REPETITION

Pattern, lines, printmaking, watercolor resist

Kindergarten, first and second grade students helped make last weekend's "Country Christmas" festive with these colorful decorations. We practiced making different types of lines and patterns and experimented  with the watercolor resist technique. We also explored printmaking using a muffin tin and shiny tempera paint.