5th graders have spent an awful lot of time on traditional African art this year. I thought we needed to study some African art from an artist who is still alive. I found Rodney Blumenfeld‘s art after a little Google work and really loved all the geometric shapes. I really loved it after reading more about his inspiration.
Blumenfeld is a South African artist who started as an architect. His art is inspired by two South African tribes, Xhosa and Ndebele and their art work.
Xhosa
Nebedele
Rodney Blumenfeld’s work:
5th graders started by sketching out their own designs.
After rolling out slabs and cutting them into the shapes of our plates, students used sgraffito to etch their designs into their clay. Sgraffito is just a fancy way to say to etch into something.
Then they were fired and glazed.
And they turned out beautiful!!
