Possible process to design students' own celebration patterns.

1. Define the context: Brainstorm a list of celebratory or special events in the school or community calendar which could be opportunities to make and share artworks. Select one event where there could be an opportunity to design and make a pattern to share with others which decorates the environment. Decide on the purpose the artwork could have e.g to welcome, greet, tell a story, to mark an occasion etc.

2. Generate visual ideas

• Decide on a relevant source of ideas from which to explore shape, line and patterns through drawing. Local plants, flowers, animals, local stories, or geometric patterns can all provide material for observation.
• Make sketches. Consider how to focus and refocus the students on lines, shapes and patterns as they work.
• Include some 'action-reflection' time to share ideas in the group and build a pool of visual ideas. Keep these images in a visual diary or display for further reference before the next session to give thinking and looking time.

Considerations for implementation

• See the design process on page 29 in Design - exploring the Visual Arts in Years 1-6 (Ministry of Education Visual Arts resource)
• Consider using drawing warm-ups prior to observational drawing (for example free doodling of lines and shapes in rhythm on the page)
• Consider the references and materials that need to be gathered and how the children will have access to these to observe and draw from
• Refer to 'pattern and rhythm', page 13 in Design and Graphics in Technology, a resource for teachers of Year 1-8 (Ministry of Education)
• See "action -reflection" and its purposes on page 88 of the Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum

Preparing and trialling the design: develop a design using the ideas generated from the drawings

Select a key shape(s) from the drawings as a motif to explore for pattern making. Consider representational and/or symbolic forms.

1. Explore visual ideas

• Cut out photocopied or traced copies of the motif(s)...rotate, mirror, or repeat shapes, placing them to make a pattern. Refer back to the ways in which pattern has been built up in the rangoli designs for ideas on how a repeat design can be made…consider symmetry and balance. Do not glue down the shapes in place until several ideas for composition have been tried. (Record possible ideas in visual diary for later use if desired). Share visual ideas with a peer/class to help build more ideas or select effective ones.

2. Refine ideas

• Students could be given more time to refine their designs by making copies of the chosen layout (or photocopying these) and then adding linking lines between the shapes to create possible variations on the pattern.
• Keep the final design to use as a reference when making the pattern outside.
• Share with a buddy how the pattern was made and why the motif was selected. Display patterns at the end of the session, as work in progress.

Considerations for implementation

• Gather materials for pattern making such as paper, scissors, gluesticks. pencils. Optional: tracing paper, tape, blu-tac, graph paper, felt pens and access to photocopier.  

To prepare the design for making it outside, students could also graph the design using the dot, line, shape process

1. First look at examples of easy 'join the dot' puzzles and try some as preparation for this way of working. Discuss how to make a simple drawing e.g leaf, flower shape into a dot puzzle.

2. Use graph paper to map the prepared paper design.

3. Chart the starting dots for recreating the design in one colour. Use another colour to show the lines between the dots which make up the pattern. Fill in some of the shapes with colour if this would be an effective addition to the design. (See animation) which shows a rangoli being drawn in sequential steps beginning with a series of dots which outlines the pattern.) Go here for a do it yourself colour-in rangoli pattern.

4. Students could teach a peer how to draw their design - giving them the beginning set of dots and showing them in which order to join them, or number the dots to show the joining sequence. This method can then be used to map out the design outside.

5. Alternatively: trial the design by painting the pattern in cellulose glue (wallpaper paste) on paper. Sprinkle over paint powder, sawdust, on the paper, tap off excess powder onto newspaper or a tray to discard or collect up for further use. Glue small twists of coloured tissue inside/around the design to fill in some of the shapes with colour.

6. Reflect: Share the designs in a small group - use some of the initial viewing questions to look at the different ways students have made their patterns and the effects that have been created.

Considerations for implementation

• Find easy, intermediate and advanced examples of join-the-dot puzzles to look at.  
• Consider how to set up the materials so that children have access to them and discuss clean-up procedures.  

Recreating the patterns outside

1. Research

• Brainstorm materials in which to draw the designs on the outside site and decide on the scale of the final artwork. Some possibilities for materials include using hand-poured commercial rangoli powder, chalk drawn on asphalt, dry tempera paint powder brushed on (mixed with a little water to make a thick paste), sand (could use a pouring spout/vessel to control the flow), rice flour or coloured flour and water paste brushed on. (Refer to accompanying references which discuss materials used in rangoli making.)

Considerations for implementation

• Alternatively the teacher could trial and select a media for recreating the patterns outside.

2. Developing solutions

• Conduct a PMI ( Plus/Minus/Interesting evaluation) of the materials by trialling a small shape or part of a design.
• Decide on the sequence of working that will be used outside to recreate the design, for example, whether to start with dots first then filling in lines or to work from the centre of the design outwards so it is not stepped on.
• Negotiate and decide on the layout of designs if making a collaborative work to decorate a particular space outside.
• Consider when the patterns will need to be made in relation to the event/celebration.
• Decide on the scale to which the pattern will be reproduced outside.
• Consider whether leaves or flower petals could be added to the design to fill in the shapes and include colour in some areas. Plan how to source these materials.
• Make the pattern using the selected materials in the chosen environment.
• Use a digital camera to record the art making process outside and how the design is transformed during the celebration/over time. Invite people to enjoy the work and ask them what they think of the designs.

Considerations for implementation

• Give students the opportunity to practise with the media before making their own design.

Evaluation of art making process

1. Students could interview one another about the challenges and satisfactions of the work or any surprises in the outcome of the process e.g how did you select the final motif/design from the ideas you came up with?

2. Compare/contrast the class work and approach with that of rangoli artists. For example, what purposes for the art do the artists have/we have?

Student Reflection

1. Does our design do what we intended it to do?

2. What happened to the artwork over time?