Kasuma Pumpkin Prints

For this Halloween themed project, Grade 4-6 students looked at the work of the "Princess of Polka Dots", Yayoi Kasuma. She lives and works in Japan.

For Yayoi Kusama, pumpkins have been a lifelong source of fascination. She was first drawn to them in childhood, citing their “generous unpretentiousness” and “spiritual balance,” and has explored them continually in her painting, sculpture, installation art, and poetry. They first appeared in her work in the 1940s and have been the subject of some of the most important works of her career. Today, polka-dotted pumpkins are synonymous with the artist and her idiosyncratic style.

Students started off by drawing a realistic pumpkin with segments. 

Then outline it in Sharpie and create the Kasuma dot pattern within each segment. 

Start large, then medium, then small.

Once it's all dotted in, cut a sheet of tin foil the same size as the paper.

Using bingo daubers, draw a pattern all over the tin foil. Spray it with a water bottle to wet the whole sheet of foil.  Then press the pumpkin drawing face down onto the wet tin foil. Rib the back gently and them lift to reveal the colourful print!

Some completed Grade 4,5,6 artwork!