Islamic Geometry Colorwheel

 

This past summer I was able to travel to Morocco through a generous grant from the National Education Association Foundation. (If you'd like to apply, check out the grant information here!) To say it was a life-changing experience is a bit of an understatement.  Getting to experience a culture vastly different from my own, exploring areas both urban and rural and getting to really known several locals made this a transformative journey, not a vacation. More than anything I loved learning about the traditional arts and crafts made throughout Morocco, and the processes the artisans use to make them.  Everywhere possible I stopped and tried to talk (through our guide or a translation app) to craftspeople or at least watch them work.  One of my favorite experiences of the trip was a trip to a mosaic tile studio where I was able to not only watch the mosaics being made, but was able to try parts of the process myself! I don't think this is a normal part of the tour, and I am so grateful to our wonderful guide Yaccine for arranging for me to be able to talk with the artisans longer and try my hand at it.  The intricate tile mosaics are EVERYWHERE throughout Morocco, and while each has similar themes, they are also each unique and beautiful.  I knew right away I wanted to share this artform with my students when I returned home. 

(Check out some of my other blog posts to find out more about other crafts such as leather tanning, carpet weaving, and more here!)

We began the unit by introducing the art of zellige tile mosaics found throughout Morocco and many other Islamic countries. Here is the presentation I used to familiarize students with not only the designs, but also the process used to create these magnificent murals. We also watched a fascinating video of artisans recreating a Moroccan court at the Met in New York city. 

To begin their designs students were given a series of resources including books, links to instructional videos, and printed step-by-step instructions.  I tired to make sure students had a variety of resources because I know some students do better watching the process vs. figuring it out through a series of pictures or even just by experimenting on their own. I also tried to make sure that the instructional videos were those created by artists of Arabic/Islamic backgrounds. 

Here's a link to a series of instructional videos  I gathered into a presentation you can share with your students!

From here all students used rulers, protractors and compasses to create their design.  Students could create a traditional design by following a video or guide. They were also encouraged to experiment and create their own design based on the beginning steps that many of the designs share.  For a couple of days it sounded like a math class as they talked about what angle to use to draw a line that might divide their design into 6, 8 or 12 pieces.  This design process was my favorite part of the project as it allowed for a great diversity in not only patterns but also ability levels.  If you have any students that are having a hard time using the tools, or just want to give them a neat way to digitally visualize the process, check out this handy online zelije maker from QFI! An easy modification would be to have a student design their pattern with the digital maker, then trace it onto their final paper.

Once the design was complete on graph paper, students learned how to do a simple graphite transfer to get their design onto a canvas.  If you've never done this before, its so helpful and we use the method quite frequently in class!  Basically you scribble/shade the whole back of the paper with a regular pencil.  Then you just flip it over onto your canvas and trace each of the lines.  Tracing the design pushes the graphite on the back of the paper onto the canvas!  Students may want to trace over the design on the canvas with sharpie or a permanent maker, but it's not necessary. 

Now your students are ready to paint!  Because this is a color-mixing project many students decide to set their colors up in color wheel order, though I encouraged students to go ahead and fill in colors in patterns as they saw fit.  The only rule for our project was that they must makes hues, tints, and shades of all primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.  When we do this project again, I think each student will pick a color sc heme such as split complementary or analogous to keep the designs a little closer to the original source material.