BMUFSD: Third Graders Create Art Inspired By Yayoi Kusama

Press release from the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District:

2023-10-04

A successful school relies not only on dedicated teachers and staff; it also takes kind and thoughtful parents to help make the school thrive.

Last year, Briarcliff mom Kristen Dolzynki donated two children’s’ books about famous Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama to Todd art teacher Paul Villanueva.

Yayoi Kusama is famous throughout the world for her dot patterns, which are used on large-scale installations and on diverse surfaces, such as walls and floors.

A short while after the books were donated, Todd technology expert Sam Conlon gave Mr. Villanueva CD labels that he no longer needed.

“I thought to myself: we could use these CD labels to create artwork with dots just like Yayoi Kusama’s work,” Mr. Villanueva said.

At a recent art class, third graders in Therese Verderosa’s class sat quietly on the rug as Mr. Villanueva read to them one of the books about Ms. Kusama’s life and how she was inspired to make her art.

He explained the activity, adding specific rules:

“You will put the CD stickers on the papers first and then add the dots,” he said. “You must draw your dots as circles and then color them in. You can use crayons, Sharpies or markers. The dots can be any size and can be mixed colors, or with one color inside and another outside. You can also create shapes with the dots, but you cannot use lines – we are doing only dots for this activity.

“This is a unique, fun project,” he told the students. “When I received the books from the parent, that was just good luck, but you can always find things at home that just fall into your lap and that you can turn into art.”

Students experimented with various shapes – some choosing to randomly draw the dots, while others created a specific object.

“I’m making all my dots in the shape of a car,” Adriano said. “I think the artist’s art is creative because: dots!”

This press release was produced by the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.