Rizzi Inspired Collages

If you've ever thought about having your art class make an urban skyline? Pop artist James Rizzi's NYC skyline paintings just might be the right inspiration.

The kids really like to see his colorful, childlike images and and try to figure out what zany symbols they can find scattered through out   his paintings. 

Our inspiration- a James Rizzi skyline

The kids start off this collage by cutting out shapes for the buildings. Hint- they don't have to be realistic looking, just geometric. They are told that the buildings have to be touching or overlapping to fill up the space across the bottom of the paper.

After they have cut out and glued their buildings on they can start adding the details- windows, door, antennas, etc. I always like to give different options, so the kids can differentiate what their final project will look like. 

The kids are only required that they collage a skyline of buildings. But if the are so inspired by the Rizzi paintings, they have the option of adding an extra layer- either a highway, river or subway below the buildings, if they like. (A lot of the kids add the extra layer. Woo Hoo!)The above collage has a river added below the buildings.

The next step, after all the pieces are glued down, is to start drawing in all the zany details in the sky. They can add clouds, sun, moon, lightning, flying saucers, all inspired by Rizzi. Or they can start adding their own ideas, like the clock, balloons or helicopters. All seen below.

Take a Chance and Differentiate!

As I said earlier, I like for the kids to differentiate what's done on my lessons. It can be exciting to take a chance on trying a  variation on what we are doing. And below is an example of that. He wanted to collage the sky and just added a little Sharpie drawing on the river. Insert another, "Woo Hoo"! I think it came out great!

What do you think of our Rizzi inspired collages? Would they work in your art room?

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