3rd Grade: The Notan

For this project students were introduced to the Notan; a Japanese play of light versus dark. Students viewed and discussed various Notan designs that included organic and geometric shapes while pointing out positive versus negative space. Students then drew shapes that had to: go off the page, no floating shapes, no corner shapes, and cover all four sides of the square. The shapes created were then carefully cut out so students could "flip the image" to get the Notan effect.