Frida Kahlo was a strong woman who created powerful images. Her signature flowers in her hair have made her recognizable throughout the world. My dear friend Susan had suggested this project last year and even sent us props, but Kate and I often sit on ideas for a while before we take action. Then an opportunity presented itself at Michael’s with the $2.00 Grab Bags. Kate had been shopping and she called me all excited about these bags of out of season merchandise selling for $2.oo each. We love a good sale. She bought a couple, went to her car and investigated their contents. She promptly went back into the store and bought the remaining 14 bags. They were filled with lots of goodies—much of which were silk flowers. We had ignition, so it was off to the dollar store for headbands.
The first step was creating the flower crowns: we cut the blooms off their stems, and hot glued them onto the headbands. As you can see, there are many variations.
We showed the children images of Frida and her work (leaving some of the very graphic images out as her life was filled with pain and suffering as her paintings often depict). We did talk about how much of her life was about managing her pain, yet creating all the while. Inspired by her iconic self-portraits, many of the kids chose to emulate her signature look.
Next was the photo shoot! Diana, who works with Kate, took beautiful images of the children showing off their Frida-esque selves. I used my phone to take ours and gave the kids the choice of three different scarves to wrap themselves in. Many of the staff at Maya Lin (including our principal) could not help but participate in the photo shoot and fun.
The final product was created with liquid watercolors, colored pencils and the photos. I cut the photos into ovals and Kate let the children decide how cut theirs. The results are breathtaking. We displayed them at the 2nd Friday Art Walk in October. As you can see, the children took great pride in their work.