This one is a variation on using a grid to scale up a drawing.
We start with some pictorial sources, like calendar pages, which I cut into perfect squares on the paper cutter. It's important to start with square sources. We then fold those references like a map and cut on the folds to produce a stack of puzzle pieces, more or less.
Then I give the students larger square pieces of paper, which they fold identically (only larger) and cut the same way. The younger students should make less folds and end up with less sections than the older students.
I have the students scramble their reference pieces and stack them face down. One at a time, they draw a piece to copy onto one of their blank pieces of paper, which they set aside to dry. I don't let them assemble the pieces until they are done. I explain to the perfectionists that the point of the project is to force ourselves to work through a process to see how that affects the final art work.
They can try to be as accurate as possible, or they can work more casually. They can even change the colors as they go.
When all the pieces are copied, they assemble the pieces and collage them onto a new piece of paper or board. Because they are unlikely to cut straight lines, and because the pieces get scrambled, the finished pieces will not line up exactly. I tell them this is part of the charm of the art, that there are imperfections that are fun and interesting to look at. We have achieved a particular aesthetic that has to do with things looking hand-made and assembled—pieced together like a quilt. Some would call this a form of Cubism but I would not consider that to be strictly correct.
The examples pictured here had not yet been glued to a substrate. Note how two of the students very intentionally painted quadrants different colors. It reminds me a little of something Warhol might have done.
