Samantha22773's artwork

from school project "Calabash Animals"

About this School Project (Calabash Animals)

Students read the story "The Calabash Cat," https://www.amazon.com/Calabash-Cat-James-Rumford-ebook/dp/B003V4B4FC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507991888&sr=8-1&keywords=the+calabash+cat

about a curious African cat who sets out to discover where the world ends and meets a lot of animals along the way. It's not until an eagle invites the cat to ride upon his back that he discovers the truth of a world "without an end." For our art lesson, students picked an animal to draw from the story or habitats from the story and learned out to draw complex patterns. We discussed many types of lines and shapes as well as the thickness of lines. We used construction paper crayons in order of the color wheel to trace around our animals symbolizing the huge expanse of the world with its many habitats.
We also learned that a real Calabash is a type of tropical fruit that grows on trees and were able to view many pictures. They are very large! (5-10lbs) The designs are made by using a hot tool to burn the designs into the gourd and some designs are carved. The author lived in Africa for a short time and was inspired to write the story. The text is also translated in the Arabic dialect of Chad.