#Cardboard art files series

Use scissors or utility knife to cut out your basic background shape out of the cardboard-square, rectangle, heart, whatever (a grown-up job).Ģ. 8-12 inch length of ribbon (for hanging)ġ.Oil pastels or Sharpie markers or other drawing tool (optional).Acrylic paint (but BioColor or tempera paint would work okay, too).Cardboard scraps (we used mostly corrugated cardboard from boxes, but some other kinds of cardboard as well).Here’s the basic how-to :: Modern Art for Kids from Cardboard Scraps But you could just as easily cut up a single cardboard box that is headed for the recycle bin and offer it up to your kids for art-making. We used corrugated cardboard scraps left over from the cardboard dollhouses we made recently-box flaps that had been cut off and window pieces that had been cut out. However, it quickly turned into one of many modern art pieces that have been made by both kids as well as a couple of their friends, hung on our walls, and turned into Valentine gifts.īesides looking awesome, these cardboard art projects are a fun way to recycle cardboard boxes and cardboard scraps into wall-worthy modern art!

#Cardboard art files series

The strong graphic element to Mark’s work and his ability to recreate typefaces and logos in cardboard has meant many of his works have been commissioned for paper and corrugated card manufacturers, green organisations and recycling firms.This series of cardboard art projects started both as a way to use cardboard scraps and to keep my younger daughter happily occupied (and, yes, quiet) while the older one did her homework. He aims not only to contribute to the recycling movement in his own small way but to inspire others to ask of themselves what they can do to help. Mark Langan is from Cleveland, Ohio and since 2004 he has been working with reclaimed corrugated cardboard boxes and non-toxic glue to create works of art with a powerful message. These magical and intricate creations are painstakingly hand made with the use of tweezers and cut-out paper by Parisian artist Anastassia Elias who also works as a painter and illustrator. It’s almost impossible to believe that such everyday scenes could be so beautifully captured inside the humble toilet roll. He says, “It’s a way of creating a language which is understood by many.” Above – Vespa Rally, below – 3 Bikes. The immediate access of cardboard and its freedom from cultural weight is what draws him to the material. Having initially employed clean pristine cardboard, he now uses cardboard boxes found on the street with printing, tape and labels intact. Pictured above – Aston Martin DB5 (2006). It’s an interesting effect to observe and I think this immediacy is important to enter the work, to grab the viewer. The interaction with the works seems to create a kind of short circuit in the viewer: you want to open the car door, or turn the wheel on the bike, but of course you can’t. Since this is both a visual and conceptual work I choose objects for their visual appeal and cultural resonance, but I also usually choose objects which imply an action or interaction of some sort. On his choice of subjects for his work, the artist says, The artist chose this commonplace material because it somehow captured the limitations of the connections he was trying to reconstruct, but he was able to capture an incredibly lifelike and human demeanour nonetheless.īritish artist Dylan Shields challenges our perception of high art by creating sculpture from cardboard, a seemingly throwaway material, to reconstruct biblical scenes or those from classical mythology, usually associated with the Old Masters.Īpollo and Daphne (detail above) is a unique interpretation of the classical myth made entirely from recycled cardboard.Ĭhris Gilmour is a British artist based in Italy who makes sculptures of everyday objects – often mechanical, out of cardboard. The characters are abstracted and the backs of each figure are left hollow, revealing the intricate construction of piece. The experience inspired him to make life size sculptures of the residents, one individual at a time, in discarded cardboard. Some of the locals he met remembered his grandparents who had left 50 years previously, before the Chinese Civil War. New York artist Warren King travelled to China in 2010 for the first time, to a village in Shaoxing, where his ancestors once lived. Elevated from its humble status, this post explores how artists have been able to exploit its creative potential in unexpected ways, through the work of five modern day masters of cardboard art and sculpture. With more of us shopping online, cardboard packaging is fast becoming one of the most ubiquitous materials we discard on a daily basis.