The Tape Project

"Now this is what I call Art!" - Sawyer, Age 6  

The Tape Project took place one Monday in May, 2012

There were 15 students, Ages 5-8
Materials: 8 rolls colored masking tape, one primed 10 x 10' canvas (black)

This project was done during a class that was part of my afterschool enrichment course at CWC (Citizens of the World Charter School) Hollywood. The course was titled "Making Marks with Miss Kay", where we focused mark-making on collaborating and working together. During this course which took place once a week for ten weeks, we shared paintings and challenged our ideas about why art is made and who it might belong to. To stay away from intimidating the kids with this very large concept we merely talked about making marks together. The idea is that you are free to make your own marks, understanding that others are perfectly allowed to add to them, just as we should have the freedom to appreciate a mark that exists and to add to it in our own way.

For The Tape Project I spent an hour and a half covering my classroom in pieces of colored tape to prep for the one hour class....

The only job the students had was to gather tape from the classroom and get it onto the canvas. My job was to stand on a chair, take photos... and flip the record :)

For the full affect, here's a sample from our Album of the Day- Rock 'n' Roll with The Modern Lovers

And so we began...

It took them a minute to get started, and even more to be okay with the fact that when they would get up to get more tape they might return to find someone else was adding to a mark they felt belonged to them. As they got used to the idea however it became very fun to work together, 'Let's make it all connect!" they exclaimed. Suddenly the task was a wild adventure and things started to move quickly...

So quickly in fact that in order to get the most tape down in the least amount of time they realized that they could cover their arms with it..... and then their legs....

Two interesting things happened after they realized how much tape they could really carry. When they had covered themselves in so much tape that they couldn't keep track of it all, a lot of the tape became destroyed (getting smashed against the other students or the classroom furniture, falling off and getting stepped on, or becoming cemented together in tape clumps) therefore becoming useless to the project. Another incident that slowed down the project was that a handful of the students turned into some kind of salesperson,  real Tape Vendors! "Who wants green!?!", "I got lotsa pee-ink, who needs pee-ink?!?", "Eh, eh! Blue over here!!". At one point there were less people making marks and more people wheelin' n' dealin'....

There was little exchanging, the vendors seemed to just have more of an interest in having something people would want or need and possessing the power to give it to them. Those who accepted the tape were grateful but some also seemed to simply enjoy the convenience of the vendors, with little regard for choice-making and the color or shape of the tape they received. All I could do was to suggest that they try to grab only what they could carry safely and use it for the project without destroying anything along the way. A few of them took it to heart, others did not, but eventually things settled down and the project continued smoothly...

Just a couple of last stomps to make sure its all good and stuck....

And Voila! Our Masterpiece!

Once we were finished we circled the canvas, getting every angle to see what we could make of what we had created.... WHAT DO YOU SEE??