Friday, May 8, 2015

Perspective is Everything: Lenticular Art

A couple of months ago, the talented and resourceful Laura Sexton (@SraSpanglish on twitter) posted the following video:
She was looking for a way to use the video in her Spanish class.

Perspective is everything. Figuratively, in that even though I had seen the video before, I didn't have a thought about using it as a springboard for a class activity. Literally, in that lenticular art changes based on the angle at which you view it.

The concept seems complicated, and you will find that almost every tutorial online for creating lenticular art (I tried not to have to reinvent the wheel) is based on technological knowledge and special equipment. However, you don't really need Adobe Photoshop and a 3D printer to create lenticular art--you just need to be able to fold paper.

My lesson idea was really aimed at a brain break for my students. Due to the way things timed out in our district, my students had been taking two high-stakes tests per day the previous week (I'm sure I don't need to tell you my feelings on intensive testing, but if you're not sure, you can read about it here), were about to start another round of high-stakes testing, and it just seemed like they needed something calm, creative, and different.

I started by showing them the video above to introduce the idea.

The instructions were simple:
1. Create a two-part message in Latin. It can be a serious or as humorous as you like.
2. Design an image to go with each part of your message. The image will be in full color (no white paper)--this is important so the lenticular effect is clear.
3. Follow the instructions on the handout!

Here is the handout that I gave my students, explaining how to make art of their own.

I think it turned out great!
Now I have wonderful multi-dimentional art to decorate my wall.

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