Betty Woodman has always been one of my favorite artists. I've always been attracted to how she has abstracted ceramic forms and presented us with a new interpretation of a vase/vessel. The color and patterns in her work are so playful and engaging.

Here work, combined with this video go me thinking about how I could bring the beauty of flowers to the classroom.

This unit with Grade 1s looked at pattern, shapes and form. The students had done a number of small projects exploring organic and geometric shapes. Inspired by Betty Woodman and her approach to form and color, we made our own vases with flowers. Students started by looking at various vase forms and building a 3D paper model of a vase. Then, we looked at color and shape and how these could be used to cover a surface. Finally, we painted our forms twice, once focusing on the inside, and the second time looking at the negative space around the vase.