Creative Uses of Negative Space

One aspect that I really work hard on is challenging my students. Challenging them to find their own answers, question their work and others, and challenging them with difficult concepts. Sometimes the students get frustrated when I ask "Well, what do you think" instead of just answering the question, but we can all attest to how this can help a student grow in their artistic talents.

The challenge for this project? How can we utilize negative space to make new positive space? If you're turning your head in confusion, then you are right where my students started. Then I introduced these images http://imgfave.com/view/2708446. We discussed in length how these images use negative space to create new positive space. This took quite awhile for the students to really grasp and A LOT of thumbnails sketching. Here's what they came up with

Negative space from the 'E' makes positive space of buildings OR Negative space from buildings make positive space for 'E'

Inspired by tessellations. Negative space between soccer balls makes kites and landscape 

Willow branches make hair for portrait.

Some were more successful than others but all created very interesting compositions. Some of my favorites not pictured because students swept them away before I could snap a picture. They were just too excited to share (hopefully in upcoming Art Show) I was very impressed with my 7th graders :) They took this challenge on head first.