Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist and writer who moved to the United States in 1957. She became associated with the Pop Art Movement in the 1960s. She is often acknowledged as one of the most important artists to come out of Japan. Kusama’s works also exude many characteristics of abstract expressionism.

Below are ideas for integrating Yayoi Kusama’s Flowers with other subjects.

Thirty-Second Look Have students study the work for thirty seconds only. Then, cover the work. Discuss what they remember and make a class list or chart. Students may remember colors, shapes, subject matter, and more. Once everyone’s memories have been exhausted, uncover the work and add anything that was left out.

Multiplication Representation Have students randomly generate or assign to them a number in the range of 50 to 100. Have them find the factors of the number. Then, have them select two factors that can be multiplied together to get the original number to represent in their artwork. They will draw flowers for one of the factors and petals for the other. So, if a student is representing 48, they might draw two flowers each with 24 petals, or they might draw 6 flowers each with 8 petals. Let them practice drawing on a scratch sheet of paper first. This will help them prepare for drawing large numbers of petals. They will need to use spatial reasoning to make their flowers and petals fit. Some of the petals might need to overlap. Some of the flowers can stick straight up in the vase and some can hang over the side like Kusama’s.

Art-Making Once students have practiced drawing and are comfortable with the process, have them draw their vase and flowers on a large black sheet of construction paper. Remind them to add a horizon line to create the appearance of a wall and table top. They can trace pattern blocks for the background pattern and the table pattern. Let them select one pattern block for each and repeat the shape in the space. They should trace first with a pencil. Then, they can go over the pencil lines for the wall with a white crayon, oil pastel, or chalk. They can go over the pencil lines for the table with black. Then, they can color in the shapes on the table, the vase, and the flowers with whatever colors they choose. Construction paper crayons work great for this task.

Life Cycles Students should understand that the flowers that are picked for vases are the adults of the lifecycle of a plant. They can draw the lifecycle of a plant on a piece of paper and write about it. Display the flowers and vase artwork side-by-side the lifecycles drawing and writing in the hallway. Be sure to put a list of skills with the display to document student learning.

Digital Artwork Have students photograph their artwork using any device (tablets, smart phones, etc.). Then, use common photo manipulation apps to enhance the artwork. Have them do this three times in three different ways. So, they would manipulate a photo of their artwork three different ways. Print each photo to create a Pop Art work in the style of Andy Warhol. Talk to students about Warhol and Kusama’s connection to Pop Art.