Islamic Stained Glass Windows and Tiles

The Nasir Ol Mok "Pink Mosque" in Irans

slideshow can be downloaded here

Here's another stained glass option for the holidays (other stained glass lessons: medieval rose window, and Chagall. See sidebar for those). The stained glass seen in Islamic structures is different from medieval stained glass, or figural, because the designs are geometric and pattern based, and don't include the human form. In the slideshow you can see many examples of the gorgeous and intricate stained glass found inside the Nasir Ol Mok "Pink Mosque", in Iran. This building was designed specifically for the morning light - as it comes through the stained glass, the colored light spills on the persian rugs to create an otherworldly kaleidoscope of color and pattern. (For better pictures than the slideshow, go look at this article).

As you go through the slides with the kids, questions you might ask in addition to "What can you see? What more can you find? What makes you say that?" could be - what do you think the designers of the glass windows' goal was? How does the weather affect one's experience of this place? How do you think you'd feel, standing in that pool of color?

The art activity for this lesson is pretty flexible - you can take it a few different directions depending on the age of the students and how much time you have.

Option 1 - Stained glass out of parchment paper 

from artsyartfulamy.com

Have the kids draw a geometric pattern or design on parchment paper using black sharpies and markers (colored sharpies and also crayola water-based work on parchment). You might want to download and print out a few templates of geometric designs for the kids to trace - they can combine the templates for added creativity. (Templates can be downloaded here, just scroll down about halfway through the article and to find the templates. They have a bunch of different shapes...). Then use black construction paper to create the exterior of the window, as seen above, and glue on.

Option 2 - tiles out of card stock

from mrsbrowsart.com

Using sharpies and markers, have the kids create symmetrical designs on card stock. The ones shown above are circles but bonus points for using some of the shapes found in the templates linked in the above activity.

Blue Willow

BLUE WILLOW CHINA

vintage china plate, inspired by a pattern produced in China during the 18th c.

Art Style: Domestic Art

Activity: painting, drawing

Materials: black/blue/grey construction paper, white paper, scissors, glue, blue paint, oil pastels

(This is a fun project where you can talk a little about symmetry and design, that doesn't require complicated materials. Go here for the original lesson on Deep Space Sparkle.)

Meet the Artist: The blue willow design was said to be used as secret propaganda - a way for the Hung society to defy the Manchu leaders who were in charge. The bad people in the story were a symbol for the bullying Manchus, but it took awhile for the Manchu leaders to notice that a story was being told and given that meaning on plates. Once they figured it out, it is claimed that they tried to destroy all of the dishes with this pattern, but somehow one got smuggled into England during the 1700's and the design became immortalized. Art can be a powerful way for even weak and unrepresented people to have a voice in their societies.

"Blue Willow" is an animated short film made by New Zealand filmaker Veialu Aila-Unsworth, based on the old chinese fairy tale of Blue Willow. (See the beautiful trailer here). Go here, if you'd like a link to a slideshow made from movie stills that you can use to tell the class the story.

Discussion: Art, if you are looking, is all over the place. Have you ever noticed the designs and decorations that are a part of the every day objects that you use? (Examples could be skateboards, quilts, fabric on cushions, clothing, etc.) Have you thought about the things these designs might be communicating? Look at the slide of the plate. What do you see? What makes you say that? What more can you find?

Activity: Fold the white paper in half, and have the kids draw half of a vase. Cut it out, unfold to reveal a symmetrical vase shape. Use blue paint and paint a chinese-like design on the vase. Glue the vase to the background, and using pastels, draw flowers coming out of the vase. 

Paper Plate Variation: This is a fun variation that we did with success in 7th grade - instead of doing the vases, the kids painted their own blue willow plates with blue tempera paint onto paper plates. Before starting to paint, we went back to the first plate slide, and made a list on the board of the design elements found in the plate: border design with a repeating pattern, birds, pagoda/temple, chinese structure, bridge, willow tree, water/river, plants, waves. This seemed to help the kids to have a starting point. The image below is from a blog where I found the idea - and the kids' plates from our project looked pretty similar. 

Student Work: