While I was introducing my daughter to the artist Robert Rauschenberg last month for a project she noticed his artwork of a bed, hanging on a wall, splattered in paint and said I want to make that!
(If you missed our introduction to Rauschenberg, scroll to the bottom for a little catch up)
So for this project we grabbed:
- A canvas (you could also use a piece of cardboard)
- Fabric scraps
- Fabric glue or hot glue gun
- Fluff (cotton balls would work)
- Paint
First we made our canvas’s look a little more like beds. We covered them in pieces of fabric, I bunched mine a little at the top to look like the top blanket had been messed up, and we glued it all in place. Then we made little pillows with fabric, glue, and some fluffy stuff. Then we glued that on top of our canvas beds.
And finally we added some paint.
We love to get inspired by Rauschenberg! His work is so relatable because he explored how art and everyday life could intersect.
Meet Robert Rauschenberg, an artist born in a small town in Texas in 1925 and his name is actually Milton Ernest Rauschenberg. His mother made all their clothes and he asked for his first store bought shirt for his high school graduation. He was drafted into the war in 1943 and upon his release he picked a new name for himself, Bob. It was then that he started taking art classes and began his artistic career.
Rauschenberg is considered one of the most influential artists because of his unique methods in combining everyday life with art. He actually called his creations “combines” because they combined so many different materials and merged art and life. His experiments with everyday objects challenged the idea of what could be considered art and opened up so many different avenues for artists coming after him.