Anansi the Spider Collage
Anansi is a folk tale character that can take the form of a man or a spider. He is the god of all knowledge for storytelling. His tales can be heard across West Africa and the Caribbean, but his tales from Ghana are most well-known. These stories were originally told in the oral tradition. His name may change from country to country, but the rich tradition of his “spider tales” is universal.
Our class begins with a reading of Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott. This is a link to an old animated video of the story. It’s really lovely and I encourage you to watch it to get a sense of the beautiful graphic quality of the illustrations from the book. We’ll be using the illustrations as inspiration for our Anansi collage.
MATERIALS:
+ black square paper
+ construction paper crayons, oil pastels, or colored pencils
+ colorful scrap paper
+ glue
+ scissors
We start with the web. I created a pentagon (five-sided shape) somewhere on the paper. It does not need to be in the center. Create some diagonal lines radiating out of the pentagon. You can make more than five lines, but stick with an odd number. Connect these lines with perpendicular lines, making them connect to start forming the web. Add some dots to the lines and then fill in some patterns. Each photo above details each step.
Set the web aside when you’re finished and grab those scraps. You’re going to make Anansi in the style of the illustration. Ovular head, triangular body, small details, and then legs that look like “V’s” How many legs should you make? Can you figure it out before you look at my final example? Glue everything onto your web background and you’re done!
My Anansi is bright and bold and still stands out on my colorful web. How will you make your Anansi? Similar colors for legs? Lots of different colors for your legs? Good luck and happy making!