Now it is time to take all you know about E. B. White and his books for children and create a work of art that beautifully and creatively represents his books’ themes and ideas. Yes, you will be using your shoebox for this, but no, it is not to be a diorama. A diorama is a scene and I hope you can do something more — a something that represents what is special and unique about E. B. White and his children’s books. In fact, what I hope you will do is create a box modeled on those of artist Joseph Cornell, an artist who created remarkable boxes and collages using all sorts of stuff.
To learn more I will read aloud Joseph Cornell: Secrets in a Box and then show you a very special object — The Joseph Cornell Box: Found Objects, Magical Worlds. As I do so, you might want to jot down or draw some ideas in your sketchbook to use when creating your own box.
After that you can begin to create your own E. B. White Box! First of all, come up with a plan in your sketchbook. Think about the themes of the books — White’s focus on animals, nature, friendship, life/death, changes, love, and more. How can you create a box that shows this? Use writing and drawing to represent your ideas. (And you may want to think about the materials you will need to do this. I have some, but you may want to bring in stuff from home as well.) While your plan may not be detailed, you must have an idea before you start the box.
After having your idea okayed by me you can begin the box itself. And before doing anything else cover all the insides of the box (so we can’t see any of the cardboard). Once that is done think about how you might divide up parts of the box. Maybe you want to do a border? Be sure to think about words, letters in addition to objects. I can’t wait to see what sort of wonderful boxes you come up with. Have fun!
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