Cassette Tape Line Drawing

This lesson idea came from the need to purge my house of things that I no longer use, and I thought the tape from cassettes would make the perfect medium to explain how to use line without using traditional drawing materials. We talked about the use of line in artwork and the many different effects that lines can create. I gave each student a piece of neon card stock, a cassette tape print out and a length of actual tape from old cassettes (just not my mix tapes from the early 90's- too much work went into making those!) We listened to one of my favorite bands, The Black Keys and the students colored their tapes and glued the tape down in fun tangles. I showed the work of cassette tape artist Erika Iris Simmons who makes beautiful portraits of musicians using the tape from old cassettes.