Amate painting

For years now, I've kept these colorful little paintings that I found while sorting through my late grandfather's house. I did not know what they were or where they are from, but I had a hunch that they were a travel souvenier... and I loved the brown handmade paper they are painted upon! Finally, on the never-ending quest for middle school art lessons in my new teaching placement, BINGO! I found a lesson for "Amate Bark Paintings," and noticed that the resources looked suspiciously like the…

Description - Handcrafted paper - Organic made of tree bark. - Freehand painting - Unique parts - Painted with acrylic. Amate paper (from nahuatl "Amatl") is a paper handcrafted from bark from a tree endemic to Oaxaca, Mexico, a type of ficus popularly called Jonote. When using only the bark it is not necessary to exterminate the tree to produce paper. This practice dates back to mesoamerican pre-Hispanic times. They were made by the family De Jesús composed of Don Guillermo, Doña Carmen and…

Downloadable lesson plans in PDF format.

This week, 3rd grade is starting their Amate Bark Paintings! This art form comes from Mexico, and the Otomi & Nahua people. They create the paper by hand, like their ancestors did long, long ago. Birds, animals, flowers, plants, and scenes from everyday life, make up the subject matter in their art, which is very bright and colorful! Here's how we created our own! We create this project using: 9x12" Brown tru-ray construction paper Sharpie markers pencils Crayola Oil Pastels Day 1: Watch a…

During Hispanic Heritage month learn about traditional Amate painting style on tree bark by doing a version with kids with crumpled bags.

Amate painting from Cuernavaca, Morelos in Mexico

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