Fine Artist
Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who LOVES dots! She has covered everything — paintings, pumpkins, furniture, whole rooms — in polka dots. She says dots help her feel connected to the universe. Her "Infinity Mirror Rooms" make visitors feel like they are standing inside a never-ending world of glowing lights. She has been making art since she was a little girl and is now in her 90s!
Artwork to Display
George Quasha, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Artwork to Display
- Pumpkin sculptures (yellow and black dots)
- Infinity Mirrored Room — The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013)
- Self-Obliteration (1966)
- Dots Obsession installations
- Yayoi Kusama: From Here to Infinity by Sarah Suzuki
- The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds (not about Kusama but pairs beautifully!)
George Quasha, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Inspired by Kusama's obsessive, joyful dot-covered paintings, your child will fill an entire page with dots, and leaving no empty space. The challenge is repetition, color variety, and patience!
Supplies
- White cardstock or thick paper
- Markers, crayons, or dot painters (bingo daubers)
- Pencil (for sketching the subject lightly first)
Dollar store finds: bingo daubers make this extra fun and are often available at dollar stores. A set of markers works great too.
Steps
- Lightly sketch a simple subject in pencil: a pumpkin, a flower, a butterfly, or even just your name. Keep it big and simple.
- Start filling in your subject with dots. Vary the sizes. Some could be small, others medium, maybe even a few teenie-tiny ones. Try not to let two dots of the same color touch each other.
- Once the subject is filled, keep going into the background! Fill every inch of the paper with dots until no white space is showing.
- Step back and look. Notice how all those tiny marks create something big and energetic!
- This project rewards patience. If your child gets frustrated, remind them Kusama has been making dots for over 70 years!
- There is truly no wrong color combination. Let your child own their choices completely.
- For younger kids, focus just on filling the subject with dots and leave the background white — that's still very Kusama-inspired.