April 2021 GCBC: Chile Art Projects, Culture, Movies

Find the full list of Chile activities for kids right here!

These Chile art activities are wonderful for getting to know Chilean leaders and creators, and learning from their gifts and style. Keep reading until the end for some virtual field trips to some amazing museums in Chile!

Featured Chilean Artist: Roberto Matta

Roberto Matta was a famous Chilean painter. He helped progress a period of art known as abstract expressionism and surrealism.

In school, Matta studied architecture and design. Through traveling the world, he met other important artists, especially surrealist artists, including Pablo Picasso. This influenced his own work.

Matta was one of the first artists to use biomorphism, which creates design based on inspiration from nature. (Gaudi later used this form in his tree-inspired design inside La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.)

Interesting fact: “Matta believed that art and poetry can change lives, and was very involved in the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. He was a strong supporter of the socialist government of president Salvador Allende in Chile. A 4×24 meter mural of his entitled The First Goal of the Chilean People, was painted over with 16 coats of paint by the military regime of Augusto Pinochet following their violent overthrow of Salvador Allende in 1973. In 2005 the mural was discovered by local officials. In 2008 the mural was completely restored at a cost of $43,000, and is displayed today in Santiago at the La Granja city hall.”

Art Vocabulary

Abstract expressionism was a form of art developed in the 1940s and 1950s in New York that focused on spontaneous, creative emotional expression through art, often with brushwork. Surrealism focused on the creative potential of the unconscious mind, usually through putting unrelated images together.

Chile Art Activities: Chile Craft & Culture Activities for Kids: Story Quilt

Featured Chile Art Activity: Rain Sticks

Rain sticks are thought to have originated in Chile with the Mapuche people. They were originally made by drying out a cactus, which was hollow inside!

Here’s a fun Chilean rain stick craft. Here are the materials you will need:

Paper towel tube or mailing tube
2 – 2″ diameter cardboard circles
Brown paper grocery bag
Aluminum foil
Masking tape
Popcorn
Rubber bands
Craft glue
Markers
Beads
Twine
Feathers

Featured Chile Art Activity: Easter Island Clay Maoi

Easter Island off the coast of Chile is famous for its stone statue called ma’oi. They were carved by the Rapa Nui people between 1250 and 1500. The word “ma’oi” means “statue” in Rapa Nui. These huge stone statues honor Rapa Nui ancestors. The tallest is nearly 33 feet tall! They all have a minimalist stone style with oversized heads, heavy brows, and long nostrils.

You can make your own ma’oi replica! Here’s what you need:

Mix a drop or two of craft paint into the clay and knead until it’s evenly distributed and a gray color to mimic the stone. Mold into a ma’oi replica. Use the pencil eraser to create eye sockets and the tip for a mouth.

Alternatively, you could simply find some large rocks and paint them to look like the ma’oi, or you could learn to draw the maoi statues of Easter Island.