Brave Tangle

Zentangle designs are created by repeating a variety of structured patterns. For the Brave Tangle project, every Hoonah City Schools student K through 12th grade plus all the certified, classified, and administrative staff created small tiles of Zentangle Inspired Art. Three eighth graders designed halibut, sockeye salmon, and herring shapes which I enlarged. A team of high schoolers arranged the over 100 Zentangles inside the shapes. All the student tiles went inside the giant halibut; the staff did their designs on the herring template. In the end, the herring were depicted coaxing the halibut forward — though one student suggested we arrange it so that the halibut chased the herring :)

We used the techniques of Zentangle to develop skills with drawing in pen and shading with graphite. However, the project also provided students and staff with much-needed calming experiences.  It included mindfulness breathing techniques and, in the high school health class, an introduction to self-awareness of nervous system agitation.