Figure or Ground? Asymmetry, Nested Cuts and a Third Value: Middle School, teacher version

Overview

Middle schoolers are ready to look at how seeing works. Shown a picture that flips between two readings, students in grades 6 to 8 want to know why, and notan turns that question into making. Every cut in a notan is a hole in the sheet and a mirrored piece beyond its edge, so figure and ground trade places with each cut. This unit starts from Edgar Rubin’s vase and faces (1915) and from Japanese family crests, then asks students to build a design that balances without matching: one large cut answered by several small ones.

Over five sessions students plan in thumbnails, build an asymmetrical notan in the studio, add a nested cut (a small shape cut from a piece already flipped), move from two values to three as Arthur Wesley Dow’s students did, cut the design in painted paper, and close with a written critique in Edmund Burke Feldman’s four steps. The unit assumes students have made a basic notan; if they have not, begin with Balancing the Flip.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the unit, learners can do each of these. The middle column is what you will see or hear that shows it; the last column links to the standards it meets, quoted in full at the end of the page.

#	By the end, learners can	What you will see	Standards
1	Distinguish figure from ground in Rubin’s vase, a Japanese family crest and a classmate’s notan by naming the cue that decides each (size, enclosure, value or position), and describe both readings of a reversible image.	On the session 1 exit ticket the student labels figure and ground in all three images and writes one cue for each; aloud, the student describes both readings of Rubin’s image, the vase and the two faces.	§117.202(c)(1)(A) §117.202(c)(4)(A)
2	Plan an asymmetrical notan in six thumbnail sketches, each with one dominant cut answered by smaller cuts on other edges, and select the two strongest with a written reason.	The thumbnail sheet holds six different 2-inch plans with the large cut on at least three different edges, two of them starred, and under each star a sentence naming what balances the large cut: number, size, value or distance.	§117.202(c)(2)(B) §117.203(b)(1)(C)
3	Construct an asymmetrical notan on a square sheet in the studio in which one large cut on one edge is balanced by at least three smaller cuts on the other edges.	The exported PNG shows one cut clearly larger than the rest and at least three smaller cuts spread over at least two other edges, with no mirrored pairs; seen from across the room, classmates agree it does not lean, and the student names what balances it.	§117.202(c)(1)(C) §117.204(b)(1)(C)
4	Make a nested cut, a smaller shape cut from a piece already flipped, in the studio and in paper, and point out the island and the gap it leaves as figure and ground trading places.	The studio design and the paper notan each contain at least one nested cut; asked to show it, the student points to the small island inside the hole and the matching gap in the flipped piece, and says which one reads as figure.	§117.203(b)(2)(C) §117.202(c)(2)(C)
5	Convert a two-value notan into a three-value one, by changing the Back and Ground colors in the studio and by testing loose pieces on white, black and gray grounds in paper, and state what the third value changed.	The student hands in two exports of one design, black and white and then with a gray ground, glues the paper version to the ground chosen in the dry-fit, and writes one sentence naming which areas the gray turned into figure or pushed back into ground.	§117.203(b)(1)(B) §117.204(b)(1)(B)
6	Explain how history and politics shape an artwork that reuses an older form, as Kara Walker turns the silhouette portrait of the 1700s and 1800s toward the history of slavery and racism in the United States.	On the session 5 exit ticket the student names the older form and when it was popular, names the history the new work confronts, and writes one sentence on how a flat black shape with no face carries that meaning for a viewer.	§117.202(c)(3)(A) §117.202(c)(1)(D) §117.203(b)(3)(A)
7	Critique a classmate’s notan in writing with Feldman’s four steps, describe, analyze, interpret and judge, supporting the judgment with at least one named element or principle.	The written critique has four labeled parts with at least one full sentence each, uses at least three unit words correctly (such as figure, ground, asymmetrical balance, value or nested cut), and its judgment gives a reason found in the work, not only “I like it.”	§117.202(c)(4)(A) §117.202(c)(4)(B)

Before you teach

What learners should already know

Make a basic notan: cut a shape from the edge of a square and flip it over that edge so the piece mirrors the hole.
Name the elements of art and the principles of design, including value, shape, space and balance.
Cut along a drawn line with scissors, and open and save a file on the school computers.

Vocabulary

Figure: The shape the eye reads as the thing, standing in front.
Ground: The area around and behind the figure. In a notan, the holes and the space around the sheet show the ground.
Figure-ground reversal: A design in which figure and ground can swap places, as in Rubin’s drawing that reads as a vase or as two faces.
Asymmetrical balance: Balance made from unlike parts that pull equally, such as one large shape answered by several small ones.
Visual weight: How strongly a shape pulls the eye. Size, darkness and distance from the center all add weight.
Nested cut: A smaller shape cut from a piece that has already been flipped, which leaves an island in the hole and a gap in the piece.
Value: How light or dark a color is, from white through the grays to black.
Thumbnail sketch: A small, quick drawing that tests a plan before the real work begins.
Kamon: A Japanese family crest: a flat design, often inside a circle, that marks a family on clothing, banners and buildings.
Critique: A careful discussion of an artwork in steps. Feldman’s method has four: describe, analyze, interpret, judge.

Materials

Computers or tablets with Studio Notan open, one per student or pair, and a projector for demonstrations
Images to project or print: Edgar Rubin’s vase and faces (1915), two or three Japanese family crests, Hokusai’s Under the Wave off Kanagawa, a page of Arthur Wesley Dow’s Composition, and, if you choose to show one, an image by Kara Walker that you have previewed
A thumbnail sheet for each student (letter paper with six 2-inch squares), pencils and black chisel-tip markers
The Level 2 worksheet on nested cuts and asymmetry, one per student
5-inch squares of white 65 lb cardstock, one per student plus spares
Washable black tempera with the AP seal, 1-inch flat brushes, paper plates, water cups, paper towels and newspaper
Construction paper grounds, 12 by 18 inches, in white, black and middle gray: one of each per table for the dry-fit, and one per student in the color chosen
Scissors for every student, including adaptive loop or spring-loaded scissors
Craft knives with fresh blades, self-healing cutting mats and metal rulers, for students who have watched the demonstration, and a sharps container for used blades
White colored pencils, which show on black paint
Glue sticks and a stack of heavy books for pressing
A critique sheet with four headings (Describe, Analyze, Interpret, Judge) and printed sentence stems

Read first in the guide

Hub activities to draw on

Space That Changes Sides Space · Developing
Balancing the Flip Balance · Foundation
Two Values, Then Three Value · Developing

Worksheets

Worksheet 2: Nested complexity and asymmetry

Unit plan

Session 1: Vase or faces: figure and ground

50 minutes · Paper and paint

Hook, 8 minutes. Project Edgar Rubin’s drawing of a vase that is also two faces in profile, from the study of seeing that the Danish psychologist published in 1915. Ask, “What do you see? Now what else?” Let students call out both, then ask whether anyone can hold both at once. Say: “The shape you see as the thing is the figure. Everything around it is the ground. Rubin noticed that a shared edge seems to belong to only one side at a time.”
Crests, 10 minutes. Show two or three Japanese family crests, kamon: the three aoi leaves in a circle of the Tokugawa family, whose shoguns ruled Japan in the Edo period (1603 to 1868), and the sixteen-petal chrysanthemum of the imperial family. Explain that crests have marked families for centuries, on banners, lanterns and roof tiles, and are still worn on the most formal kimono, often as a white crest on black. Students who met kamon in earlier grades now look at them for figure and ground. Pairs decide which part is figure and which is ground, and why. Chart their cues on the board: size, enclosure, value, position.
Balance without matching, 7 minutes. Project Hokusai’s Under the Wave off Kanagawa (about 1830 to 1832), a woodblock print from his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. A huge wave fills the left, a small Mount Fuji sits low, just right of center, and open sky fills the upper right. Ask, “Nothing matches. Why does it not tip over?” Students who met this print in earlier grades can name it, asymmetrical balance, unlike parts with equal pull. Push further: what gives each part its visual weight, its size, its darkness or its distance from the center?
Thumbnails, 20 minutes. Hand out the thumbnail sheet. Each 2-inch square is a plan for a notan: draw one large cut touching one edge and its mirrored piece outside that edge, then answer it with at least three smaller cuts on other edges. Shade what will be dark, the sheet and the pieces, with the marker. Say: “No two alike. Put the big cut on a different edge each time.” Circulate and ask, “Which way does this one lean?”
Choose and exit, 5 minutes. Partners trade sheets, squint and star the two plans that hold still best. Under each star the maker writes, “The large cut is balanced by…” As an exit ticket, students label figure and ground in Rubin’s drawing, one crest and a partner’s thumbnail, with a cue for each.

Session 2: Asymmetry and the nested cut in the studio

50 minutes · In the studio

Set up, 5 minutes. Students open the studio. A new design starts on a sheet 4 by 5.5 inches, so in the Paper section of the Controls tab they set the width and the height both to 5 inches, a square like their thumbnails. Leave the colors as they start: front and back black, ground white.
The big cut, 10 minutes. Demonstrate on the projector. Choose Draw and, in one stroke, draw the large cut from a starred thumbnail so that it touches or crosses the edge it will fold over. When the ‘Flip direction’ chooser opens, press the arrow for that edge. Then show that Undo, pressed straight after a flip, reopens the chooser with the shape waiting, so a student can try another edge without redrawing. Read Flipping beforehand if the chooser is new to you.
Answer it, 15 minutes. Students add at least three smaller cuts on the other edges with any drawing tool (Rectangle, Ellipse, Triangle, Hexagon, Pen or Draw), flipping each over the edge it should cross. Every few cuts, everyone stands, steps back and squints: “Does it lean? Which way?” With Move they can slide or resize a cut, and its hole and piece follow.
The nested cut, 12 minutes. Demonstrate: choose Ellipse and draw a small oval inside the hole the large piece left. The paper under it belongs to that flipped piece. Press ‘Put back’ in the center of the chooser: a small black island returns to the sheet, and a matching white gap opens in the flipped piece. Pressing an arrow instead cuts the oval out of the piece and sends it to that side of the sheet. Say: “The island is figure inside ground inside figure.” Each student adds one nested cut with ‘Put back’; anyone who finishes early can add a second and send it to another side with an arrow.
Save, 8 minutes. From the File menu, students export Artwork as a PNG and choose ‘Save project’. On a sticky note they write which edge carries the most weight and what balances it, and stick it to the screen for the teacher’s walk-through.

Session 3: Two values, then a third

50 minutes · Studio, then paper and paint

Dow, 8 minutes. Show a page of Arthur Wesley Dow’s Composition (1899), the book that brought the Japanese word notan, dark-light, into American art teaching. Dow learned from Japanese ink painting and woodblock prints, and he arranged his exercises in a progressive order: two values first, then three, then more. Say: “Today we do what Dow’s students did.” The hub activity Two Values, Then Three takes the same idea further with a photo.
Two values, 7 minutes. Students open their design (the browser keeps it; on shared computers use ‘Open project…’ in the File menu). It has two values: black sheet and pieces on a white ground. Ask each student to name the figure in a word. Export this version as it is.
Make something vanish, 8 minutes. On the Color tab, type FFFFFF into the Back card’s hex field. Every flipped piece turns white and disappears into the white ground; only the sheet and its holes remain. Then type 000000 into the Ground card: now the holes disappear and the white pieces float on black. Ask, “Which version has the clearer figure? What did you lose?” Read Back if the color cards are new to you.
Add a third value, 10 minutes. Keep the back white and type a middle gray such as 808080 into the Ground card. Now there are three values: black sheet, white pieces, gray holes and ground. Export again. Students line up their exports and tell a partner which areas the gray turned into figure and which it pushed back.
Paint for next time, 12 minutes. Cover the tables. Each student paints one face of a 5-inch square of white cardstock with black tempera, edge to edge, and writes their name in pencil on the white back. Lay the squares flat to dry. Wash brushes and wipe tables before the bell.
Exit ticket, 5 minutes. One sentence: “The third value changed my notan by…”

Session 4: Cut paper: three grounds, one choice

50 minutes · Paper and paint

Tools, 8 minutes. Scissors are the default and always allowed. For students who want a craft knife, demonstrate first: a self-healing cutting mat under the work, the blade moving away from the body, the other hand behind the metal ruler, the blade retracted or capped whenever it is put down. Only students who watched the demonstration receive a knife. Count knives out.
Draw the cuts, 10 minutes. With the studio export on screen or printed, students draw each cut on the black face with a white colored pencil, where it sits in the studio design, and number each shape. Warn them: draw on the black face, not the white back, or every shape will come out mirrored.
Cut and flip, 14 minutes. Cut each shape in from its edge and keep every piece. Turn each piece over its edge, white side up, and lay it in its mirrored place beside the sheet. For the nested cut, cut a small shape from inside one flipped piece (scissors users may cut it in from the piece’s straight edge), turn it back over the sheet’s edge, black side up, and set it in the hole where it came from: the paper version of ‘Put back’.
Two values, then three, 10 minutes. Before any glue, lay the sheet and its loose pieces on the table’s white ground, then move them to the black, then the gray. On white the pieces vanish; on black the holes vanish; on gray all three values show. Each student chooses a ground and tells a partner why, using the words figure and ground.
Glue and clean up, 8 minutes. Glue the sheet down first, then each piece, its straight edge lined up with the edge of its hole. Press under books. Count knives back in, put any used blades in the sharps container, and wipe the tables.

Session 5: The silhouette in history, and a written critique

50 minutes · Looking and talking

Gallery walk, 8 minutes. Lay each paper notan beside its studio export. Review gallery manners: look without touching, speak about the work and not the maker. Students walk the room and note one design that makes them look twice.
Model the method, 10 minutes. Teach Feldman’s four steps, from the American art educator Edmund Burke Feldman: describe what is there, analyze how it is organized, interpret what it means or makes you feel, judge whether it succeeds and why. Model all four aloud on Hokusai’s wave from session 1.
The silhouette, 12 minutes. Explain that silhouette portraits, often cut from black paper, were a cheap and popular likeness in the 1700s and 1800s. Since the 1990s the American artist Kara Walker has cut black paper figures at the scale of whole walls and rooms to confront the history of slavery and racism in the United States. Many of her scenes are graphic: they show violence, including sexual violence, and use the racist caricatures of the slavery era on purpose, to expose them. Preview any image and choose one suited to your students, or describe her method without showing work. Ask, “Why might an artist tell this history with flat black shapes that have no faces?” Draw out answers about figure, ground and what the viewer must supply.
Written critique, 15 minutes. Each student draws a classmate’s name and writes a critique of that notan in the four steps, at least one full sentence per step and at least three unit words. Post the stems: “I see…”, “The largest dark shape is…”, “I think the artist wanted…”, “It works because…”.
Close, 5 minutes. Three volunteers read a judgment aloud and the maker answers in one sentence. Exit ticket: name the older form Walker reuses and when it was popular, the history her work confronts, and in one sentence how a flat black shape with no face carries that meaning.

Differentiation

Support

For emergent bilingual students, post the unit words with a small picture beside each (figure, ground, balance, value, nested cut), let partners plan in their home language, and provide the critique sentence stems in English and, where you can, in the home language.
For students with disabilities, offer adaptive loop or spring-loaded scissors, 7-inch squares with the cut lines drawn in advance, and extra time for cutting. In the studio, the flip chooser works from the keyboard (an arrow key chooses an edge, Tab moves between arrows, Enter confirms), and the Interface size setting on the Controls tab makes panels and buttons larger.
For students who find planning hard, give a starter thumbnail with the large cut already drawn and ask only for the answering cuts, and allow the critique to be spoken and recorded instead of written.

Extension

Trace a figure-ground photograph you took yourself, such as a tree against the sky: choose ‘Trace a photo…’ in the File menu, set the Threshold, then press Invert to swap which side becomes the front. Which version makes the sky the figure?
Design a crest for yourself, a club or a team in the spirit of kamon: one motif inside a circle, with a nested cut. Make it your own rather than copying a real family’s crest.
Watch part of Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), the oldest surviving animated feature film, made with jointed black silhouettes cut by hand, then cut a silhouette figure whose pose reads from its outline alone.

Common misconceptions

The figure is always the dark shape.: Show a white crest on a black kimono, then swap two colors in the studio by dragging one swatch onto another on the Color tab. The same shapes change roles. Enclosure, size and position decide the figure as often as value does.
A balanced design has to match on both sides.: Return to Hokusai’s wave: a huge mass on one side, a small mountain and open sky on the other. Lay a ruler across a pencil: a stack of three coins near the middle on one side is balanced by a single coin far out on the other. Distance from the center adds weight, in pictures as on a seesaw.
A nested cut is any small cut.: A nested cut is taken from a piece that has already been flipped. Ask the student to find its two traces: the island in the hole and the gap in the piece. If there is no gap in a flipped piece, it is an ordinary cut.
Adding a gray always improves a design.: Dow wrote that a gray midway between black and white changes how the two work together; that change can clarify a design or muddy it. Compare the two-value and three-value exports from across the room and let the class vote on which reads more clearly.

Assessment

Checks along the way

Session 1 exit ticket: figure and ground labeled in three images, each with a cue.
Thumbnail check at the end of session 1: six different plans, two starred, each with a sentence on what balances the large cut.
Studio walk-through in session 2: from across the room, ask each student which edge carries the most weight and what answers it.
Dry-fit conference in session 4: the student says which ground was chosen and what the third value did.

Rubric

Criterion	Beginning	Developing	Meeting	Exceeding
Figure and ground	Cannot yet say which area is the figure.	Names the figure in one example but not the cue that decides it.	Labels figure and ground in three examples and names a cue for each.	Explains how the figure changes with the ground color and uses that change on purpose in the notan.
Asymmetrical balance	Cuts on one edge only, or mirrored pairs; the design leans.	One large cut and some smaller ones, but the design leans when squinted at.	One large cut balanced by at least three smaller cuts on other edges; it holds still at a squint.	Holds still, and the student explains what balanced it: number, size, value or distance from the center.
Nested cut and craft	No nested cut; edges torn or pieces lost.	A nested cut in one version only, or pieces not mirrored across their edges.	A nested cut in both versions; pieces line up with their holes and edges are clean.	The nested cut is a deliberate figure-ground reversal, with crisp cutting and flat gluing throughout.
Value	Only one version made.	Two versions made but not compared.	Two-value and three-value versions with a sentence on what changed.	The paper ground was chosen from the comparison and defended with the words figure and ground.
Critique	Describes only.	Three of the four steps, or a judgment with no reason.	All four steps, with a judgment tied to a named element or principle.	All four steps with evidence from the work, and an interpretation linked to an artwork from the unit.

Safety

Scissors are the default for every cut, and any student may choose them. Craft knives are used only after the teacher’s demonstration, on a self-healing cutting mat with a metal ruler, the blade moving away from the body and the other hand behind the ruler, with the teacher supervising the table. Blades are retracted or capped when put down, knives are counted out and back in, and used blades go in a sharps container. Use washable, nontoxic tempera with the ACMI AP seal, cover the tables, and have students wash their hands after painting. Keep screen work to the planned time, and have students stand and step back from the screen for each squint test.

Standards cited

TEKS §117.202, §117.203 and §117.204 (Art, Middle School 1, 2 and 3). Quoted word for word from the official text.

Art, Middle School 1

Foundations: observation and perception

Foundations: observation and perception. The student develops and expands visual literacy skills using critical thinking, imagination, and the senses to observe and explore the world by learning about, understanding, and applying the elements of art, principles of design, and expressive qualities. The student uses what the student sees, knows, and has experienced as sources for examining, understanding, and creating original artworks. The student is expected to:

§117.202(c)(1)(A): identify and illustrate concepts from direct observation, original sources, personal experiences, and communities such as family, school, cultural, local, regional, national, and international; Source
§117.202(c)(1)(C): understand and apply the principles of design, including emphasis, repetition/pattern, movement/rhythm, contrast/variety, balance, proportion, and unity, in personal artworks using art vocabulary appropriately; and Source
§117.202(c)(1)(D): discuss the expressive properties of artworks such as appropriation, meaning, narrative, message, and symbol using art vocabulary accurately. Source

Creative expression

Creative expression. The student communicates ideas through original artworks using a variety of media with appropriate skills. The student expresses thoughts and ideas creatively while challenging the imagination, fostering reflective thinking, and developing disciplined effort and progressive problem-solving skills. The student is expected to:

§117.202(c)(2)(B): apply the art-making process to solve problems and generate design solutions; and Source
§117.202(c)(2)(C): produce artworks, including drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures/modeled forms, ceramics, fiber art, photographic imagery, and digital art and media, using a variety of materials. Source

Historical and cultural relevance

Historical and cultural relevance. The student demonstrates an understanding of art history and culture by analyzing artistic styles, historical periods, and a variety of cultures. The student develops global awareness and respect for the traditions and contributions of diverse cultures. The student is expected to:

§117.202(c)(3)(A): identify the influence of historical and political events in artworks; Source

Critical evaluation and response

Critical evaluation and response. The student responds to and analyzes artworks of self and others, contributing to the development of the lifelong skills of making informed judgments and reasoned evaluations. The student is expected to:

§117.202(c)(4)(A): create written or oral responses to artwork using appropriate art vocabulary; Source
§117.202(c)(4)(B): analyze original artworks using a method of critique such as describing the artwork, analyzing the way it is organized, interpreting the artist's intention, and evaluating the success of the artwork; Source

Art, Middle School 2

Foundations: observation and perception

Foundations: observation and perception. The student develops and expands visual literacy skills using critical thinking, imagination, and the senses to observe and explore the world by learning about, understanding, and applying the elements of art, principles of design, and expressive qualities. The student uses what the student sees, knows, and has experienced as sources for examining, understanding, and creating original artworks. The student is expected to:

§117.203(b)(1)(B): compare and contrast the elements of art, including line, shape, color, texture, form, space, and value, as the fundamentals of art in personal artworks using vocabulary accurately; Source
§117.203(b)(1)(C): compare and contrast the principles of design, including emphasis, repetition/pattern, movement/rhythm, contrast/variety, balance, proportion, and unity, in personal artworks using vocabulary accurately; and Source

Creative expression

Creative expression. The student communicates ideas through original artworks using a variety of media with appropriate skills. The student expresses thoughts and ideas creatively while challenging the imagination, fostering reflective thinking, and developing disciplined effort and progressive problem-solving skills. The student is expected to:

§117.203(b)(2)(C): apply technical skills effectively using a variety of materials to produce artworks, including drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures/modeled forms, ceramics, fiber art, photographic imagery, and digital art and media; and Source

Historical and cultural relevance

Historical and cultural relevance. The student demonstrates an understanding of art history and culture by analyzing artistic styles, historical periods, and a variety of cultures. The student develops global awareness and respect for the traditions and contributions of diverse cultures. The student is expected to:

§117.203(b)(3)(A): analyze ways that global, cultural, historical, and political issues influence artworks; Source

Art, Middle School 3

Foundations: observation and perception

Foundations: observation and perception. The student develops and expands visual literacy skills using critical thinking, imagination, and the senses to observe and explore the world by learning about, understanding, and applying the elements of art, principles of design, and expressive qualities. The student uses what the student sees, knows, and has experienced as sources for examining, understanding, and creating original artworks. The student is expected to:

§117.204(b)(1)(B): evaluate the elements of art, including line, shape, color, texture, form, space, and value, as the fundamentals of art in personal artworks using vocabulary accurately; Source
§117.204(b)(1)(C): evaluate the principles of design, including emphasis, repetition/pattern, movement/rhythm, contrast/variety, balance, proportion, and unity, in personal artworks using vocabulary accurately; and Source