Popcorn Art Starch-Gazing

Inspired by Harry Kalenberg's Ripley's Believe It Or Not exhibit and Irene Anderson's popcorn sculptures below, and combined with "cloud gazing" with your imagination, this popcorn art project will give your brain a creative starchy workout!

The idea here is to use popped popcorn as a basis for creating people, places, or things you "see" (think clouds!) in the form and essence of the starchy kernel. This can be done quickly with markers or paint, or turned into digital art with your digital device and applying virtual colors, filters, or directly drawing over the picture like I've done here (this way is less messy and lasts forever!).

There's no wrong way to do popcorn art, so you can totally relax and have fun with this. To scope out your options and the pros and cons between doing your art hands-on vs. on the computer, read through the entire project below and use the guidelines and tips to get you started.

Materials Needed:

• Plain popped popcorn (air-popped recommended)

Just Pixels:

• Digital device with camera and art software

Hands-On:

• Felt tip markers or paint
• Food dye (red, yellow, blue)
• Glue
• Paper or other structure to glue your finished popcorn sculpture to

Try It!

1. Air pop a bowl of popcorn and spend some "stream of consciousness" moments looking at a few pieces with your imagination. Notice the overall form of each piece and take note at what "pops" into your mind. (By the way, this popcorn is not for eating — unless you can't help it, of course!)
2. Once you have identified a possible subject, use your markers or paint (or image editing program) to apply color, texture, form, or characteristics to your subject. (Definitely don't eat any now!)
   
   

   Tip: The advantage of doing this digitally is that you are not limited to creating on the popcorn itself. The disadvantage is that you only get one perspective to work with once you've scanned in the popcorn.
   
   Challenge: Try to create with a theme in mind. For instance, create a barnyard full of animals, a family of insects, or TV show characters. Remember, since no two pieces of popcorn are alike, you only get one chance at rendering what you see!

3. If you've done this hands-on, allow your artwork on the popcorn to dry — and wa-la you're finished!
   
   Optional: To preserve your work, arrange and glue your popcorn art to paper or other suitable surface to hang or display. If you wish to keep your art indefinitely, you can use a spray lacquer preservative or clear finish found in craft stores.

We're honored to host this special gallery of popcorn art done by 69-year-old Irene Anderson from Glade Spring, Virginia, USA. Her daughter Crystal informed us that her mother had them displayed in the Washington County Library where her other daughter works.

Aren't these intriguing? Maybe this gallery will encourage some new artistic ideas to pop into your mind! After all, creativity only needs a tiny kernel of inspiration to take root.

Thank you, Crystal and Irene, for showcasing your lovely popcorn art on Creativity Portal!

©2004-2023 Chris Dunmire, Irene Anderson. All rights reserved.