Notan is a Japanese term which literally means “light dark harmony”. Notan is a Japanese design concept that is interested in the use of light and dark colours/shapes, etc and looking at how these light/dark art elements interact with each other.  We often refer to this concept as positive and negative space.

In our Notan art we decided to do a collage of black and white paper.  We cut shapes from the black piece of paper and laid them out as a reflection from the space they had been cut from.  We could then get tricky and cut a piece out of the reflection and place it back 'within' the original square so that it forms a reflection of the reflection.  The aim was to create an artwork of balance.

It was quite a quick and easy art project to explore and provided us with a gentle entry back into school life, whilst giving us time to catch up with our friends.  The eventual display on our classroom wall also looks stunning!