Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who is sometimes called the princess of polka dots. Although she makes lots of different types of art – they have one thing in common, DOTS!

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi was born in Japan in 1929. She loved drawing and painting and she was determined that she would grow up to be an artist. When she could not afford to buy art materials, she used mud and old sacks to make art.

This is a drawing she made of her mother when she was 10-years-old.

​

Yayoi likes to tells the story of how when she was a little girl she had a dream. She was in a field of flowers when they all started talking to her! The heads of flowers were like dots that went on as far as she could see, and she felt as if she was a part of this field of endless dots.

Now by adding dots everywhere to her art she feels as if she is making them and herself become part of the bigger universe.

​

​

Now most of her artwork she creates has polka dots.

Yayoi Kusama often will do installations at museums that are entirely polka dots An installation is a large scale artwork that takes up an entire room that visitors walk through.

We will be creating our own Polka Dot Patterned Mushrooms today!