Holy Name of Jesus Art

 The month of January,  especially on Jan 3rd, is dedicated to The Holy Name of Jesus.  "What a powerful name it is!" 

I remember way back in the 1980s, my neighbor friends had this wooden optical illusion on the desk.  For days I couldn't figure it out,  and they eventually had to clue me in. Today,  when deciding on a craft for this memorial of Jesus's name,  I knew it had to be this illusion art.

The image is drawn upside-down at first,  so there aren't any easy guesses.  No one has seen the final image but myself. Tell everyone to keep their guesses to themselves,  so everyone has a chance to see the final art and discover the image on their own. 

A heavy cardstock paper is folded in half lengthwise,  and set with the open flap away from you. You could use large grid paper (a 7x20 square grid). 

You could also have older students/children draw shapes sideways for a challenge.  The key is using a ruler, and the thickness of the shapes is typically 1cm wide (about a finger width). 

The children began by drawing in pencil what I was drawing,  a light 1cm border edge then 7 odd shapes. Adding one on the left, then the right, then the left and so forth until completed. Then I erased the border edge lines,  leaving only the shapes. 

Tip: The last thing to draw is the smallest rectangle,  seen in blue above.  You can adjust the width of it if the spacing was off for someone, as we did here. 

Next,  color in the shapes with one of these options:

1. Color the shapes one color.  Leave the maze area white.

2. Color the shapes a variety of colors,  then color the maze around them a darker color such as black or gray.

3. Leave the shapes white,  and color the rest a solid color. 

The key is to make the shape edges crisp and straight as possible. Also,  the color of the shapes and backgrounds should have good contrast,  or it could be harder to discover as was the camo green sample below. 

When everyone was done,  I gave them time to turn it over and think about what they see. Those who still don't obviously light up knowing the answer,  offer them a hint....  This is the month of? There is no other name like it?  It's powerful? Who loves you most? 

For the littlest, we did have to trace our fingers on each letter of Jesus for them to see it. They still lit up in amazement. 

We hope you can see the most wonderful name of Jesus in our art and yours.  God bless your new year!