1. Design Your Own Fender Stratocaster ® Activities by Michelle Nichols Dock, Tempe Center for the Arts, and Mary Erickson, Ph.D. Cars and Guitars Tempe Center for the Arts July 10-Oct. 16, 2010

2. Fender musical instruments have been used in every genre of music: rock ‘n’ roll, country, jazz, rhythm & blues and everything in between. Over the years, Fender has become famous for electric guitars. Today the company designs specialty guitars with well-known musicians. Which guitar do you like the most? Why?

3. Imagine that you are a musician. You want people to see and hear you when you perform on stage. You also want the audience to understand something about who you are and what you care about such as art, baseball, dogs or nature. How can you design the surface of your own Stratocaster ® to show who you are?

4. The person who designed this Stratocaster ® likes paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. She borrowed ideas from his famous painting, Starry Night, for her guitar.

5. What do you think the designer of this guitar likes?

6. 1) First draw the design for your own special guitar on the Stratocaster ® template. 2) Then carefully cut out your guitar.

7. 3) Choose a background scene or color to be your stage.

8. 4) You may want to add a frame around your stage.

9. 5) Make your stage special to show off your guitar. How does the background for this guitar add to the designer’s idea?

10. 6) Think about balance when you decide where to glue your guitar on your background. This student used asymmetrical balance. The sun and the large pink space on the right balance the guitar on the left.

11. Check out these cool Stratocasters ® designed by second graders.

12. Work with your teacher to make a display that shows how much you’ve learned about balance. This class chose to arrange its designs in the shape of a guitar. The guitar with the green stage brings the viewer’s eye to the center of the display. The class created asymmetrical balance by carefully placing blacks, reds and yellows.

13. Thank you to the following: Second grade students from Sally Carillo’s class at Kyrene de las Brisas in Chandler, Ariz. Fender ® Musical Instruments www.fender.com Images of Fender guitars were used as inspiration for this project. The Stratocaster ® template was provided by Fender Musical Instruments. Use of these images was strictly for educational purposes.