Monthly Archives: August 2012

Jellyfish, jelly! fish! in the style of Robert Motherwell

24 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in 1st Grade

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Whenever I hear the word ‘jellyfish’, I get a song stuck in my head…

This little gem is something my kids introduced me to. You’ll see why it appeals to them (and me). This fella is rather funny.

In 1940, a young painter named Robert Motherwell came to New York City and joined a group of artists — including Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline — who set out to change the face of American painting. Beyond his individual efforts as an artist, Motherwell played a major role in the intellectual and artistic development of the underground New York art world of the time. You can read more about his painting style and methods here. Remember, the Abstract Impressionists of this time were called “action” painters!
Wiki paintings has all of Motherwell’s beside the sea paintings posted in it’s online encyclopedia.
Project Plan
  • Artist: Robert Motherwell
  • Print:   Beside the sea no. 15
  • Style:   Abstract Impressionism
  • Focus: Color, Repitition, Movement
Materials you will need:
  • Thinned Tempera Paint
  • Construction paper for each student
  • Paintbrushes
  • Pencil
First Things First: WRITE YOUR NAME ON YOUR PROJECT. Write your Grade, Teacher’s Name and Today’s Date

Directions:

Have students start by painting a half circle on their paper in one color, making sure it is pretty drippy.  Then have them dip their paintbrush back in the water and added more water to the bottom of their half circle.  After that they have them pick up their paper and do a little tapping (vertically) against the table to get the tentacles to drip down.  Have them do each jellyfish one at a time, picking a new color for each one.  Finally let them do a little splatter painting.
** PLEASE Clean Up and Put Away ALL supplies. If you used something up, leave a note for the supply coordinator.** HAVE FUN! There is No wrong way to make Art. (Although, they may have a hard time following instructions!) Remember – Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. ART is knowing which ones to keep.
 THANKS!
For The Love of Art did this with her students for an Ocean themed unit and pinned it to her board in pinterest. Super Idea.

Abstract Expressionism – Go with it!

10 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, Kindergarten

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Abstract Expressionism has a shared history with the The Great Depression. This art method was a very colorful way to wake up our nation after a long struggle. Artists of that time are many, but few are recognized.  In the lessons below, there are multiple artists’ work for you to sample from.   ” Abstract Expressionism” or the “New York School” movement of art can be clustered around two basic inclinations: an emphasis on dynamic, energetic gesture, in contrast to a reflective, cerebral focus on more open fields of color. In either case, the imagery was primarily abstract. Even when depicting images based on visual realities, the Abstract Expressionists favored a highly abstracted mode.

In 1952, an art critic is quotes as saying “At a certain moment in history the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act—rather than as a space in which to reproduce, re-design, analyze, or ‘express’ an object, actual or imagined. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.”  He called the style “action painting”.

Another path lay in the expressive potential of color. Artists of the time created art based on simplified, large-format, color-dominated fields. The impulse was, in general, reflective and cerebral, with pictorial means simplified in order to create a kind of elemental impact. They spoke of a goal to achieve the “sublime” rather than the “beautiful,” harkening back to a drive for the grand, heroic vision in opposition to a calming or comforting effect. This reduction method was one means of “… freeing artists from the obsolete props of an outmoded and antiquated legend … being freed from the impediments of memory, association, nostalgia, legend, and myth that have been the devices of Western European painting.”

An amazing thing that art does is make it’s way back around – it repeats it self – after a fashion.

I’m delighted to introduce you all to Aelita Andre. She’s a young prodigy with insanely supportive parents. You may see some similarities in her work to artists of “The New York School”. One thing I know – I’ve never seen art created with such feeling. It’s fine to read about Abstract Expressionism, it’s another thing all together to see an artist create an abstract piece with expression…. Try something with your students that will let them be completely free with their art and the mediums that you provide. Yes, glitter is forever. What the heck. Go with it.

Thanks for this lesson go to my friend Janice Arcaro of the Artist Tree Studio in San Marcos California!  I shared some time with her at Riedy Creek Elementary and learned everything I know about teaching art as a F.A.V.E. parent.  (that’s Fine Art Volunteer Educator!)

Liquitex also has an Abstract Expressionism lesson posted on their website.

Liquitex Lesson

Positive and Negative – the Japanese art of Notan

01 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by in 5th Grade

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The Espansion of the Square

Notan is a Japanese word which means “dark-light.” The word, however, means more than that. The principle of Notan as it relates to design is defined as the interaction between positive (light) and negative (dark) space.  The classic yin/yang symbol is a reflection of this desire for balance.

Materials:

White Paper, 12 x 18

Black squares cut to size 5” x5”,

Elmer’s Glue

Scissors or Exacto Knife

How to Make an Expanded Square

1. Cut out a series of 5″ squares from the black paper. Smaller squares are hard to use; bigger ones take up a lot of room on the white paper. These squares should be as perfect as possible, as uneven sides or angles will skew the exercise.
2. Begin cutting shapes from the sides of the square. Every time you cut out a shape, it must be glued down as the mirror image from where it was cut. The basic idea is to cut out the piece, flip it out so that it mirrors the cut out space, and then glue it down.

THE RULES
1. Don’t cut off the corners.Keep the integrity of the square shape.
2. No pieces can be discarded. Every piece you cut away from the square needs to be glued down in its opposing position on the paper.
3. Cutting through the center makes it harder. Then you have to figure out which side to put the cut out piece on. In the beginning, avoid cutting through the center.

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