2nd Grade - Pollock - Silver on Black

ART MASTERPIECE LESSON PLAN

Art guide(s): M. Wells

Grade level: 2nd

Print: Silver on Black

Artist:   Jackson Pollock      Time allotted:45min

I. Opening activity: music, props, a question ... something to hook the kids right away.

There is something each of you has in common with this artist... Can you guess what it might be?

He lived in Arizona! He was born in Wyoming and raised in Arizona and California.

II. Observations of print: questions to ask students to prompt them to see elements of the print. 

* How does this painting make you feel?

* What makes you feel that way?

* Do you think the artist felt that way?

* How many different colors do you see?

* Pick a line in the print-is it possible to follow it through the painting?

            Hard to tell where it starts, stops or starts again.

* Do you think Pollock planned out his art?

* Do you think Pollock used only a brush? 

* What else would he paint with-where does it look that way?

* Why do you think he called his style of art action painting?

When a painting has no recognizable or natural objects in it, it is called Abstract.

Is this piece of art Abstract? Why?

III. Information to share: nuggets of information about the print/artist/time period to share.

* He was born in Cody Wyoming in 1912 and moved to Arizona that same year.

* He was the youngest of 5 sons.

* He moved to NY City when he was 18 to go to art school.

* He tried many different styles of art but found abstract art to be what he could most                            identify with.

* He deemed his work “action painting” which involved the use of his whole body, not just the hand and wrist.

* To him, the important part of his art was how he did it.  He would tack his canvas to the floor, often covering the entire surface of the floor, and quickly walk around it while throwing, splattering and dripping his paint. He felt he was more “in” the painting this way.

* His nickname was “Jack the Dripper” because he would literally drip, splatter, splash, pour and throw paint on canvas to create his paintings.

* He did not want the viewer of his art to be influenced by titles, so eventually he numbered his paintings instead. He said “Numbers are neutral. They make people look at a picture for what it is - pure painting.”

* He wanted people to see and feel the energy he used when he painted. His goal was to fill his paintings with movement, color and energy.

* He died in a car accident in 1956. He was 44 years old

* He is widely considered the most challenging and influential American artist of the 20th century.

 IV. Explanation of art project: explaining supplies, techniques, sequence, and clean-up of art activity:

Marble Action Paintings

Materials Needed:
White printer paper for each student
Tempera paints in several bold colors
Marbles

Throwaway bowls or small cups for paint and marbles

Plastic teaspoons

Foil trays or Box lids – one per student is ideal

Lesson Plan - Activity:
Put a very small amount of paint in each bowl/cup, one color per bowl/cup.

Put marbles in the paint bowls and roll them around to cover them with paint.

Put a little bit of water in a spare bowl and reserve it for "used" marbles.

Put a sheet of blank paper into the tray/box lid.

Then, use spoons to lift marbles out of the bowls and gently drop them onto the paper.

This is usually done one color and two-or-three marbles at a time. It's okay if a few droplets of paint fall from the spoon too.

Make the marbles roll around by tilting the tray. If you're careful, you can largely influence the tracks the marbles leave. With multiple marbles you'll tend to get parallel tracks. Notice how marbles tend to snag and/or change direction when they cross paint trails. As Jackson Pollock would say, "these paintings have a life of their own!"

V. Back-up activity/worksheet available for those who finish early:

Jackson Pollock Word Search.

Use a different colored pencil to circle each word – make it look like an action painting

VI. Wrap-up: elicit questions/comments from students, encourage students to share their experience and artwork with people at home, share a snack (optional)

Think and Eat Snack – Choose One J

 

      

1st Grade - Homer - Snap the Whip 

ART MASTERPIECE LESSON PLAN

Art guide(s): M. Wells  taken from an Online Lesson Plan – http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxoYWxleWFydG1hc3RlcnBpZWNlfGd4OjVmYWZiZmMxM2YwNzRkOA

Grade level: 1st        

Print: Snap The Whip

Artist:   Winslow Homer     Time allotted:30-45 mins

I. Opening activity: music, props, a question ... something to hook the kids right away.

I brought in a bullwhip and demonstrated the “crack” sound a whip makes.

II. Observations of print: questions to ask students to prompt them to see elements of the print.      

o What is happening in this picture?

o What kind of game are the children playing?

o What kind of games do you like to play?

o Are the children wearing modern clothes?

o Close your eyes and imagine you are there – What sounds do you hear? What can you smell?

o What is the building in the background? (School house) Why do you think there is a chimney? Does it have electricity? Computers? ( Discuss the concept of a one room school house in the 1800’s)

o How do you think the children got to school? (No cars. Most walked, some lucky few rode horses and even fewer had a horse drawn buggy)

o What is in the foreground? (Flowers and grass)

o Where do you see curved lines? (Bent legs and the grassy hill)

o Where do you see straight lines? (Arms and the sides of the school house)

o Do you think this scene was from Homer’s imagination or did he really see this happen?

These children are playing “Snap the Whip” which is the name of this painting. Snap the Whip was a popular children’s game in the 1800s and early 1900s. Children held hands tightly and then ran very fast. The first kid in line would stop suddenly, yanking the others sideways. This causes the ones at the end to break free from the chain. Winning involved the last person not to get broken from the chain. This painting portrays children playing this game in a landscape.

III. Explanation of art project: explaining supplies, techniques, sequence, and clean-up of art activity:

FUN WITH PIPE CLEANERS

Materials needed: 6” pipe cleaners - 3 per student, drawing paper, pencils and erasers. If the time permits students can color their drawing with crayons or colored pencils.

Process:

1.) Have students take turns coming up to the front of the class to demonstrate movement of their favorite sport (throwing a ball, a karate move, skipping rope, a dance move etc...)

2.) Have the students fashion a pipe cleaner “person” doing one of these movements.  Use the three pipe cleaners to create a simple “skeleton” of a person. Bending the arms and legs will show movement.

3.) The students will then draw themselves as skeleton figures doing the same movement as the pipe cleaner. They can draw in the details such as a baseball or football field, basketball court, playground etc.

                                                         

IV. Information to share: nuggets of information about the print/artist/time period to share.

*Winslow Homer was born in Boston in 1836.

*He was always interested in art. His mother was a skilled painter and always encouraged her son to sketch what he saw.

*He painted in a style called “realism”; meaning we can plainly see and understand what he painted. The subjects were realistic.

*He did not receive much art schooling. He preferred to learn things on his own.  He believed on should study nature, not other paintings.

*He started drawing illustrations by the age of 19. He became a successful artist by the age of 21 by painting images he saw of the Civil War.

*After the war, he settled in the rural Northeast and painted what he saw. He loved painting people in a landscape setting. He loved using water color best. This painting is oil on canvas.

*He received numerous awards for his paintings.

*Homer was a shy man who said very little about his own life. He believed his art spoke for him.

*He lived until 1910 and died at the age of 74.

V. Back-up activity/worksheet available for those who finish early:

            Word Search

VI. Wrap-up: elicit questions/comments from students, encourage students to share their experience and artwork with people at home, share a snack (optional)

            Bring licorice “whips” to share with everyone.

Kindergarten - Velasquez - Prince Balthazar Carlos on His Pony

ART MASTERPIECE LESSON PLAN

Art Guide(s): M. Wells

Grade Level: Kindergarten 

Print: Equestrian Portrait Of Balthasar Carlos

Artist: Diego Velasquez   (Dee-ay-goe Vay-las-qwez) Time allotted: 40 min.

I. Opening Activity: music, props, a question... something to hook the kids right away:

A.) Ride in on a Stick Horse

B.) Show a piece of butcher paper that is the size of the actual painting (82 ½” X 68 ½”) That is SEVEN FEET TALL!

II. Observations of Print:

What do you see in this painting?

What colors do you see?

Is this painting realistic or abstract (not clearly recognizable)?

Is the horse walking? This is movement in the painting.

What else looks like it is “moving” in this painting?

What do you think the prince is thinking?

Is the prince wearing the kind of clothes you would wear to school? His clothes tells us he was not an ordinary boy.

What is he holding in his hand? A royal baton which is a symbol of his power.

What is in the background? Distant mountains, soft clouds in the sky. The prince stands out very clearly in the foreground against the light sky.

III. Information to share: nuggets of information about the print/artist.

Velasquez was ordered to paint this portrait by King Philip IV of Span.

Balthazar-Carlos was his oldest son. He was the official painter to the King. and eventually was Knighted by the King. (An honor title.)

Painted in 1635 (almost 400 years ago!) And was the first portrait of a child on horseback

The prince did not live long enough to become King of Spain – he died when he was 16 of malaria.

IV. Explanation of Art Project:

Supplies

Large White Paper Plate

White paper

Tacky glue

Scissors

Crayons, markers or colored pencils (optional)

Instructions

Print out the Horse pattern on white paper. One for each child

Kids can color the parts using the photo for reference before they cut them out. (I  pre-cut them to save time.)

Cut out the parts and glue to the paper plate using the photo for reference.

V. “I’m Done”: consider having a back-up activity/worksheet available for those who finish early

Coloring Page

VI. Wrap-up: elicit questions/comments from students, encourage students to share their experience and artwork with people at home. Share a snack (optional.)

Make pretzel and marshmallow batons like the one Prince Balthazar is holding in the painting.

Kindergarten - Thiebaud - Three Machines

ART MASTERPIECE LESSON PLAN

Art Guide(s): M. Wells

Grade Level: Kindergarten 

Print: Three Machines

Artist:  Thiebaud (tea-bow) - American Artist (1920-Present)                                                  

I. Opening activity: music, props, a question ... something to hook the kids right away.

Bring in a gumball machine if possible. OR show some tree sap. OR if you can blow a big bubble with bubble gum – that could be a fun attention getter.

The history of gum: The ancient Greeks chewed the resin of the mastic tree. The ancient Mayans chewed sap from the sapodilla tree. North American Indians chewed sap from spruce trees. Early American Settlers made a chewing gum from spruce sap and beeswax. In 1848 the first commercial chewing gum was made and sold. In 1880 a man named John Colgan found a way to make chewing gum taste better. In 1906 the first “bubble gum” called Blibber-Blubber was created, it is now known as Double Bubble. In 1907 (____# of years ago,) the round candy coated gumball and gumball machines were introduced.

           

II. Observations of print: questions to ask students to prompt them to see elements of the print.

What do you see? What colors do you see? What shapes do you see? (circles, rectangles, ovals, trapezoids) Are any shapes repeated? (yes) How much do you think the artist of this painting paid when he was a boy in the 1920’s? (1 penny) How much does a gumball cost to buy from a machine today? (1 quarter) Why do you think Thiebaud chose to paint gumball machines? This painting is a “Still-Life” which is an art piece of objects that usually do not move, like food or flowers. It is also “Realism” which means the art represents the objects as they would be seen in real life. Like the color, shape and line.

III. Information to share: nuggets of information about the print/artist/time period to share.

Wayne Thiebaud was born on November 20, 1920 in Mesa, Arizona. His family moved to Long Beach, California when he was only six months old. He grew up during the Great Depression. He sometimes had to go to work with his older sister in the restaurant she worked at. Thiebaud would sit all day in the restaurant, in a booth right across from the dessert display. This is probably why a lot of his paintings are food – cakes, pies, suckers, gumball machines and taffy apples. In high school he played basketball and worked painting signs and making movie posters for a movie theater. When he was sixteen, he was hired by Walt Disney Studios to work in their animation department. He did work on characters such as Goofy and Pinocchio. In the 1940’s he served in the Air Force as an illustration and cartoonist. He married and worked as and artist and illustrator for Universal Studios. At the age of 29, he went back to college and received degrees in art, art history and education. Thiebaud does not consider himself an artist, but a painter. He loves poetry. He lives in Northern California, and still paints.

                       

IV. Explanation of art project: explaining supplies, techniques, sequence, and clean-up of art activity:

Optioin1.) Coloring Page – Make enough copies for each child to have one, and have the children color with crayons

Option 2.) Print enough color copies of the Gumball Machine on white cardstock – use scrapbook circle punch to make “gumballs” ahead of time, or use pom-poms, and have children glue them in place.

Option 3.) Print enough copies for each student to have one of Template A on white/grey cardstock or construction paper. Print enough copies for each student to have one Template B on red cardstock or construction paper. Each child will need a small black rectangle for the gumball slot. Each child will need a piece of black cardstock or construction paper cut to 1” X 1^1/2” Have students cut out templates, or cut ahead of time. You will also need a background paper 8 ½ X 11 to glue all previous items to, enough for every student.

You Choose the next step

            a.) Print Template C on “gumball” colored card stock or construction paper (many

             colors.) Have the children then cut out the “gumballs.”

            b.) Use dot markers (bingo markers) to make the “gumballs” on the machine.

            c.) Use small squares of tissue paper and wad up into “gumballs.”

Using choice 3a – Have children cut small circles. Glue these “gumballs” onto the paper globe, overlapping the circles. Any gumball circles that go passed the globe edges should be trimmed to fit the contour of the globe with scissors. Glue gumball machine onto the 8 ½ X 11 background paper. Make sure students have their name on the back of their project.

Using choice 3b – Have students cut out their Template A & B. Students will then glue their “machines” to the 8 ½ X 11 background paper. Last they will use the bingo/dot markers to make their “gumballs.” Make sure students have their name on the back of their project.

Using choice 3c – Students will glue their pre-cut “machines” to the 8 ½ X 11 background papers. They will then wad up many multi-colored squares of tissue paper into a “gumball” shape. These “gumballs” can then be glued to their machines. Make sure students have their name on the back of their project.

V. Back-up activity/worksheet available for those who finish early:

Matching Game – In folder

           

VI. Wrap-up: elicit questions/comments from students, encourage students to share their experience and artwork with people at home, share a snack (optional)

Could bring a piece of Double Bubble or individually wrapped gumball for each student (first bubble gum)– note children are not allowed to chew gum at school. They would have to save it in their backpacks for when they get home.

Option 1

Coloring Page

Option 2

   

Color Copy

Option 2 Completed

Option 3 

Template A

Template B

Template C

3A Completed 

3B Completed

3C Completed