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