Beyond Rothko!

Art Teachering Experience, Children Paint the Masters, Children Paint! Mixed Media

A few years ago, when I was student teaching at a Middle school, I wanted to create a lesson for my new students that was quick and fun. They had just completed a painstakingly detailed project, that took 10 art classes worth of time and used color pencil exclusively. I began by discussing color theory and then introduced them to the work of Mark Rothko with a slide show presentation and then I gave them this assignment:

  1. Make 2 or 3 Rothko inspired paintings using either a Complimentary , Monochromatic or Analogous color scheme.  Pick 2 or 3 sheets of colored paper and decide what colors you want to work with and then paint…. with your finger!
  2. Mix paint directly on paper. Create a rectangle or line or square using at least 2 colors of paint that work with either the Complimentary, Monochromatic or Analogous color scheme (the color of your paper will be part of your decision making process and help determine what color scheme). 
  3. Paint using your finger- add color as need – add white or add black – color in your shape, but also let the color of the paper show through the shape. Remember to leave edges or a frame around your shapes — (don’t paint from edge to edge, remember, that the paper itself is part of your color scheme). 
  4. Once you have your shapes painted, you can use a wet brush to soften the edges if desired and then let the paintings dry …. Tempera paint dries quickly and will have a matte finish.
  5. Once you have completed 2 or 3 Rothko- inspired paintings – you will choose one to submit for grading as a “Rothko”—then pick one of the others to enhance in your own creative style…. make it your own!
  6. I suggest that the painting you turn in is as your “Rothko” is the most successful one, i.e. follows the correct color scheme – has nice forms and color mixing etc…
  7. On the other painting you are going to draw using oil pastels… add color and texture or draw something over the underpainting— a fish, a flower, a face— or other shapes, designs, or patterns— whatever you want because this is your creative opportunity!!! 

The resulting creations were so fabulous that I hung the most successful works in the school lobby for all to enjoy! This is a fun and inexpensive project, it only requires basic construction paper, tempera paint (red, yellow, blue, white and black only) and oil pastels.

Mark Rothko

Art Classic, Arting Media, We Be Arting!

Mark Rothko was an American abstract painter, working from the early 1930s until his death in 1970 (Abstract Art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate description of a visual “reality”, i.e. a person, place, or thing).

Rothko primarily painted using the color schemes (arrangements or groupings); Complimentary, Monochromatic and Analogous.

Complimentary Colors are two colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel and when combined or mixed together, they cancel each other out, making brown or gray. The Complimentary sets are red/green, yellow/purple, orange/blue.

Monochromatic Color schemes are created from a single base color and extended using shades (adding black to a color), and tints (adding white to a color).

Analogous Color are any 3 colors that are next to each other on the color wheel for example, green, blue, and purple or orange, red, and yellow.

Rothko is famous for his Multiform paintings. However, he didn’t begin his painting career painting only pure color and shape. As he matured as an artist, he became uninterested in depicting reality, instead, he wanted to use “color to express/ evoke emotion”.

Children Paint the Masters’ -Hans Holbein

Arting Media, Children Paint the Masters, We Be Arting!

I am a fierce supporter and advocate for Visual Art education in the classroom– K- 12th ( please don’t make those already over-burdened Elementary Teachers teach Visual Art along with all their other subjects…)  Seriously! Visual Art class is an active, noisy and messy learning environment, where the right -brain gets into the action!  Sadly, Visual Art  is almost always the first class to go during budget shortfalls. I hope that with the aid of educational technology tools,  Visual Art education will get the attention and funding it deserves. Now sit back and be prepared to be deeply amused and yet, completely embarrassed for me- this is my first teaching self produced video- ever!

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Lesson

Art Teachering Experience, Arting Media, We Be Arting!

This lesson helps students learn about the Ancient Egyptian system of writing using pictures or Hieroglyphs. It demonstrates a different format and style of communicating. It also exemplifies a common connection between the modern cartoon or Manga cartoons, the communication methods of the Ancient Egyptians and contemporary emoticons or Emojis.

CA State Standards:
1.Develop Perceptual Skills and Visual Arts Vocabulary:
• 1.1 Identify and use the principles of design to discuss, analyze, and write about visual aspects in the environment and in works of art, including their own.

• 1.2 Describe the principles of design as used in works of art, focusing on dominance and subordination.

2. Skills, Processes, Materials, and Tools
• 2.1 Solve a visual arts problem that involves the effective use of the elements of art and the principles of design. original works of art of increasing complexity and skill in a variety of media that reflect their feelings and points of view. ((TPE 7)

3. Historical and Cultural Context:
Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of the Visual Arts
Students analyze the role and development of the visual arts in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting human diversity as it relates to the visual arts and artists.

4. Role and Development of the Visual Arts
• 4.1 Identify similarities and differences in the purposes of art created in selected cultures.
• 4.2 Identify and describe the role and influence of new technologies on contemporary works of art.
5. Diversity of the Visual Arts
• 5.1 Identify and describe trends in the visual arts and discuss how the issues of time, place, and cultural influence are reflected in selected works of art.
• 5.2 Discuss the purposes of art in selected contemporary cultures.

Resources:

Ancient Egyptian Art; An Introduction.

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Akhet Egyptology: Horizon to the Past

How Papyrus Is Made

What Do You Know About Cartouche

Students will be able to solve visual art problems by :
Learning about a Cartouche ( an oval or oblong enclosing a group of Egyptian hieroglyphs, typically representing the name and title of a monarch). Students will determine the spelling of their own name in Ancient Egyptian.
Students will effectively use Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs to write and communicate a story line.
Students will learn that Hieroglyphs are read in vertical rows that are delineated by parallel lines or columns and that the viewer reads starting from the upper left corner and then reads down the length of the column.
Students will understand that complete grammatical sentences do not apply in Ancient Egyptian writing. That there is no punctuation or overall sentence structure and no “waxing poetic”, just the facts.

Students will understand that visual images that are incorporated into the drawing, are stylized and easily reproducible and are to be featured though out their own Hieroglyphic composition in varying sizes and vignettes.

Materials to be used are student sketch-book, Papyrus paper, ruler, erasure, pencil, Sharpie and watercolor.

Rubric: