Painting to Music

My fourth and final course this summer focused on using shapes, colors and lines to create a design. The inspiration for these designs come from music, an so the artist for this project is Wassily Kandinsky. The kids enjoyed listening to the music while painting. When discussing Kandinsky's work I helped the students understand the connection from this work to previous projects by recalling other paintings we studied. Then I showed them Kandinsky's abstract design and asked them what this was a picture of. Many children, without any help from me, said that they saw musical instruments. I then expanded on their observations by explaining that Kandinsky used music to influence his design. I explained that we would listen to different styles of music and paint to each song. I also tried to get the children to focus on colors that work with different sounds. For example if the music is light and playful we might use bright colors. The students are free to let their brushes do the dancing. They can paint an image that comes to mind or simply play around with colors and shapes to create something abstract. When the paintings are finished we can compare the different styles of music by putting paintings side by side.

Impasto

The third project in the art series is Impasto painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Impasto painting is applying thick layers of paint, so thick that the brush or palette-knife strokes are visible in the paint. When dry, the paint leaves a rough texture to the painting. Van Gogh is famous for using Impasto painting and bright colors. Van Gogh himself was not famous in his day, although he is one of the most famous artists today. He tried many different jobs before turning to painting. He only painted in the last ten years of his life and in that time he painted over 800 paintings.

Collage

Collage was the second project in the series of workshops that I worked on this summer. For this project Romare Bearden was the artist of focus. Students analyzed a poster of Bearden's collage "The Return of the Prodigal Son". Most students had not heard of this story, but those who had enjoyed telling the rest of the class about it. Once students heard the story it was easy for them to recognize elements from the Prodigal Son represented in the collage. Students then told their own story through their own collages. Some students made up stories about their pictures. It was fun to hear them share their own stories. The most valuable aspect of this lesson is that students learned that pictures are a form of communication (in this case the picture tells a story). Students also learned how to create a picture from a variety of materials. Students were able to cut materials into the shapes they needed or build new shapes by putting other shapes together.
For more information on Romare Bearden visit www.beardenfoundation.org

Pointillism

This summer I had the pleasure of teaching children about art. One of the classes in this series of art classes focused on Pointillism. I showed the children a poster of a painting by Seurat and explained that the technique involved using dots of paint to create a picture. The students then painted their own pictures using paint and Q-tips. The Q-tips help the students to make dots, rather than using a paint brush. I also helped students to look into the idea of using dots in our everyday lives. Newspapers, magazines and computers use "dots" to build an image. DPI or Dots Per Inch is a clear example of the use of dots in images today. The more dots there are, the better the picture looks. The students use magnifying glasses to look at the dots in newspaper and magazine samples. Students can actually see the difference in the space between dots in these two samples. Newsprint uses a lower DPI than magazines and that is why the students will see the dots more clearly on the newsprint samples. The idea of printed materials being created by dots gives students the basic idea of how the computer and printers works. A digital camera will build the image out of pixels (dots) which in turn are printed in DPI on a page. The printer actually drops dots of ink onto the page to form the complete picture. The kids really enjoyed using the magnifying glass to see what else was made of dots. They also grasped the idea of creating a picture from smaller pieces. With every press of the Q-tip they were building their pictures.

Growing Minds

I believe that children learn best through hands on activities. By becoming an active participant in an activity children grasp concepts and gain an appreciation far beyond any text book could provide. This idea is best carried out through the learning of science. When children experiment with a variety of materials they learn about their world.
I have always enjoyed growing a variety of plants in my garden. I find that children can easily take pleasure in planting and gardening while learning new concepts in science. If it is possible to use a part of the school grounds for planting it would yield positive outcomes for the students while providing a pleasant landscape. Children delight in watching their efforts produce a flower or even fruits and vegetables. They can learn how plants reproduce, what conditions work best for different plants and where our food source comes from. If planting on school grounds in not an option students could also greatly benefit from planting indoors near a window. They can experiment with different seeds, soil types and amounts of water and discover what helps their plants produce better results.
Even as an adult I am still experimenting in my garden. I have tried some new ways to naturally repel bugs without using harmful chemicals. Because I am still experimenting I cannot say what works best, but I am enjoying learning through experimentation. I can say, however, that I am trying out biodegradable materials such as onions, peppers, and other spices that bugs seem to dislike.
Children can learn to protect our planet and produce food for the future. By allowing them to experiment they can learn for themselves how nature works and perhaps they can invent their own recipe for a cleaner and healthier future.