The Enchantment of color Day 1
Project/Unit Description/Expedition
In this first lesson we will be exploring the different ways that artists use color in their works of art and how different materials interact with each other. This unit will be focused on the idea of how art can convey feelings, express ideas, and communicate meaning through their stories.
Essential Understanding
Students will learn about how color can be applied in different ways to create different meanings in the art they make.
Inquiry/Learning Target
- To begin our creative thinking process, I want you to pick your favorite object or thing(a toy, book, scooter, pet, etc.) and close your eyes. Focus really hard on that object and picture it in your head. If it helps you remember for this next part, go ahead and sketch some ideas down in your sketchbook. Once you have your object, think about the following:
- How is it used?
- Where is it used?
- Does your object have a story?
- Where is it now?
- What shape is it?
- After you’ve got a clear idea about your favorite thing and some answers to the questions, think about how you might use this information to illustrate a story about it. That is what we’ll be doing over the next few days.
"I can create a composition that tells a story."
"I can use different forms of media and describe their differences."
Key Concept(s)
Concepts
Art Concepts
- What does being a courteous Art Sorcerer look like?
- How does art define others and how does it define who I am?
Art Concepts
- Line
- Color
- Shape
Skill(s)
- Analyzing and recognizing different types of media
- Exploring and combining colors to express a form of narrative work
- Discussing and discovering the stories that are in works of art
Art Focus
We will be creating a work of art that focuses on the students' favorite objects and the stories behind them by using a combination of wet and dry media.
Literary Focus
Throughout the next three days we will be focusing on a student's use of color, line, and shape in order to create their compositions. Through discussions at the end of class, we will ask the students to talk about each other's work from when they had their brief gallery walk and from where they're sitting in the final discussion. This will include what ideas they are expressing, how their images interact with each other, and what sort of things are being represented.
Day 2: Line, shape, color, interaction, expression
Day 3: Line, shape color, composition, interaction, expression, representation
- Representation
- Composition
- Expression
- Interaction
- Color
- Line
- Shape
Day 2: Line, shape, color, interaction, expression
Day 3: Line, shape color, composition, interaction, expression, representation
Documentation
During the class session, it took some time for things to get rolling as we wanted to establish some art classroom norms. Using the current set of norms, we asked the students to offer their ideas to decide what norms would fit in an art classroom compared to the regular classroom. Students had several ideas, including "take care of our materials" and "wash hands after creating art". Their ideas were interesting and it was immediately obvious that they knew what was expected of them.
After we established what rules we deemed were appropriate, and modeling "do's" and "don'ts" for materials, we began the discussion about the type of project we'd begin working on.
After we established what rules we deemed were appropriate, and modeling "do's" and "don'ts" for materials, we began the discussion about the type of project we'd begin working on.
The teacher presented a work of their own that was an example of the project they'd be doing (left) and asked them to describe the story they saw. A couple of students commented: "The cat likes toys!" while another student offered: "He likes yarn.". While a lot of the observations were the same, all of the students participated in brainstorming. |
Following the introduction of the project, to tell a story about a favorite thing using wet and dry medias, the students were given time to explore with dry materials this week (crayon and oil pastels) to sketch out their ideas about what they wanted to draw. One student explained that they chose the colors blue and pink for the ice cream because they were their favorite flavors: cotton candy and strawberry. When asked about what relation those had with the dog, they said that they were just her favorite things. |
This student commented on how she made her dog purple but was thinking about how dark his fur was and how in some cases it looked purple. When asked about the orange they elaborated with "They're really energetic and I think of orange.". The rest of the colors were some that they also thought of when thinking about their dog. "I chose blue because I feel calm with them, yellow because they make me happy, and pink for joy when I see them at home!" |
After the student worked on putting a lizard in the tree, we asked what else they were thinking of adding to fill in the space. Part of what was asked, further into the work time, was to try and fill the entire page. The student explained that they were thinking of putting themselves beneath the branch because they wanted to catch the lizard as it jumped. When asked about the colors above the tree, they explained that it was because they really enjoyed the colors of clouds during a sunset.
When asked about what the blue and green attachments were, the student explained that they put a crown on both the head of their dog and on their back because they recognized crowns as important or something that could make a thing important. If a person could be important wearing a crown, then so could a dog. |
Even though we were able to recognize that these were Marvel characters (Hulk and War Machine) the student explained why they chose to them.
"I like superheroes because even though some of them are ordinary, they still do their best in bad situations. That's what I want to do!"
"I like superheroes because even though some of them are ordinary, they still do their best in bad situations. That's what I want to do!"
During our time where we walked around each table and discussed the art everyone had made, one of the students made an excellent observation about some that didn't have as much put down on the paper. "Some of these have more on them but the others that don't have much still have a story. They may have run out of time too, but they still have a story." As we go forward learning about artists and how they tell a story with their art, this is an excellent step towards having them begin to think about these things. |