ALIVE and kicking LEARNING OBJECTIVES Elementary students will … • create tints of colors. • experiment with chalk pastels to create an original visual composition. • reflect on the creative process in complete written sentences. NATIONAL ART STANDARDS • CREATING: Exploring and inventing art- making techniques and approaches. MATERIALS • Chalk pastels, black oil pastels • 12" x 16" black construction paper by Don Masse L et me start by saying that I’m a big advocate of using abstract visual exercises with elementary-school students to boost confidence with materials and to emphasize an understanding of composition and shape arrangement within the picture plane. I also offer students experiences in creating figurative art, and often bounce back and forth between the two, so students can see how the concepts and materials they’re building fluency with can be used to create works of art that look a lot different from each other. MY FOURTH-GRADERS RECENTLY experimented with chalk pastels, layering, creating tints, and mark making as the first part of their color and chalk pastel/ oil pastel unit. For inspiration, I shared the work of Philadelphia-based nonob- Go to artsandactivities.com and click on this button for resources related to this article. jective painter, Moe Brooker. He layers energetic, varied “scribbles” that I liken to the music notes you find on sheet music, over patterned areas and larger geometric shapes. He uses tints of colors to add variety to shapes and to fade sections of compositions in and out. Moe has spoken much about his work over the years and speaks strongly to the notion that you should not be afraid to take chances in art making (and in life in general). In one lecture, he talked about listening to Charlie Parker and that, if you took certain parts of an arrangement out, they wouldn’t work as individual pieces, but as you listen to the arrangement in its entirety, Parker resolves them all at the end. Moe went on to say that this holds true with visual art making. Artists and our students should not be afraid to take technical or aesthetic risks, because as long as we can resolve the way we’ve used the elements in the end, that winding journey is all good. I think this is so relevant for our students to hear and to understand as they work through design challenges, and as they find their voice in visual art. WE STARTED the lesson by looking at a short video of him working and talking about art. He believes strongly in the connection of color and music/sound. I love introducing our focus artists with short videos, so the students can gain a stronger connection to the artist and the design challenges to come. After watching the video and looking more closely at a few of his paintings, we rolled up our sleeves and experimented with chalk pastels, using his visual vocabulary as a springboard for a wide variety of nonobjective drawings. While students worked, I played jazz in the classroom, similar to what they heard playing in Moe’s studio in the video clip. I encouraged them to 12 xm a r c h 2 0 1 8 • 8 5 Y E A R S w w w. a r t s a n d a c t i v i t i e s . c o m
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