D11-DOI-Visual Arts, 1st Grade Art

District 11 Division of Operations & Instruction
Visual Arts

Grade 4, Quarter 2 Art: Geographic Art in Mondrian Style

Overview
There is considerable research on the academic value of students receiving instruction in the Visual Arts. All District 11 art classes are taught by qualified art teachers. Students will learn the elements of art and principles of design. They will learn about art in relation to history, culture, and the community. They will also recognize and use the visual arts as a form of communication, and will critique works of art through analysis, assessment, and evaluation. As we progress into the second quarter, more formalized assessments of each student's level of mastery begin and continue throughout the year. "Art isn't everything, it is about everything."
~ Gertrude Stein

Curriculum Integration: This is an Integrated Unit for Social Studies and Art, where students analyze and critique the artwork of Piet Mondrian.

For Teachers

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Daily Lessons

Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

People and cultures communicate through visual arts.
Visual arts tell stories with mood and emotion through images.
Visual arts inform us about our culture, history and society.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

What is art?
What makes a piece of artwork good?
How can I communicate my ideas thoughts and feelings effectively through art?

Standards-Based Assessments
Standard 1:. Recognizes and uses the visual arts as a form of communication. Selects visual images for works of art to communicate ideas.
Standard 2: Knows and applies elements of art and principles of design. Identifies primary colors.
Standard 3: Knows and applies the use of tools, materials, techniques, and processes. Demonstrates appropriate used of tools and materials. Demonstrates instructed techniques and processes.
Standard 4: Demonstrates an understanding of art in relation to history, culture, and community. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of history. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of culture. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of community.
Standard 5: Critiques works of art through analysis, assessment, and evaluation. Describes/shows similarities and differences between works of art. Describes the mood and/or feeling in works of art. Explains personal likes and dislikes about works of art.

District 11 curriculum is designed to prepare and equip students to be successful in the 21st Century. Curriculum resources and lessons included here have been aligned to the Colorado Standards for each content area. In addition, the entire program has been aligned with the knowledge, skills, and learner attributes the Partnership for 21st Century Skills promotes as necessary for success in the 21st Century. You will see the highlighted core values embedded in these lessons and activities.

A	Academic Preparedness: the foundation required for either higher education, or high-wage, high skills jobs
C	Cultural Competence: the ability to understand and interpret political and cultural events from multiple perspectives in a global society, a core competency in 21st Century Skills
H	High-Functioning Team Member Skills: collaboration is a core competency in 21st Century Skills
I	Innovative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills: a core competency for 21st Century Skills
E	Effective Use of Information Technology: a core competency for 21st Century Skills
V	Vital Participation in Civic Responsibility: "share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society" Standards for the 21st-Century Learner from American Library Assoc.
E	Effective Communication Skills: a core competency for 21st Century Skills

Lesson 1: Who Was Piet Mondrian?
Duration: 1 class period

Standards-Based Assessments
Standard 1:. Recognizes and uses the visual arts as a form of communication. Selects visual images for works of art to communicate ideas.
Standard 2: Knows and applies elements of art and principles of design. Identifies primary colors.
Standard 3: Knows and applies the use of tools, materials, techniques, and processes. Demonstrates appropriate used of tools and materials. Demonstrates instructed techniques and processes.
Standard 4: Demonstrates an understanding of art in relation to history, culture, and community. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of history. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of culture. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of community.
Standard 5: Critiques works of art through analysis, assessment, and evaluation. Describes/shows similarities and differences between works of art. Describes the mood and/or feeling in works of art. Explains personal likes and dislikes about works of art.
Assessment: Art Rubric
Materials: pencil, sketchbook, found object and blinder card for the drawing ritual
Vocabulary: organic and geometric shapes
Activities

Begin with a drawing Ritual in your sketchbook- Look at this site for Rituals to Start an Art Class. This is a five minute warm up in your sketchbook. Use a blinder card (place the pencil through a hole in the center of a 8 x 8 inch card). The card will keep you from looking down on your paper. You may look down only to reposition your pencil when you begin a new line.
Piet Mondrian was a famous abstract painter, born in the Netherlands in 1872. His most recognized works are abstract paintings of colored squares, rectangles, and thick black lines. Of course Mondrian didn’t start out painting squares and rectangles—growing up during the tail end of Impressionism, Piet Mondrian’s first paintings were consistent with that time period, as well as the Post-impressionism of Van Gogh. Later on he also took cues from Braque and Picasso, although he soon formed a very distinct style all his own.

In 1903 (at 31) he won his first prize from the "Arti et Amicitae Society". Traveling back and forth between Amsterdam and various parts of rural Holland he devoted practically all of his time to painting landscapes, first in the style of the "The Hague School", then gradually more and more abstract, omitting details he regarded as unimportant. The more abstract his work became, the more appreciation and recognition he gained from fellow artists and other forward thinking contemporaries, at the same time the more criticism he met, particularly from Dutch art critics, "This man is totally confused".

He noticed the random and disorderly quality of nature (the way branches on trees grow, the shape and distribution of clouds), which then changed into his well known paintings that consist of horizontal and vertical lines, the horizontal representing femininity and the worldly, the vertical masculinity and the spiritual. He aimed to create a balance between the horizontal and the vertical, in tune with the laws of the universe, as he saw them, and his spiritual beliefs.
Look at the The Evolution of Pure Abstract Paintings of Piet Mondrian. Compare Mondrian's first painting with vanGogh's Pollard Willows with Setting Sun. They are both in the style of Post-Impressionism. How are they similar? Now look at Mondrian's tree paintings. Do these trees look realistic? Notice how he further simplifies the trees into horizontal and vertical lines. He continues this simplification until he basically used only three colors. What are they?

Differentiation
Support:
Extension: You may look over the biography and painting styles of for further information: PIET MONDRIAN

Lesson 2: Early Mondrian Palette Knife Painted Trees (Part 1)
Duration: 1 class period

Standards-Based Assessments
Standard 1:. Recognizes and uses the visual arts as a form of communication. Selects visual images for works of art to communicate ideas.
Standard 2: Knows and applies elements of art and principles of design. Identifies primary colors.
Standard 3: Knows and applies the use of tools, materials, techniques, and processes. Demonstrates appropriate used of tools and materials. Demonstrates instructed techniques and processes.
Standard 4: Demonstrates an understanding of art in relation to history, culture, and community. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of history. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of culture. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of community.
Standard 5: Critiques works of art through analysis, assessment, and evaluation. Describes/shows similarities and differences between works of art. Describes the mood and/or feeling in works of art. Explains personal likes and dislikes about works of art.
Assessment: Art Rubric
Materials: For the gesture drawing: vine charcoal, black chalk or conte crayon, sketchbook, tree references (or outdoor drawing), chalk pastels
For the painting: acrylic or thickened tempera paints (add a small amount of joint compound to the tempera colors to thicken so that the strokes are visible), palette knife, mixing tray of thick paints, another tray for additional color mixing, prepared canvas board or prepared canvas roll or matboard that has gesso painted on both sides (to keep from warping), tree drawing from last class
Vocabulary: palette or painting knife, texture, contrast, warm and cool colors, tints, shades, negative space or shapes, organic, negative space
Activities

"Artists know that the ability to draw a camera-like likeness is a useful skill, but by itself, it is not art. Gesture drawing helps nurture our expressive, intuitive, emotional, and artistic temperament. Gesture drawing is a great change of pace from the careful work of contour drawing. It must be explained that this is not intended to give the same results as contour drawing, but it can improve the quality of subsequent contour drawings. Observation is still very central to the activity, but feeling and kinesthetic response to tools, materials, and motion are also rehearsed and artistically and expressively developed. Gesture drawing is the dance of drawing."
~Marvin Bartel, Ed.D

No need for a drawing ritual today. We will be GESTURE DRAWING today.

Look at some photos of bare trees. Notice the trunk and where the trunk splits, branches. You need to draw some trees in your sketchbook. will draw trees in their sketchbooks. If you can go outdoors and draw a tree from real life. Choose a tree without many leaves, if possible.
If it is impossible to go outdoors, then use photographs of bare trees or this link: Bare Tree Photos. Choose one to draw. Begin at the trunk and carefully observe the direction and flow of the tree. The trunk is the largest part of the tree and as the tree splits to form branches, the tree may become thinner. Where is the main trunk? Does it remain fairly straight with branches that shoot from it? Do you see the branches splitting from the main trunk, and branches that split off from other branches? Is the tree leaning to one side? Take time observing how ORGANIC the trunk and branches are. They flow more like water than stand rigid like stairs.

Scroll down to the Gesture Drawing Dance . Unlike contour drawing, gesture drawing does not start with an outline. It starts from the center (the core) and moves out to all the joints, the extremities, emphasizing movement and action as it rapidly colors in the figure. Gesture drawing is the opposite of slow and careful contour drawing. Gesture drawing is from observation, but it is done very fast--not slow and deliberate as contour drawing needs to be.

Choose one photo to look at. The photo can include more than one tree. Use some vine charcoal, black chalk or conte crayon for these gesture drawings of your tree(s). Follow the movement of the tree!! Begin in the center and move your charcoal to all the extremities the way you see the branches flowing. Try a few of these until you become more comfortable drawing this way.

Choose your favorite gesture drawing of the tree(s).

Here is a little color review before we add color to our sketch:
Let's pull out our color triangle wheels that we painted in the first unit. (You can even use a large circular color wheel to look at.) Who can name our three primary colors? Secondary? Complimentary colors? What is a TINT? Do you see any tints on our color wheels? NO! Tints are made with white added to a color. Our color wheel colors represent the colors in the rainbow or color spectrum and they don't include tints-or SHADES! (Remember- shades are colors that have BLACK added to them.) Wow! Are you overwhelmed with all these types of colors? Well, don't be since we will be continually reviewing with interesting lessons for you.

What colors on the color wheel remind you of sunshine or a hot fire? Red, orange, and yellow. We will call these WARM colors. These aren't too hard to remember. What colors remind you of a cool ocean or sky? Blue and green- COOL colors. We will add violet to the cool color list at this point. Look at this image: Warm and Cool Colors. Color temperature is the perceived warmth or coolness of the color. Cool colors (with a more blue base) tend to recede while warm color temperatures (in the red and orange families) are perceived as advancing. Knowing these properties can make the world of difference in your design.

To continue your tree drawing: Add pastels in the NEGATIVE SPACES of your trees-the spaces or shapes in between your branches and around your tree (which is the positive shape). Use a WARM OR COOL theme. Here is something to try: For the sky area you may add WHITE to your colors to create lighter values or TINTS.
Save this beautiful tree picture for the next class. Great job!

Differentiation
Support: To review colors explore this fun Color Interactive Tool.
Extension: To review colors explore this fun Color Interactive Tool.

Lessons 3-4: Early Mondrian Palette Knife Painted Trees (Part 2)
Duration: 1-2 class periods

Standards-Based Assessments
Standard 1:. Recognizes and uses the visual arts as a form of communication. Selects visual images for works of art to communicate ideas.
Standard 2: Knows and applies elements of art and principles of design. Identifies primary colors.
Standard 3: Knows and applies the use of tools, materials, techniques, and processes. Demonstrates appropriate used of tools and materials. Demonstrates instructed techniques and processes.
Standard 4: Demonstrates an understanding of art in relation to history, culture, and community. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of history. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of culture. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of community.
Standard 5: Critiques works of art through analysis, assessment, and evaluation. Describes/shows similarities and differences between works of art. Describes the mood and/or feeling in works of art. Explains personal likes and dislikes about works of art.
Assessment: Art Rubric
Materials: pencil, sketchbook, found object and blinder card for the drawing ritual, acrylic or thickened tempera paints (add a small amount of joint compound to the tempera colors to thicken so that the strokes are visible), palette knife, mixing tray of thick paints, another tray for additional color mixing, prepared canvas board or prepared canvas roll or matboard that has gesso painted on both sides (to keep from warping), tree drawing from last class.
Vocabulary: gesture drawing, palette or painting knife, texture, contrast, warm and cool colors, tints, shades, negative space or shapes, organic

Activities

Begin with a Drawing Ritual in your sketchbook- Look at this site for Rituals to Start an Art Class. This is a five minute warm up in your sketchbook. Use a blinder card (place the pencil through a hole in the center of a 8 x 8 inch card). The card will keep you from looking down on your paper. You may look down only to reposition your pencil when you begin a new line.
Use knives that are similar to the two Favorite Knives of artist William Powell. Use a palette knife (painting knife) with the small diamond head 1 1/4" long for small areas and a longer head 2 1/8" long (or similar) for larger sweeps of paint if possible. Student knives are made of hard plastic and are fine for this painting.
Place your colored gesture tree picture in front of you. Your desk should be covered with newspaper with your canvas on top. Have your palette knives and paper towels ready and your tray of paint next to you. It may take a few minutes to get used to using a palette knife to apply your thick paints. If you need to mix colors your palette knife will do the trick. You don't need any brushes. Palette Knife Paintings Look at the TEXTURES created by palette knives in these paintings. You may also experiment on scrap paper how to apply paint with a palette knife: Mark Making with a Palette Knife
Begin with black paint on the trunk area. Make sure your black paint is thick so that each stroke with your knife creates a texture. You will need to swipe some paint from the tray using the side of the palette knife and apply the paint as best you can in upward strokes (in the direction of tree growth). It may be easier to work on the trunk by turning both your drawing and canvas upside down to apply your strokes in a downward motion. When you are finished your trunk turn both pictures right-side up and continue. You will need to use the flat side of the palette knife for the thicker areas. As the tree flows outward your strokes should get thinner until the topmost branches are lines. To create lines use the tip of the palette knife. Remember that the tree is organic and flowing.
This painting is NOT supposed to look photographic so DON'T WORRY! Finish your branches. Your branches may come off the page if desired.
Wipe your palette knife clean. Choose either WARM colors OR COOL colors to finish this painting. Add your WARM or COOL colors in the negative spaces. Again you may add white to some of your colors to create tints. Apply this paint thickly in between the branches and the rest of your picture. You can add colors to the trees as well, but the tree must CONTRAST the rest of the painting.
Step back from your picture. You may need to go over some of your black lines with your palette knife again. How do you like your warm or cool colors behind your tree? Do you need to lighten some areas by adding white or add more pure colors for intensity?
Look at the The Evolution of Pure Abstract Paintings of Piet Mondrian again. Compare Mondrian's early tree paintings to your own palette knife tree. How are they different? How are they the same?
When your painting is dry display this outside the art room. It will be an eye pleaser!

Differentiation
Support: Video: http://www.howcast.com/videos/21678-How-To-Paint-With-a-Palette-Knife Explore the Warm and Cool Colors Interactive Tool.
Extension: Explore the Warm and Cool Colors Interactive Tool.

Lesson 5: Mondrian and Jazz- Broadway Boogie-Woogie
Duration: 1 class period

Standards-Based Assessments
Standard 1:. Recognizes and uses the visual arts as a form of communication. Selects visual images for works of art to communicate ideas.
Standard 2: Knows and applies elements of art and principles of design. Identifies primary colors.
Standard 3: Knows and applies the use of tools, materials, techniques, and processes. Demonstrates appropriate used of tools and materials. Demonstrates instructed techniques and processes.
Standard 4: Demonstrates an understanding of art in relation to history, culture, and community. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of history. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of culture. Produces art that has been influenced by aspects of community.
Standard 5: Critiques works of art through analysis, assessment, and evaluation. Describes/shows similarities and differences between works of art. Describes the mood and/or feeling in works of art. Explains personal likes and dislikes about works of art.
Assessment: Art Rubric
Materials: pencil, sketchbook, blinder card, found object for the drawing ritual, 18"x24" white paper trimmed to 16"x 22", 18"x24" black paper for mounting, red, yellow, blue tempera paint, black tempera optional, thick and thin brushes, newspaper, paper towels, water container
Activities

For the Teacher: It is best to show artists' works at the end of the project so the students can practice creating completely original and legitimate ideas on their own. Please read Creativity Killers in the Classroom.
"While "image flooding" (showing many examples) may be inspirational, it can also be intimidating and very suggestive. It can be argued that "image flooding" creates slicker work, but less creative thinking skills. It may win the scholastic awards, but it teaches us to go through life in other people's skins." ~Marvin Bartel, Ed.D
Begin with a Drawing Ritual in your sketchbook- Look at this site for Rituals to Start an Art Class. This is a five minute warm up in your sketchbook. Use a blinder card (place the pencil through a hole in the center of a 8 x 8 inch card). The card will keep you from looking down on your paper. You may look down only to reposition your pencil when you begin a new line.
You will create paintings using primary colors while listening to jazz music.
Type New York City Photos into the search engine for some great images. Choose some favorite photos. What do you notice? Are there bright lights, signs, angular buildings and streets... What else do you notice? Does any color jump out at you? Do you gravitate toward night or day images? You will create your own Broadway Boogie-Woogie, but not in the style of Mondrian! You will interpret the music and images using YOUR OWN creativity and interpretation! There is no wrong!
Type: Dancin' the Boogie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QQzbCmlZM4 and watch and listen about the dance style and music of the 1940's.
Look at your favorite images. Have your desk covered in newspaper, have a water container, assorted brushes, primary tempera colors and black paint on a tray.
Listen to jazz music and look at your images. The SOUNDS of jazz have color, rhythm, and pattern just like an image can. As you "feel" the rhythm of the music start laying pure color onto your paper. How would you lay your strokes? Think about the direction and length of the strokes. Change colors as you feel necessary. Change your brush size as necessary.
When your painting is dry glue it onto larger black paper. Write your name on the lower right corner of your painting.
Now you may look at Mondrian's Broadway-Boogie-Woogie. Notice his rectangles and squares of primary colors. How does this differ from the painting you just completed? There should be plenty of differences since your painting is not to look like Mondrian's art but something completely unique!
Here is some background on Broadway Boogie-Woogie from Moma.org:
Escaping to New York after the start of World War II, Mondrian delighted in the city's architecture, and, an very good dancer, was fascinated by American jazz, particularly boogie–woogie. He saw the syncopated beat, irreverent approach to melody, and improvisational aesthetic of boogie–woogie similar to his own "destruction of natural appearance; and construction through continuous opposition of pure means—dynamic rhythm." Bands of stuttering chromatic pulses, paths of red, yellow, and blue interrupted by light gray suggest the city's grid and the movement of traffic, while the vibration of colors evokes the syncopation of jazz and the blinking electric lights of Broadway.