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Title - Jackson Pollack and Mixing Colors
By - Paula Hrbacek
Primary Subject - Art
Grade Level - 1 - 4
Materials: poster paint, large sheets of construction paper, marbles, rubber band balls, porcupine balls, golf balls, masking tape, beverage flat boxes or gift boxes.
Curriculum requirements: mixing colors, art history
Lecture: Jackson Pollock was a man who always wanted to be an artist. His older brother was an artist, and when they were both old enough, they went to the same art school. Jackson tried and tried to paint as well as his teacher, but it was never good enough. Finally, he decided to give up and quit. He thought he would never accomplish his dream.
Then, he made friends with some new artists who were experimenting with paint and how it was applied. They tried all kinds of paint, all kinds of surfaces, and all kinds of different ways of putting the paint on the surface. They used brushes, but they also experimented with other tools, like walking on the canvas with paint on their shoes, pouring the paint, filling balloons with paint and throwing them at the canvas, and stuff like that.
Jackson joined in on the fun and found out that he was the best artist at this kind of art. He called his paintings action paintings because it took a lot of action to make them, and because they have a lot of eye movement and action in them.
Some critics thought that this kind of painting wasn't really art. To prove their point, they had a demonstration where they gave a paintbrush to a monkey, and let the ape make a painting that looked like his. But they didn't make their point, because Jackson's work was clearly better. He chose better color combinations, and made paintings that seem to dance on the page.
Today, we're going to experiment with action painting.
Instructions: Write your name on the back of the paper. Once you begin painting, you won't be able to sign your work.
Tape a piece of paper inside a flat box. Add about a teaspoon each of two colors. Review how colors can be mixed to make new colors. Add a marble, setting it down in the paint. Roll the box back and forth, like a boat on the ocean, and guide the marble around the paper. Then add another color of paint, and use a rubber band ball. This is a marble that is wrapped in several rubber bands. Or, try a porcupine ball, or a golf ball, or other balls that have a different texture.
Take your time going around the class and giving out more paint. This activity does not take 45 minutes if the children are hyperactive, so you will need to plan another activity, use really big pieces of paper, or stock twice as many boxes as you need.
To dry the paintings, leave them in the boxes, and stack the boxes like Lincoln logs; horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical.
Assessment: participation and good behavior equals an "A".
E-Mail Paula Hrbacek!
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