EXPRESSI ONI SM PAI NTI NG

COLOR YOUR EMOTI ONS

I. CLASS: Kindergarten grade class 40 minutes.

II. TIME NEEDED: 5 Class periods (1 day for presentation and 4 work days)

III. ART HISTORICAL BACKGROUND RELATED TO LESSON:
Color is obviously an important part of art history, but color was never really the
central focus of a work of art until later in art history. Until the expressionists, during
the beginning of the 20
th
Century (the 1900s), color was, one might say, taken for
granted, as colors were primarily used to simply record the real-life colors of nature.
The expressionists on the other hand, instead of trying to record the color of objects
accurately, they decided to use unrealistic colors as a way to express emotions. As
such, modern artists like Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, began to eventually
make color as the single most important quality of the work. Rothkos paintings are
often called Color Field paintings, whereas Pollock is referred to as an action
painter, but they all used color as an important way to express the feeling, or
emotional aspects of a work of art. In both Rothko and de Koonings later careers
(for which they are well-known for), however, they did not create paintings that
depict any real world objects. The point of their art is not to represent the physical
qualities of something, but rather the emotionally qualities, which for them means the
emotional qualities of the colors themselves. Its because of this that their art is also
categorized as abstract, since it doesnt representing any kind of physical objects we
encounter in the natural world.

IV. SUBJECT: The end result of this lesson is for students to create an expressionist
painting that demonstrates the use of mixing primary colors to create secondary
colors.

V. EQUIPMENT / AV MATERIALS: PowerPoint presentation, Smart Board
projector, digital images of expressionist works of art

VI. SUPPLIES: paints, paper, brushes, plastic wrap, masking tape.

VII. OBJECTIVES:
Academic Skills: Students will learn about the art movement of expressionism and
the artists associated with it
Craftsmanship Skills: Students will be using only the primary colors, using brushes,
plastic wrap, and their fingers to depicts an expressionist work of art that shows how
primary colors mix to form secondary colors.


Cognitive Skills: Students will understand that secondary colors are created by
mixing primary colors, as well as understand (and reinforce from the previous lesson)
the ideas of drawing/painting using the concept of line, pattern, texture and
symmetry.


VIII. BENCHMARKS AND STANDARDS:
A. Ohio Benchmarks and Standards in the Visual Arts:
3PE: Describe different ways that an artwork expresses an emotion or mood.
1PR: Explore and experiment with a range of art materials and tools to
create and communicate personal meaning.
5RE: Describe what they see and feel in selected works of art.

B. Benchmarks and Standards in Other Disciplines:
Social Studies:
- History: Student will build upon their previous knowledge of Expressionism
by learning about the later artists of the 20
th
century e.g. Willem de Kooning
Mark Rothko, and how they emphasized color compared to their predecessors.
Science:
- Physical Sciences: Students will see first-hand how the properties of color and
pigment interact in order to produce a range of colors from the primaries
English:
- Language Aquisition: Students will hear and use vocabulary words including:
primary colors, secondary colors, expressionism, organic shapes, inorganic
shapes, negative space, pattern.

IX. LEARNER OUTCOMES: Students will use understand how primary colors
combine to form secondary colors by creating an expressionist painting. They will
also use various methods, e.g. fingers, hard end of paintbrushes, splatter painting, to
create texture, pattern, abstract shapes and symmetry or asymmetry.

X. SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: There may be concerns regarding students
touching their eyes or face with wet paint on their fingers.

XI. ALTERNATIVES TO THE LESSON: Students who dont find this project
challenging enough, or finish early, can be encouraged to try various other methods
and techniques to achieve textures and patterns e.g. crumbling up paper and pressing
it against their wet paint, then removing it.

XII. THEORIES/THEORISTS RELATED TO LESSON: Howard Garner and his
Multiple Intelligences theory is relevant because students are given very tactile as
well as visual modes of creating their art pieces. Jean Piaget and his stage-theory of
cognitive development is also utilized by the fact that this project is developmentally
appropriate, and his notions of constructivism is utilized by the fact that students are
given a chance to play with colors and learn about color mixing through active,
hands-on engagement with the media and materials.



XIII. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE: The students will be hearing and learning art
vocabulary terms including: primary colors, secondary colors, expressionism,
pigment, abstract, patterns, texture, symmetry and asymmetry. Non-art vocabulary to
be aware of might include: realistic, non-realistic, layers.

XIV. PROCEDURE:

1. Introduction: The 1
st
class will begin with a quick pre-assessment to see what
kids remember know/remember about color theory. They will be asked to draw
and color in three shapes with primary colors and three shapes with secondary
colors.
A. Motivation The beginning of the PowerPoint presentation will begin with
many examples of images that use a bright, colorful hues, including
Expressionist paintings, as well as space pictures of nebulas, since the pictures
of nebulas might resemble their final products. They can also be used to
inspire kids to think about how abstract shapes can be found in nature and
outer space. Talk about perhaps how nebulas look like expressionist
paintings. Also, do a quick, guided demonstration (with kids following along
with their own examples) of how to use certain tools and techniques to create
various effects e.g. symmetry via paper folding, and fine-point tools to create
lines in wet paint, or sponges to create bubbly texture.
B. New and Reviewed Experiences Students should have familiarity with
creating shapes, patterns, and using paintsspecifically, talking about the
color wheel in regards to warm and cold colors. They will also build upon the
previous lesson about Franz Marc and his expressionistic use of color, and
should remember the concept of negative space from the previous stencil
lesson plan. Some students should have familiarity with knowledge about
mixing primaries to create secondary colors. A new experience for likely all
the students will be to use plastic wrap in creating color mixing and textured
surfaces and patterns with their fingers.
2. Distribution of Materials and Implements: Two helpers will be chosen to pass out
paper1 paper for each student (20 students roughly)
3. Work Period: Students will be given 3 work days to complete assignment.
A. Day 1: Students will begin by adding their first two primary colors onto their
paper and experimenting with various tools and techniques to mix them
together, creating different patterns, textures, and symmetries.
B. Day 2: Add their second two primary colors on top of the first layer of paint,
and experiment again with various techniques tools.
C. Day 3: Add their third two primary colors on top of first two layers and mix
using various tools and techniques.
D. Day 4: Add final layers of paint using white and black paint if they want to
(e.g. students who finish before others). Finish up working on painting by
adding any additional colors, lines, textures, etc.
4. Clean Up: Each group will be responsible for collecting and cleaning up their
desks and storing their projects


5. Teacher-pupil Appraisal of the Art Activity: During the activity I will be walking
around to check if each student is making progress, and at the end of each session
a quick formative assessment will be applied by asking review questions about art
vocabulary terms and concepts including art historical questions.

XV. EVALUATION OF STUDENT WORK: The students will be evaluated on
whether they completed all tasks of the assignment Created an expressionist
painting using non-traditional tools/techniques to achieve textures/patterns, use of
primary colors to create secondary colors, and follows basic classroom procedures.
Assessment of student ability
to complete art activity
1 2 3 3.5 4
Follows procedures in order to
focus time wisely on project
Not following
procedures
Following
some
procedures
Following all
procedures
N/A
Creates an expressionist
painting using tools and
techniques to create texture,
patterns, symmetry/asymmetry
Does not
finish painting
Doesnt use
any non-
traditional
techniques
Creates a textures,
patterns, or
symmetries using
non-traditional
tools/techniques
Uses creative tools and
techniques to achieve
textures, patterns that
werent talked about
Creates all 3 secondary colors
(orange, purple and green)
through the use of mixing
together primary colors
Secondary
colors are not
achieved
Secondary
colors arent
created using
primaries
Creates all
secondary colors
by combining
primaries
Combines primary
colors in a very
controlled manner (no
murky browns)
Possible points: 4.0 4.0 3.5 points = A + 3.0 points = A
2.5 2.0 points = B 1.5 points = C 1.0 points = D 0 points = F