Ok I know I have been AWOL. I'm finding my day of wake up, feed baby, get baby ready for day, drive to work while pumping, teach, do lunch duty, eat lunch while pumping for 17 min, do lunch duty, drive home while pumping, care for baby, do lesson plans, repeat....to leave little time for blog posting.
However, I need the help of the art blogging world as I have been asked to teach about an artist that I can't really figure out how to make a lesson for.
Mark Rothko was born in Russia but his family moved to Oregon when he was 10. He went to high school in Portland at one of the schools in my district. Right now the Portland Art Museum is hosting a show of his work and I have been asked to do a unit on him. I want to take the kids to see the exhibit and it is easy to teach about is life and look at his art...but I'm struggling with the studio lesson aspect. I have never had luck in the past when it comes to Color Field lessons. I find my 6-8th graders don't really "get it" (honestly I'm not sure I really "get it" sometimes...but they look nice).
My last attempt at a color field lesson what also a color theory lesson about color families. We did some paintings with blocks of color but they ended up looking very early elementary school and quite uninspired. I am at a loss at how to make something more interesting that my kids will connect with. I can't really find anything online...even the MoMA lesson on his has no studio aspect, only a compare and contrast.
HELP! I need your ideas. How would you/do you approach something like color field painting in your room?
I've really been thinking about pairing Rothko with "The Color Of" (http://thecolorof.com/#find) and making it about color symbolism. I haven't tested it yet, but I'm planning to try using a white crayon to write a word (preferably an interesting word, one with "atmosphere") and using a watercolor resist in the colors that symbolize the word. I might even try adding more texture, maybe rolling crayons before painting.
ReplyDeleteWords are symbols and do not belong in a color field lesson. With my 4 and 5's, we discussed the emotional impact of color combinations on our emotions. That helped them understand the lesson.
Deletehum... adding texture is a good idea. Maybe we can spread some gel medium on nice and thick or some other texture items like sand? and then put acrylic on top. I was just reading about how he dragged items through his thick paint to make dividing lines
ReplyDeleteCan't say that I've ever taught Rothko - or ever really wanted to. Color field stuff is SO hard to explain to kids. The stuff that makes the most sense to them is Grandma Moses. A color field painting - NO. Who asked you to teach about him? It seems like a strange request!
ReplyDeleteHe graduated from a high school in the district where I teach and they have a show of his work at the Portland art museum now so the principal is encouraging me to take the kids to see the exhibit and do a lesson. We may have to skip the lesson part or just take inspiration from the idea of color symbolism
ReplyDeleteI don't really know
I did a Rothko lesson with first graders. We looked at and discussed his work. I discussed why he moved from figurative work to abstraction. Together we talked about the qualities of his abstract work (e.g. soft vs. hard edges,use of shape, color, etc.). It was interesting that the kids saw objects in the abstract work ("that looks like a chair and a table!")
ReplyDeleteWe used oil pastels and baby oil and cotton swabs. The baby oil breaks down the oil pastel allowing for translucent layering and softened edges. They created square and rectangular worlds. Some did add other shapes. They mixed colors and created hard an soft edges. They filled 9"x12" sheets. While they worked, I read the book Squarehead by Harriet Ziefert.
Hope this helps!
I would have them pick about 3 colors they think will affect one another. Have them layer paint with thin layers of watercolour or paint to create depth and think about the edges of the rectangles smooth, fluffy, sharp, thick, thin. And they have to be big,and their friends can comment on how the color affects them! Sounds like fun to me!
ReplyDeleteI just did Rothko with third grade. We used oil pastels to make "color cards" like flashcards, 12 colors from the color wheel blended with primary colors, cut into individual cards. They made observations about color combos by reaching into their bag and pulling out a few colors, and writing down what they noticed. For example, red, yellow-green, and orange may remind one kid of fall trees and another of a fire. Some students made very funny observations...
ReplyDeleteThen we discussed some Rothko images and how he was trying to create mood and feelings with his work. They made their own color field pictures with oil pastels, at least 2 colors and one of them had to be blended with another color. The colors had to be significant to them (aka they had to be able to explain why). The finished work was cool but not as important as the thought process! Hope this helped...
When I teach color field painting i let them choose a limited pallete and paint for the sake of using color. I tell them it's not about making it look like anything but really just exploring color and the properties of the paint. I think it frees them of some of the pressure to make a picture. Good luck
ReplyDeleteI absolutely ADORE Rothko and think his work is very relevent and opens up the potential for great discussions with the class about abstract art. I find most kids echo their parents sentiments when they say things like 'anyone can do that' , or 'it's not art', etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to teach this, I would try to use the same technique Rothko did: thinned paint on raw canvas. Buy a bunch of canvas or white muslin and cut it into manageable rectangles. Then, using thinned down acrylic or tempera paint or liquid watercolours, have kids paint away using a limited colour palette. I think it would be a very fun and freeing activity!
Have a look to my suggestion!
ReplyDeletehttp://arteascuola-miriampaternoster.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/inspired-by-rothko.html
Rothko is tricky, I agree. I think if you simplify the lesson, it might work. You can start off with a general lesson about Rothko and his own work, including soft and hard edges, and his use of color. You don't Have to get into symbolisim because I have found that some students have trouble with it. You can just instruct students to "copy" the format of one of Rothko's paintings (have a few different ones on hand) and then substitute in their own favorite colors, using the soft edges. Hmm. Maybe I'll use this! Haha.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI've never taught Rothko, but here's an idea: What if you had them cover their paper with strips/blocks of the bleed-able tissue paper, in a vertical stack, like Rothko, overlapping the colors a bit. They can paint the glue on, and the tissue paper can/should give you some texture. Then, have them paint some gel medium on top. As your color lesson, you can definitely address how certain colors evoke certain feelings, like how Picasso had his "blue" period, or how we call certain colors Warm or Cool. Hmmm... I might see a Rothko lesson in my future :)
I haven't taught Rothko either, but I think I would get out the paint rollers, limit color choices, and let the kids have at it. When the work was dry I'd do it all again adding more layers. Encourage the kids to leave an unpainted border, and like Laura said above, let the layers peek through at the edges.
ReplyDeleteI am a professional artist doing work in mixed media. I teach workshops to other adult artists. One exercise I have them do is to create a mixed media Rothko.
ReplyDeleteUsing Rothko's rectangular composition, we layer different mixed media materials (a variety of papers, burlap, foils, even kitty litter), in each rectangle.
Examples on my website, carolnelsonfineart.com
Carol...I really like the idea of layering different textures underneath to start...I bet sandpaper would work well also....I wonder where I can get burlap cheap....
ReplyDeleteI just saw landscape burlap at Tractor Supply. It's for the garden and it was cheap.
ReplyDelete