The Legos and the Astronauts have been learning about Art & Movement through a partnership with the Museum of Modern Art. Kirstin, a school educator from MoMA, has engaged the students in the Legos and the Astronauts in a variety of art-making activities that explore movement with many different kinds of materials. First, Kirstin talked about drawing movement through mono-drawings using prismasticks, rubbing plates, and wikki sticks. Students created a background for their work using the rubbing plates by placing the plate underneath the paper and rubbing a prismastick over the surface, and then created a second layer of drawing by forming their own imagery using wikki sticks and repeated the rubbing process. Students learned that mono means one - and that although their drawing plates could be used again and again, each drawing they create will be unique from the previous, depending on the placement of the plate, the colors they choose and the pressure they put on their drawing utensil.
The Astronauts and Legos went on a field trip to MoMA to learn about artists that use movement to create their artwork. Students got to see artworks by Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, Jackson Pollock, Claude Monet and Umberto Boccioni. We discussed how our body's movement can change the look of our mark-making. We pretended what it would feel like to create a Pollock painting by splattering, spilling and throwing our imaginary paint using our whole bodies. Our museum educators passed out pieces of yarn, counted to three, and everyone dropped their string onto the ground. Students observed how the yarn pieces resembled the paint in Pollock's artwork. This activity inspired a lesson in the art room back at Gillen Brewer where students used yarn and sticky boards to create yarn drawings. Students decided if they wanted to make shapes, experiment with different lines, or create pictures while making their artworks.
The Legos and Astronauts continued to explore movement in art by creating action paintings. The Legos used oil sticks, and the Astronauts used watercolors to create all different kinds of marks that represented action words - like splat, pow, slither, swirl, creep, jump, boom and pop. The art and movement fun continued with Kirstin when students learned how to create marble paintings. Students placed a piece of paper inside a shoebox, dropped in some paint and a few marbles, and helped each other shake it up! Their dancing and shaking moved the marbles up, down, side to side and all around, which revealed interesting and active designs once we opened the boxes.
For our last session with Kirstin, students will explore movement and art by using their whole bodies to participate in a series of drawing challenges. Check back on our blog soon for footage of our large collaborative movement artworks! We can't wait to see what the students will create next.
The Astronauts and Legos went on a field trip to MoMA to learn about artists that use movement to create their artwork. Students got to see artworks by Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, Jackson Pollock, Claude Monet and Umberto Boccioni. We discussed how our body's movement can change the look of our mark-making. We pretended what it would feel like to create a Pollock painting by splattering, spilling and throwing our imaginary paint using our whole bodies. Our museum educators passed out pieces of yarn, counted to three, and everyone dropped their string onto the ground. Students observed how the yarn pieces resembled the paint in Pollock's artwork. This activity inspired a lesson in the art room back at Gillen Brewer where students used yarn and sticky boards to create yarn drawings. Students decided if they wanted to make shapes, experiment with different lines, or create pictures while making their artworks.
The Legos and Astronauts continued to explore movement in art by creating action paintings. The Legos used oil sticks, and the Astronauts used watercolors to create all different kinds of marks that represented action words - like splat, pow, slither, swirl, creep, jump, boom and pop. The art and movement fun continued with Kirstin when students learned how to create marble paintings. Students placed a piece of paper inside a shoebox, dropped in some paint and a few marbles, and helped each other shake it up! Their dancing and shaking moved the marbles up, down, side to side and all around, which revealed interesting and active designs once we opened the boxes.
For our last session with Kirstin, students will explore movement and art by using their whole bodies to participate in a series of drawing challenges. Check back on our blog soon for footage of our large collaborative movement artworks! We can't wait to see what the students will create next.