what is art?

I often ask kids the question, "What is Art?" And of course, they are quick with the "drawing" and "painting" but they are also quick with the "beautiful" and "fun" and that always leads me to a confusing explanation in an attempt to define the difference between what art actually is and what people think about art. 

So the other morning as I was driving through the rolling hills toward the school where I was scheduled to substitute in a friend's second grade classroom, I was going over the three components of my lesson -- talking about what art is, looking at some art work by Wasily Kandinsky, and then having them work with circles.

And as I drove along, it suddenly occurred to me that I could incorporate a little "fact vs opinion" into this lesson. Why had I never thought of this before?

In the past, whenever I've done this introduction, I've always explained why I could not put the words "beautiful" and "cool" and "awesome" on the chart, because my goal was geared more toward documenting different media, the elements of design, and sometimes who is involved. But this time I used their opinion words, but I sorted as I wrote their responses, with the factual responses in one column and the opinion responses in another column. When the responses were exhausted, I then defined "fact" as something that is true for everyone and "opinion" as what somebody thinks, something that other people might not agree with. I then reviewed each word on the chart, and threw in some examples here and there.

This strategy made it a lot easier to talk about opinions later on, as we were looking at their art work at the end of the day. I could ask, then, "Is that your opinion or is that a fact?" and we had a lovely anchor chart for reference.
.

hands

On a day near the end of the school year, when I found myself substituting in a second grade classroom where I had never been before, for a teacher I had never met, in an emergency situation in which there were no lesson plans, the first thing I did was scout around the cupboards to see what art materials might be available. I found some white construction paper that had been cut to about 9x18, so I pulled it out, sorted through it for pieces that were not bent or torn, counted out enough sheets for the class, consulted my little folder stash of emergency ideas, and decided to have the students do some line designs with their hands.

I demonstrated on the white board what to do:  I traced my hand along with part of my arm, then drew five lines across the paper in different directions, crossing over the traced hand and extending the lines off the edges of the paper. I gave directions to color in all the spaces however they liked, and let them go to work. It was interesting to see that some students drew all their lines extending off two edges of the paper, while other students drew some of their lines stopping at other lines rather than crossing them.

These students had just had three substitute teachers in two days, so they were pretty antsy to begin with, but this activity pretty much captured everyone's interest. They didn't have to do a lot of thinking, but it did quiet them down and the results are actually pretty striking. This would be a great activity for any substitute teacher needing an hour to kill.

I could see doing this using only warm or cool colors, or warm colors in the hand spaces and cool colors in the background spaces, or patterns in the hand spaces with plain colors in the background spaces (or vice-verse), or using only three analogous colors, or different values of one color, or using watercolors, or pastels, or adding textured rubbings, or doing it with two hands, or three hands....

I'm pretty sure this is something I will do again. It was easy, fun, interesting, and needed no planning whatsoever!

torn paper face collages

This lesson focuses on shape, color, and space, and deals with proportion and facial features without the stress of attempting to create a realistic face. Because the shapes are torn, not cut or drawn, the lesson automatically lends itself to what I call "ish-ness" (named after Ish, the wonderful little book by Peter Reynolds). The "rules" for the activity are simple: start with two predominant colors, include all face parts, don't overlap the shapes, and use no scissors or pencils. After listing these on the board, I ask students what they think "predominant" means. If no one gets close, I define it for them as main, as in "two main colors" ... and stress that it doesn't mean that they can't use other colors as well. Just before they start, I ask them to think about whether they want their piece to be symmetrical or asymmetrical, reviewing the meaning of the terms.

Students use a 12x12 sheet of black construction paper for their background, and each table has an assortment of colored construction paper to choose from. As they work, I encourage creatively-used shapes for different facial features, and remind them of the ongoing collage rule of putting glue on the back of the colored pieces, not on the background. I also remind them to tear any straight edges that may have made their way to the piece. Generally with collage work, I don't even get the glue out until after students have torn several shapes and started arranging them on the background. I encourage them to get all their shapes defined first before gluing anything down.

After a walk-around, where students can take their time looking at everyone's art work, I go through the pieces one by one and we identify as a whole group what the two predominant colors are, and whether the piece is symmetrical or asymmetrical. I also point out how lines have been created between the applied shapes, in the negative space.
.

geometric shape collages

Collage is one of my favorite art techniques to use with children. It's hard to mess up a collage, and the possibilities for subject matter are endless. These particular collages have a math twist and, depending on the directions and the grade level, can have some problem-solving embedded in them as well.

The collages pictured here were done by first grade students. The directions were to use:

- one circle
- two lines
- three different triangles
- four colors

Now that seems pretty simple, but the execution has some tricky parts. Many students are confused by the direction to use four colors, because they only use three shapes (circle, line, triangle) but end up with six parts. I try to ask them questions as they are working: "How many colors do you have here?" "How many colors do you need?" "Could you trade something?" I try really, really hard not to just tell a student to, for example, trade "this orange triangle for a green one" or some such thing, because I don't want to take away the opportunity for students to work through the problem on their own.

I demonstrate how to cut lines from the edge of a straight piece of paper, and how to cut triangles by cutting the corner off a piece of paper. With table groups, everyone gets one 9x12 sheet of black paper for the background, and I put a selection of 6x9 pieces of construction paper in the middle of the table, just one sheet of each color so they have to share the colored paper. This has the added benefit of preventing two or more students from using all the same colors for their designs.

I have done geometric shape collages with students in all grade levels. With Kindergartners, the directions are simpler, and there are less shapes involved. With fifth grade students, the directions are more complex, including more sophisticated geometric terms, and I might throw in a fraction element. I have them use, for example, three different types of triangles, four different quadrilaterals, five colors or less, and to attempt to cover approximately half the area of the paper with their shapes. Depending on the grade level, this activity can be a way for students to demonstrate their knowledge of some geometry vocabulary. Best of all, though, they are great fun to look at.

shape tracing

These Kindergarten shape tracing designs are made by tracing the same shape template several times, overlaying the shape in different directions to create a variety of interior shapes and spaces. Each table group has a variety of sizes of cardboard or plastic squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles to choose from. When giving directions, I emphasize that they should use only one shape to do all their tracings; I demonstrate this for them using a dark colored crayon for the tracing lines. I point out the variety of shapes and spaces created by the overlapping contour lines of the original shapes, and invite them to color in the spaces however they want to. I also demonstrate cutting the entire design around the outside and gluing it onto a background color that is present in the colored areas.

Interestingly, students will tackle this activity in different ways. Some want to trace the shapes next to each other rather than overlapping. Some like to make large spaces while others will make small ones. Some students take the time to select certain colors for the coloring part, or approach the coloring in a methodical way: starting with the smallest spaces, or starting with the ones nearest the center and radiating out, or starting with the outside spaces and working their way to the center. Some students jump all over the place, switching colors with each new space, while other students might use the same color for several spaces before choosing a new color.

Some students need a contour line to help them cut all around the outside of the shapes, while others grasp the concept right away. It helps to ask each student to trace with their finger where they are going to cut. There are always a couple of students, at least, who cut into the design, so it's important to keep a watchful eye and to be available with scotch tape.

When sharing these, I like to show two or three at a time and ask students to compare the colors, or count the triangles, or find other shapes that have been created by overlapping the original shape. This activity takes less than an hour, uses no special materials other than the shapes for tracing, and can be extended in a variety of ways. Students can be given limited colors to use, they can use chalk or watercolors in the spaces instead of coloring them, or they can be asked to make patterns or do rubbings inside the spaces.

geometric figures

I have done Geometric People with many second and third grade classes. I've also done a simpler version with Kindergarten and first graders, and more complex versions with upper grade GATE students. Recently I had the idea to give students the choice of creating a person or an animal entirely out of geometric shapes. The activity begins with a review of geometric shapes. With younger students, I draw them on the white board and explain that these are the only shapes they can use. We then look at pictures of animals and talk about the possible shapes that could be used for bodies, heads, ears, tails, and legs. A discussion about the possible shapes for the parts of a person is accompanied with directions that geometric people need to be showing some activity. Depending on the class, I will draw a geometric person and/or animal on the board while they suggest shapes, keeping all shapes separate from each other and pointing out to students that none of the shapes touch each other.

Students are able to choose one bright color for their figure. They don't use pencils to draw any shapes first because I want them to start training their eyes to visualize what they are going to cut. I've found it helpful to demonstrate for students different ways to cut large and small triangles without wasting a lot of paper, because over time I've found that most students want to cut straight into the center of the paper to cut shapes that result in some very "unstraight" edges. I show them how to use the straight edges of the paper for one or two straight sides of their shapes. I also show them how to cut a circle or oval by starting with a square or rectangle and rounding the corners.

One day, when a couple of students had finished their figures and everyone else still had a way to go, I decided to have them do rubbings of their geometric figures. This was so successful that I have made it a regular part of this lesson/activity. Students can do one rubbing or they can do repeated rubbings, moving their paper and using different colors, until they have filled the paper. Sometimes students can do more than one rubbing using totally different colors. During the discussion period, we can then talk about different combinations of colors and how they make us feel.

Overall, this is a really simple activity that takes virtually no planning, no preparation, and results in very little mess. It requires students to make choices of shapes based on their own observations. When a whole class set is displayed as a group, especially on a black background, the result is dramatic, whimsical, and colorful.