This is a lesson that students and myself absolutely loved. I taught this with my grade 5 students while still working in Saudi Arabia, so I thought I would share!
To begin this lesson my students viewed and discussed abstract paintings by Jackson Pollock. They looked at the movement created by the splashes of paint mixing with other colors.
We then discussed contemporary artist Martin Klimas who photographs brightly colored paints being bounced around by sound vibrations. We also watched a video of the process he goes through to capture these beautiful images. My students were amazed!
To make things even more fun, we also took a look at the famous performance artists, The Blue Man Group. My students had never heard of them before and loved the amazing things they can do with music, humor, and brilliant colors.
After our discussions and comparisons between these three types of art, we began our own art making process. The students first designed an abstract shape inspired by the bouncing blobs of paint from the videos, photographs, and paintings viewed previously. Once the drawing was complete, students were in for a surprise. They had to construct their abstract splat into a three dimensional form with clay. The students loved creating the final piece, especially when they were able to paint with neon colors.
I thought this lesson was a great way of showing students how contemporary artists are influenced from artists throughout history. The final product was a huge hit at the end of the year art show!
