Non-objective Watercolor Paintings:
Representing poetry and lyrics through line, shape, and color
7th Grade
Non-Objective Watercolor Paintings: From Words to Works of Art
Relationship to the Unit: The second lesson of the Origami Bookmaking unit marks the beginning of the process of the visual translation of students’ poems and song lyrics in the form of a large nonobjective watercolor painting. Students use poems and song lyrics of their choice in order to make the pages of their origami book. The pages of the book reflect and symbolize the words of the poems and song lyrics, in a way translating them from a verbal to visual language. A discussion and analysis of the artwork of Wassily Kandinsky introduces the ways in which artists use a nonobjective style in order to express emotion. A comparison between the way in which Kandinsky produced artwork in response to music, and the students reactions to poetry and song lyrics supports the validity of using nonobjective art in which the elements of art become subject matter. Students begin a nonobjective watercolor painting that uses the elements of art, specifically line, shape, and color, in order to express an emotional response to poetry and lyrics of their choosing.
Relationship to Life:
1. Instructional Importance:
The exemplar paintings of Wassily Kandinsky serve as models for how the students can portray their emotional responses to poetry and lyrics in a non-objective painting. Kandinsky was one of the first modern artists who painted abstract shapes to express emotions. Students explore how Kandinsky produced artwork as en emotional response to music, using the elements of art as subject matter. Engaging students in a discussion of the elements and art and principles of design that exist throughout Kandinsky’s exemplar paintings help students understand how to incorporate the elements into their individual nonobjective watercolor paintings. Additionally, a discussion of the moods and musical instruments that Kandinsky historically associated with color can be compared to symbolic use of color. Students utilize their knowledge of the elements of art, as well as color symbolism, in order to express their emotional responses to their poetry or song lyrics in their nonobjective watercolor painting.
2. Developmental Needs:
During the Artistic Challenges Stage (Age 11-13), middle school students are beginning to understand the challenges involved in making art as an artist. While middle school students generally prefer to work from observation as opposed to imagination, there is also an increasingly expressive quality to their work and therefore an inclination towards experimenting with altering reality. They are at the beginning of a cognitive shift from concrete to abstract thought. They are beginning to understand how and why artist make their work, and therefore are developing their own sense of artistic expression. Non-objective artmaking will allow them to experiment with different mediums and styles for self expression. The opportunity to choose poetry and song lyrics adds a personal element to their artmaking that allows them to express their individual thoughts and emotions in a visual way. Additionally, middle school students in the Artistic Challenges Stage have the least confidence in their ability to do well, and therefore need extra support and build up lessons and activities to build their self confidence (Kerlavage, 1998, pp. 56-58).
Problem/ Activity Statement: Paint a nonobjective response to a poem or song lyrics, using watercolors. While conveying both a mood and a personal emotional response to the words, the subject of the painting should be the elements of art, specifically line, shape, and form. The painting should also use symbolic use of color, in conjunction with Kandinsky’s color mood associations.
Goals: Students should...
Understand how to create unified 2D compositions that demonstrate an understanding of balance, repetition, rhythm, scale, proportion, unity, harmony and emphasis (MACF Standard 2.11)
Know how color can convey mood and emotion (MACF Standard 2.1)
Be able to create artwork that employs the use of free form symbolic imagery that demonstrates personal invention, and/or conveys ideas and emotions (MACF 3.6)
Be able to demonstrate the ability to describe the kinds of imagery used to represent subject matter and ideas, for example, literal representation, simplification, abstraction and symbolism (MACF 5.6)
Objectives:
Instructional Concepts:
Exemplars:
“Composition VII,” Wassily Kandinsky
“Composition X,” Wassily Kandinsky
“Red, Blue, Yellow,” Wassily Kandinsky
“Composition IX,” Wassily Kandinsky
Teacher’s process and product visuals:
Motivation: During the previous lesson, students had the opportunity to choose a selection from a list of popular poems and contemporary songs, from which to base their origami book on. Students filled out a worksheet that asked them questions regarding how they could represent the poem or song visually, translating it from a verbal to a visual language. In this lesson, students are reminded of their poem or song choices when they are handed back their worksheets to reflect on. Students use particular questions from the worksheet to help them create their nonobjective painting, particularly the questions that ask about mood and color.
Topic Questions:
-What is the difference between abstract and nonobjective painting?
-What is the subject of Kandinsky’s nonobjective paintings?
-Are there any specific objects or subjects that you can point out in Kandinsky’s paintings?
Association Questions:
-What instruments do you play?
-According to Kandinsky’s color association chart, what color would he use to represent the sound of your instrument?
-How is Kandinsky’s color association different from colors you generally associate with different emotions?
Visualization Questions: What shapes/lines do you see?
-What kinds of lines do you see in Kandinsky’s paintings?
-What kinds of shapes do you see in Kandinsky’s paintings?
-How can you use line and shape to represent a mood?
Transition Questions: How could you represent roar
-What colors would you use to represent the song “Roar” by Katy Perry?
-What lines would you use to represent “Roar”?
-What shapes would you use to represent “Roar’?
Demonstration: Analyze four paintings by Wassily Kandinsky. Hypothesize what the subject of Kandinsky’s paintings can be. Students understand that the difference between abstract and nonobjective paintings lies in the subject matter. The subject matter of a nonobjective paintings is the elements of art themselves, there is no recognizable subject matter. Analyze Kandinsky’s exemplar paintings for the elements of art, particularly line, shape, and color. Discuss how Kandinsky was inspired by music and was able to translate certain sounds into color. Point out Kandinsky’s color associations and associate certain instruments that the students play with colors Kandinsky would use to represent their sounds. Remind students how to use and take care of watercolor paint and brushes before allowing them to begin their non-objective paintings.
Relationship to the Unit: The second lesson of the Origami Bookmaking unit marks the beginning of the process of the visual translation of students’ poems and song lyrics in the form of a large nonobjective watercolor painting. Students use poems and song lyrics of their choice in order to make the pages of their origami book. The pages of the book reflect and symbolize the words of the poems and song lyrics, in a way translating them from a verbal to visual language. A discussion and analysis of the artwork of Wassily Kandinsky introduces the ways in which artists use a nonobjective style in order to express emotion. A comparison between the way in which Kandinsky produced artwork in response to music, and the students reactions to poetry and song lyrics supports the validity of using nonobjective art in which the elements of art become subject matter. Students begin a nonobjective watercolor painting that uses the elements of art, specifically line, shape, and color, in order to express an emotional response to poetry and lyrics of their choosing.
Relationship to Life:
1. Instructional Importance:
The exemplar paintings of Wassily Kandinsky serve as models for how the students can portray their emotional responses to poetry and lyrics in a non-objective painting. Kandinsky was one of the first modern artists who painted abstract shapes to express emotions. Students explore how Kandinsky produced artwork as en emotional response to music, using the elements of art as subject matter. Engaging students in a discussion of the elements and art and principles of design that exist throughout Kandinsky’s exemplar paintings help students understand how to incorporate the elements into their individual nonobjective watercolor paintings. Additionally, a discussion of the moods and musical instruments that Kandinsky historically associated with color can be compared to symbolic use of color. Students utilize their knowledge of the elements of art, as well as color symbolism, in order to express their emotional responses to their poetry or song lyrics in their nonobjective watercolor painting.
2. Developmental Needs:
During the Artistic Challenges Stage (Age 11-13), middle school students are beginning to understand the challenges involved in making art as an artist. While middle school students generally prefer to work from observation as opposed to imagination, there is also an increasingly expressive quality to their work and therefore an inclination towards experimenting with altering reality. They are at the beginning of a cognitive shift from concrete to abstract thought. They are beginning to understand how and why artist make their work, and therefore are developing their own sense of artistic expression. Non-objective artmaking will allow them to experiment with different mediums and styles for self expression. The opportunity to choose poetry and song lyrics adds a personal element to their artmaking that allows them to express their individual thoughts and emotions in a visual way. Additionally, middle school students in the Artistic Challenges Stage have the least confidence in their ability to do well, and therefore need extra support and build up lessons and activities to build their self confidence (Kerlavage, 1998, pp. 56-58).
Problem/ Activity Statement: Paint a nonobjective response to a poem or song lyrics, using watercolors. While conveying both a mood and a personal emotional response to the words, the subject of the painting should be the elements of art, specifically line, shape, and form. The painting should also use symbolic use of color, in conjunction with Kandinsky’s color mood associations.
Goals: Students should...
Understand how to create unified 2D compositions that demonstrate an understanding of balance, repetition, rhythm, scale, proportion, unity, harmony and emphasis (MACF Standard 2.11)
Know how color can convey mood and emotion (MACF Standard 2.1)
Be able to create artwork that employs the use of free form symbolic imagery that demonstrates personal invention, and/or conveys ideas and emotions (MACF 3.6)
Be able to demonstrate the ability to describe the kinds of imagery used to represent subject matter and ideas, for example, literal representation, simplification, abstraction and symbolism (MACF 5.6)
Objectives:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the differences and similarities between abstract and nonobjective art.
- Analyze the ways in which Wassily Kandinsky was inspired by music in his paintings, as well as how he used line, shape and color to provide an emotional response through nonobjective painting.
- Identify the elements of art as subject matter.
- Use symbolic color to elicit a mood.
Instructional Concepts:
- Quotes from artists and theorists:
- “Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential.” - Wassily Kandinsky
- “Color is the key. The eye is the hammer. The soul is the piano with its many chords. The artist is the hand that, by touching this or that key, sets the soul vibrating automatically.” - Wassily Kandinsky
- “The true work of art is born from the ‘artist’: a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being.” - Wassily Kandinsky
- Formal Concepts:
- Line can be thick, thin, or curved.
- Line can be used to invent forms.
- Texture can be used to create surface variety.
- Balance can be achieved through the arrangement of line, shape, color, texture, space, or form within a composition.
- Space can be achieved through the variation of size, shape and placement.
- Form can be described in relation to parts of a whole
Exemplars:
“Composition VII,” Wassily Kandinsky
“Composition X,” Wassily Kandinsky
“Red, Blue, Yellow,” Wassily Kandinsky
“Composition IX,” Wassily Kandinsky
Teacher’s process and product visuals:
- “Kandinsky Color Association” Chart is a teacher-made visual that outlines the colors that Wassily Kandinsky associated with different emotions and well as sounds that certain musical instruments make.
- “Line and Shape” Poster is a teacher-made visual that shows hand-drawn examples of varying lines and shapes that students can use to add variation to their non-objective paintings.
- Students are reminded of the final product, the origami book, which they have seen previously and are invited to look at once again.
Motivation: During the previous lesson, students had the opportunity to choose a selection from a list of popular poems and contemporary songs, from which to base their origami book on. Students filled out a worksheet that asked them questions regarding how they could represent the poem or song visually, translating it from a verbal to a visual language. In this lesson, students are reminded of their poem or song choices when they are handed back their worksheets to reflect on. Students use particular questions from the worksheet to help them create their nonobjective painting, particularly the questions that ask about mood and color.
Topic Questions:
-What is the difference between abstract and nonobjective painting?
-What is the subject of Kandinsky’s nonobjective paintings?
-Are there any specific objects or subjects that you can point out in Kandinsky’s paintings?
Association Questions:
-What instruments do you play?
-According to Kandinsky’s color association chart, what color would he use to represent the sound of your instrument?
-How is Kandinsky’s color association different from colors you generally associate with different emotions?
Visualization Questions: What shapes/lines do you see?
-What kinds of lines do you see in Kandinsky’s paintings?
-What kinds of shapes do you see in Kandinsky’s paintings?
-How can you use line and shape to represent a mood?
Transition Questions: How could you represent roar
-What colors would you use to represent the song “Roar” by Katy Perry?
-What lines would you use to represent “Roar”?
-What shapes would you use to represent “Roar’?
Demonstration: Analyze four paintings by Wassily Kandinsky. Hypothesize what the subject of Kandinsky’s paintings can be. Students understand that the difference between abstract and nonobjective paintings lies in the subject matter. The subject matter of a nonobjective paintings is the elements of art themselves, there is no recognizable subject matter. Analyze Kandinsky’s exemplar paintings for the elements of art, particularly line, shape, and color. Discuss how Kandinsky was inspired by music and was able to translate certain sounds into color. Point out Kandinsky’s color associations and associate certain instruments that the students play with colors Kandinsky would use to represent their sounds. Remind students how to use and take care of watercolor paint and brushes before allowing them to begin their non-objective paintings.