Color

I think it is time we discuss color.
Color is one of the best art elements in our world. I love color. My favorite color is green. What is your favorite color?

How we create color and see color is quite different in art, science, and the printed page.
Let's explore color.

Click here for an understanding of color by my friend the colorworm.
To learn even more about color theory, click here.

Our May artist of the month is Keith Haring. He is another Pennsylvania born artist for you to get to know better. He was born on May 4th, 1958, in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Haring family lived in Kutztown, a nearby Pennsylvania Dutch farm community, where Keith was raised. I think you will like his art work. You can learn all about Keith and see his art work when you click on haringkids. Have fun and let me know what you think. Here is a picture of Keith Haring working on a mural. He also did sculptures as well as paintings.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Our April Artist of the month is Leonardo Da Vinci.

He was born on April 15, 1452 and died on May 2,1519 in a region of Florence, Italy. He was an Italian artist, scientist, engineer, mathematician, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and writer. Today he is considered an all-round genius whose paintings and inventions changed the world. Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are his most famous, most reproduced, paintings of all time. Click on either to learn more about each. Click on 10 questions about The Last Supper to learn more about it.

Leonardo Da Vinci is described as a Renaissance Man. This term means a person who is well educated, or who excels, in a wide variety of subjects. The Renaissance was a rebirth or revival of cultural awareness and learning. It took place during the 14th and 15th centuries in Italy, Germany and other European countries. There was a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman art and design. The focus was on human beings, the environment, science, and philosophy.

If you want to try a timed two minute puzzle on the Mona Lisa click here. It took me a couple of times to get it completed on time. Try your skills.

Scherenschnitte? What is it?

Let's explore a specific PA German folk art that has been passed down from generation to generation. Yes, after exploring you can create a Scherenschnitte folk art piece too. Just follow the directions and you can create a beautiful 'one of a kind' snowflake.

1. What is Scherenschnitte?
2. What do I need to make a Scherenschnitte snowflake?
3. Make sure you start with a square of paper. It doesn’t matter what size, as long as it is a square. I like to use copy paper.
4. How should I fold the paper so I can make a six sided snowflake?
5. What shall I draw on my paper?
6. Am I ready to cut my snowflake?
7. What does the snowflake look like?
8. Are you ready to practice making a snowflake? Let’s practice here first.
9. Need some ideas before you start?

Now I think you are ready to actually get your tools and materials together and make a paper snowflake. You can go back and follow each step as you create your Scherenschnitte snowflake. Have fun. If you have any questions along the way, you can email me, comment here, or go to the Linntown Art Place wiki.

10.If you want to see the entire process to make a six sided Scherenschnitte snowflake, just watch the video below.

Pennsylvania German Folk Art

I would like to introduce you to Pennsylvania German folk art. Before we do any art work or projects, we need to know more about the Germans who settled in Pennsylvania in its early beginnings. The best way I know for you to learn about them and their art is to ask you to help me make a PA German Folk Art Museum either in school or a virtual one here on the web. I will assign you a partner in class and you will do a webquest and make a piece of art in the style of the PA Germans.

Check out the helpful links for April assignments here on the blog.
You can see the rubric for this assignment listed too.
Any time you have any questions, go to the Linntown Art Place Wiki and post them in the Discussion and Questions area. I already put some questions there for you for our three April assignments.

What is PA German Folk Art?

See some PA German Folk Art.

Assignment: Do PA German Folk Art Webquest

Pennsylvania born Artists

I would like you to spend some time on Pennsylvania born artists and PA German folk art. As 4th graders you study all about Pennsylvania. You even visit Harrisburg, the capital and the museum there. We will be working in class on a project that will result in a PowerPoint presentation. We will use a webquest to study PA born artists and work together in groups of 4. Here is the rubric for the webquest. If you click on it, you will see a much larger version. If you want to work on the PA born artist webquest during your free time, here is the link. http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/webpaartiska.html

You can also view the webquest in PowerPoint format.


Or you can click here to see it full screen.

Jackson Pollock

In my podcast below, I said non-objective art is where the composition contains no recognizable figures or objects. I want you to look at this painting by Jackson Pollock. He was an American action painter. This is Pollock's One: Number 31, painted in 1950. It occupies an entire wall by itself at the MOMA in New York City.
He put his canvas on the floor and threw his paint onto it.

To learn more about his non objective compositions:

Follow this link to see some of his other paintings.
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/pollock_jackson.htm

Let’s look at Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) at the National Gallery in Washington, DC.
http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/painting1.shtm

Here you can see Jackson Pollock doing one of his action paintings.
http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/actionpainting.shtm

Once you visit the URL below, click on the red arrow to see more photos of the artist working in his studio.
http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/process1.shtm

Now it is your turn to create a Jackson Pollock type action painting site. Once you click on this site, you will see a white space. As soon as you move the mouse across the space, color will appear. Every time you click, the color will change. If you want to delete and start again, just touch the space bar on your keyboard. I am using a PC, so when I right click my mouse, I can print my picture. You MAC users will have to let me know if you can print your non-objective composition or not.

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

If you can find some other non-objective compositions by artists, please share them with us - either the URL, name of the artist, a picture of the artwork, etc.

Vincent Van Gogh - March Artist

Vincent Van Gogh is our March "Artist of the Month."
He was born in the Netherlands on March 30, 1853.
He used color boldly with a type of painting technique called impasto.
This is a way of applying thick paint onto the canvas.
When you look at his paintings you will see a sense of urgency about his paint strokes. His use of color helped to created the mood of the painting.
He often painted a painting a day.
I want you to look at some of my favorites by Vincent Van Gogh.
Listen to the podcast below about composition before you look.

The first is at the MOMA in NYC. It is called "Starry Night"

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=79802

The next is called Sunflowers and is located at the Philadephia Museum of Art.

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/59202.html?mulR=26076

This short video shows you some of his self portraits in an interesting way.



Would you like to try a puzzle? I made it easy for you and it is one of my most favorite Van Gogh landscapes. Just click on the puzzle and have fun!



I hope you learned a little more about Vincent Van Gogh's compositions and will let me know by adding a post or comment.