Music and monochrome

Arts & Activities, April, 2008 by Kristin Meyer

Budding kindergarten artists have been fun to watch, but frustrating for me in designing lessons. I taught for nine years at middle- and high-school levels, and moving to a different district opened up the opportunity to teach elementary art. It is important to me for my students to be exposed to the elements and principles of design, as well as create a nice product. This year, I decided to begin with color.

After making a color wheel with the primary and secondary colors, I spoke with the students about Pablo Picasso's painting, The Tragedy. We talked about how he used only blue in his painting, and how this made us feel sad when we looked at it.

We took this "monochromatic" idea further by looking at other artists who used only one color in their art. I allowed the kindergarteners to talk about what feelings those colors gave. They felt the color red looked "mad," and the color yellow looked "happy." I thought, "Well, why not go with this idea of emotion and color ... and how about adding music to the mix, too?"

When the students arrived to the next class, we again looked at a monochromatic painting and reviewed what kind of emotion that color gave to the artwork. I encouraged the students to make the expression of their faces match the emotion of the painting.

[ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED]

Students were then given water cups, paintbrushes, 9" x 12" white paper and one color of tempera paint (such as blue) as well as black and white to mix into their paintings. We spoke about what kind of brushstrokes would look "sad" or "happy" and how they should listen to the music while painting. Students were not allowed to paint until the music started.

I first chose a sad tune that was slow and, as the music began, students started to paint slowly as well. I encouraged them to keep their sad faces throughout the painting process. I stopped the music occasionally to remind them to change colors, change from a big brush to a small brush and to fill their empty space.

We repeated this lesson three different times with three different colors. We used yellow for happy paintings with curly and uplifting lines; red for angry paintings with diagonal lines and zigzags; and blue for paintings with sad, hanging lines. The color mixing that the students displayed surprised me--much of the time, their artwork had more freedom and spontaneity than the older students I used to teach.

The students seemed eager to come to art class, to discuss paintings and, of course, to paint. The music was an excellent way to keep them focused on the emotion. Plus, there was very little talking because the youngsters were working so intently.

Overall, the resulting artworks look quite sophisticated and remind me of the Abstract Expressionists. The monochromatic format helped to control the color mixing and allowed students to associate color with emotion and feeling.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students of all ages will ...

* learn about artists who used monochromatic color schemes in artworks.

* learn about mixing black and white with a color to create a monochromatic work.

* create a painting based on a feeling/emotion.

* listen to music to reinforce the feeling/emotion in their artwork.

MATERIALS

* 9" x 12" white paper

* Tempera paint, one color, plus black and white for mixing

* Cups or containers for paint

* Paintbrushes, various sizes

* Water cups and paper towels

Kristin Meyer teaches art at East Buchanan Elementary and High School in Gower, Missouri.