Two Abstraction Lessons

Submitted by: Louise K. Hausman, art teacher at Cincinnati Country Day School
ART II Ms. Hausman
Abstraction
Grade Level: 7-9

 

Summary:

Create an abstract image from a series of realistically drawn objects. Assignment explores the elements of shape, line and texture and the principles of rhythm, movement and unity.

 

Materials:

Object drawings (10 quick line drawings of same object, different perspectives), Drawing Pencils, Pastels, Oil Pastels, Acrylic Paint, Crow Quill Pens and India ink, decorative papers, Charcoal, Rubber Cement, YES Glue

 

Vocabulary

• Abstraction – begins in reality. Seeks the essence of an object. May be expressed through simplification, stylization, fragmentation, re-assembly, and/or distortion. Refer to artists such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, David Hockney, early Wassily Kandinsky



• Non-objective abstraction –Abstraction which does not refer to an object. Refer to artists such as Jackson Pollack, Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, later Wassily Kandinsky.

• Texture – refers to the sense of touch. Simulated texture looks like it feels a certain way.  Actual texture really does feel a certain way.

• Rhythm – repetition, but not exact as in pattern, of an object. Helps move the eye through an image.

• Movement – refers to the path the eye takes through an image. May be achieved through repetition of line, shape, color, texture.

• Unity – pulls different elements of a composition together. May be achieved with effective movement and rhythm in an image.

Preliminary

• Identify various textures by taking rubbings around campus

• Cut out object drawings, make copies

• Apply textures to object drawings

Final Composition

1.  Cut and tear object drawings (and copies, if you want) into pieces.

2.  Move pieces around paper in at least three different ways. Try to use fragments in such a way that your object may be recognizable, but not a reproduction of the original. Try to think of the object IN A NEW WAY.

3.  Glue pieces into place, adding marks and/or other materials and media in negative spaces of composition to complete image.

4.  Words are permissible IF they are secondary to the image.

 

Journal – when you are finished

• Explain how you achieved the principle of movement in your image and what holds the image together.

• Did you succeed in seeing your object in a new way? Describe what you now see.

Evaluation

• Evidence of central object

• Evidence of fragmentation and texture in object

• Use of principles of rhythm and movement in image

• Evidence of unifying element in image

• Work completed with care and attention to detail

Resources - See bottom of page

 

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Cincinnati Country Day School
ART II Ms. Hausman
Abstraction - Picasso

 

Create an abstract image in the style of Pablo Picasso's Guernica. Assignment explores the elements of line, shape, texture, value and space, and the principles of rhythm, movement, contrast, and unity. Content focuses on a social issue of student choice.

 

Materials:

5 to 7 magazine images relevant to social issue of choice, Ebony Pencils, Tempera Paint, Crow Quill Pens and India ink, decorative papers, Charcoal, Rubber Cement, YES Glue, 18x24 (46 x 61 cm) White Drawing Paper, large mural paper

 

Vocabulary

• Abstraction – begins in reality. Seeks the essence of an object. May be expressed through simplification, stylization, fragmentation, re-assembly, and/or distortion. Refer to artists such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, David Hockney, early Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse

• Non-objective abstraction –Abstraction which does not refer to an object. Refer to artists such as Jackson Pollack, Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, later Wassily Kandinsky

• Texture – refers to the sense of touch. Simulated texture looks like it feels a certain way.  Actual texture really does feel a certain way.

• Rhythm – repetition, but not exact as in pattern, of an object. Helps move the eye through an image.

• Movement – refers to the path the eye takes through an image. May be achieved through repetition of line, shape, color, texture.

• Contrast – difference – in values, textures, color, size, etc. Makes things interesting.

• Unity – pulls different elements of a composition together. May be achieved with effective movement and rhythm in an image.

Preliminary

• Identify various textures by taking texture rubbings around campus. (Putting newsprint or thin paper against a textured object and rubbing on the paper with the side of the pencil or graphite.)

• Isolate positive shapes in magazine images (people, animals, vegetation, whatever you are working with) by cutting them out of photograph context.

• Enlarge positive shapes in copier and cut out with scissors or X-acto Knives.

Final Composition

• Study the shapes you have chosen. Redraw them on 18x24 white paper by simplifying them, distorting them, fragmenting them. Study Guernica, see how Picasso drew the woman, the horse, look at the jumble of shapes in the middle.

• You may make multiple images of particular shapes – see the repetition of the woman, you may overlap shapes. 

• Create a collage of positive shapes on mural paper that expresses your idea the way Picasso expressed his feelings about the Spanish Civil War in Guernica.

• Use the negative space in the composition in a way that supports your idea

• Do not glue anything down until you have the ENTIRE composition set.

• Note the use of contrast in value and texture in Guernica. Note the use of rhythm and movement to unify the image. Work to make these things happen in your composition!

Journal – when you are finished

• Explain how you altered the positive shapes in your image

• Describe your process in creating this image.

• Summarize what you were trying to communicate about the social issue you chose.

Evaluation

• Effective communication of social issue

• Evidence of simplification, distortion, and/or fragmentation, in image

• Effective use of value and texture in image

• Use of principles of rhythm, movement, and contrast in image

• Evidence of unifying element in image

• Effective use of negative space

• Work completed with care and attention to detail

Resources

Books - Abstraction

Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art - This landmark publication presents for the first time a comprehensive catalogue of the works by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) in the Metropolitan Museum.

Paul Klee: Selected by Genius, 1917-1933 - This book presents works created during Paul Klee's most prolific and productive time. The exhibition was curated in cooperation with the Klee Foundation and for the most part displays works that Klee had kept for himself.

Hockney's Pictures: The Definitive Retrospective - Hockney's Pictures is the first definitive "retrospective" to show the evolution and diversity of Hockney's prolific paintings, drawings, watercolors, prints, and photography, including new and published works.

Wassily Kandinsky: 1866-1944 a Revolution in Painting - This book has excellent images on Kandinsky's work beginning with his representational early works to his abstract later works. The color quality of the prints are good and the information is readable.

 

Books - Non-Objective Abstraction

Jackson Pollock - This intelligent and lavishly illustrated volume, which first appeared in a 1989 hardcover edition, covers Pollock's entire career, his early influences, and the progression of the themes, techniques, and accomplishments of his life as an artist.

Hans Hofmann - This book is the only comprehensive treatment of one of Abstract Expressionism's most important forefathers: Hans Hofmann.

Mark Rothko - This handsome retrospective catalog of his work, which includes his early representational paintings as well as his harmonic abstractions.