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
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
Cincinnati Country Day School
ART II Ms. Hausman
Abstraction - Picasso
Create an abstract image in the style of Pablo Picasso's Guernica
Materials:
5 to 7 magazine images relevant to social issue of choice, Ebony Pencils
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
Paul Klee: Selected by Genius, 1917-1933
Hockney's Pictures: The Definitive Retrospective
Wassily Kandinsky: 1866-1944 a Revolution in Painting
Books - Non-Objective Abstraction
Jackson Pollock
Hans Hofmann
Mark Rothko
