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Paul Klee Goes to Africa Lesson

Presented by: Jan Hillmer, Visual Arts Specialist Berkeley Preparatory School
Unit: Art of Africa - Egyptian Art - math integration
Grade Level: Elementary (5th grade adaptable to middle school)
Lesson is adapted from: #292 Thematic Unit, Copyright 1992, Teacher created materials Inc.

Alternate Lesson: Sinbad the Sailor - (shown for 2nd grade) Drawing with watercolor
Alternate Lesson: Illustrated Poem - from Stephanie Corder

 

Objectives: Students will explore Paul Klee’s cubist works

  • Students will create a project combining Egyptian symbols and a grid work.

  • Gain an understanding about the work of Paul Klee

  • Understand meanings/reason for Egyptian art

  • Transfer an image using a grid (math skills)

Objectives: Students will explore Paul Klee’s cubist works

  • Students will create a project combining Egyptian symbols and a grid work.

  • Gain an understanding about the work of Paul Klee

  • Understand meanings/reason for Egyptian art

  • Transfer an image using a grid (math skills)

Materials:

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Resources:

Biographical information: Web Museum and images
"A turning point in Klee's career was his visit to Tunisia with Macke and Louis Molliet in 1914."
Paul Klee Ad Pernassum possibly inspired by Klee's trip to Egypt in 1928
Wikipedia's website on Klee
California State University's page on Klee
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Zentrum Paul Klee
The MoMA Collection
Red and White Domes | Southern Tunisia Gardens | Ancient Sound Abstract on Black | Dream City
Paul Klee Essay and image links - Mark Harden's Archive
Paul Klee Online - Artcyclopedia
Carol Gerten Fine Arts - Biography from Carol

 

Instructional Resources:

Posters

Books

Paul Klee: Life and Work - This beautiful and affordable volume offers high-quality reproductions and the latest biographical information on Paul Klee, who helped pave the way for Modernism. Readers of this book will find much to discover and relish in Paul Klee's art. Never-before-published photographs of Klee and his circle, as well as entertaining and enlightening anecdotes, offer a multifaceted perspective on a groundbreaking artist and the events that helped shape his colorful, imaginative work.

 

Paul Klee (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists). - This popular children's artist series features Paul Klee.

 

The Cat and the Bird - A treasured painting by Paul Klee is the basis for this whimsical tale about a cat and a bird, and about the themes of freedom and friendship. This lovely story unfolds in a series of playful, brilliantly colored illustrations based on the artist Paul Klee's work. This book is recommended for children age four and older.

 

Paul Klee: Animal Tricks. - This collection of color illustrations, facts, and fun engages younger audiences in an artistic dialog. Author Christian Rumelin takes a close look at some of Klee's most famous animal drawings, including The Twittering Machine, Fish Picture, and Where the Eggs and the Good Roast Come From.

 

Dreaming Pictures: Paul Klee. - With the help of amusing questions and comments from children, the viewer's eyes are taken on a tour of Klee's pictures. 'Dreaming Pictures' provides an insight into the artist's composition, unlocking the paintings' mysteries and revealing the pleasures to be found by entering Klee's dream world.

 

Vocabulary:

Cubism, grid, proportion, scale

 

Instruction/Motivation:

  • Show various works of Klee and Africa (Sinbad, Tunisia, etc)- Discuss the squares/grid overlay.

  • Show segment of video and/or PowerPoint of Egyptian art. - discuss meanings behind the art. Discuss Egyptian proportion.

  • Demonstrate steps of lesson

Summary:

For part of the 5th grade study of Egypt, students were asked to draw some aspect of Egypt – from an important symbol to Pyramids of the Kings. Then, by way of introduction to Paul Klee and cubism, a grid was overlaid and the drawing was colored in a non-realistic manner.

 

Procedures:  

  1. Have students copy picture of Egyptian monument or Egyptian symbol. This could be done freehand - OR by laying a transparency grid over the photocopies and student transfer to a gridded drawing pare (1 inch grid).

  2. Draw 1 inch (2.5 cm) grid on top of Egyptian style drawing.

  3. Color or paint with bright colors (no black or brown). Colors should change from square to square. Notice the two distinctly different styles shown in the student examples. Allow for some exploration of materials.

  4. Outline important areas with dark marker if necessary.

  5. Write a paragraph about your work - Hold class critique.

Closure:

Compare and contrast original picture of symbol or monument with newly created works.

Evaluation:

  1. Did student change colors of design from one square to the next?

  2. Is artwork neatly painted/colored?

  3. Does focal point still show through background?

  4. Did student explore medium to develop their own style?

Submitted by: Denise Pannell, Fairview Elementary in Sherwood, OH
UNIT: Paul Klee - Warm and Cool Colors - Sinbad the Sailor
Lesson: Fantasy Line Drawing on Patterned Background
Grade Level: Elementary (shown for second grade)

 

3      4

 

Materials:

12" x 18" (30.5 x 46 cm) Drawing Paper., Prang Watercolor Pan Sets., Brushes, Drawing Pencils., Ultra-Fine Point Markers.

 

Resources:

Paul Klee Sinbad the Sailor. - and other prints showing pattern

 

Procedures:

"Checker board" painting. Fold paper into boxes to mark off blocks. Paint half in various warms colors on top. Paint half in various cool colors. (See example) Decide which is to be top half and which is to be bottom half. Warm skies with blues/cool water... or warm desert landscape with cool sky. Plan fantasy sea scape or landscape with pencil. Trace over all lines with fine point black marker.

 

Submitted by: Stephanie Corder
UNIT: Paul Klee - Poetry - Color Theory (Warm/Cool colors)
Lesson: Illustrated Poem with grid pattern
Grade Level: Elementary (example is fifth grade)

 

5
Lesson was inspired by a project by Christy Dillard. See her Artsonia site.

Materials:

11" x 28" (28 x 71 cm) Poster Board (you can make any dimension)
Variety of warm and cool color Colored Markers.
Newsprint., Drawing Pencils., Kneaded Rubber Erasers.
Black Sharpie Fine Point Markers.
Books of children's poem (or student original poems)
Rulers.

 

Objectives: Students will

  • Illustrate a short poem

  • Work with warm and cool colors

  • Appreciate the work of Paul Klee

Resources:

Once Emerged from the Gray of Night, 1918, watercolor on paper mounted on cardboard, Kunstmuseum, Bern. See Carol Gerten Fine Art

 

Procedures:

  1. Have students choose poem to illustrate, explain that they will also be copying the words of the poem, to help them choose one that's not too long!

  2. Sketch illustrations, remind them that simple works best!

  3. Count out how many lines they need and help them draw them out on paper (students used poster board cut in half making it 11" X 28" (28 x 71 cm). Draw lines with Sharpie and ruler - evenly space

  4. Have them copy the words making the letters touch the tops and bottoms of each line, from their poem onto the poster board (or paper).

  5. Outline the illustrations in bold sharpie, and have them color them with markers choosing between cool or warm colors for the illustrations.

  6. With broad Sharpie, outline the lettering and lines.

  7. have them color the shapes (created between the letters) outside the drawings in cool or warm colors; choosing the color family that was NOT used in the illustration.






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