Fieldwork Lesson: Color Mixing

Last week began my color mixing lesson with the Graphic Design students. I began by introducing them to artist Henri Matisse and talking about the importance of color and thinking about color in art work. We also talked about composition and how artists may look at small sections of larger composition in order to be thinking about positive and negative space. We zoomed in on a section of one of Matisse's paintings, what if we were to match the colors in this image?
Showing the students my collage and thumbnail painting, I explained how I zoomed in on a section of my collage in order to make a new composition. We had another conversation about color in which I demoed the mixing of a dulled yellow green that was part of my painting. As a class we worked together to create the color. I asked the students questions, what should I add? What happens if I add white? Black? What is green's compliment? What if I added that? The students responded to this well. They got involved in the color mixing and it was a fun guessing game in order for them to observe the way in which one must really look at a color to find what is in it. Students then cropped out a section of the collages that they had made with my mentor teacher. I challenged them to pick one color, and try to match it as I did in the demo. I walked around the room as the students work, they were challenged but all working hard at making a match.
For the project, as I explained this week, they will be expected to replicate their composition and match all of the colors in that section. We started off this week with another discussion where we discussed what was challenging for them in finding particular colors in their sections. I showed them methods of copying their images onto their thumbnails, explained a bit about proper clean up and brush cleaning, and then they got to work. It was exciting to see the students working hard and being challenged as they attempted to match colors. 
I am enjoying teaching this lesson as it is evident that the students are really enjoying being challenged. Along with this, the conversations that I have been having with the class  at the beginnings of each day are proving to be successful in going over what they are doing along with making them more comfortable with talking to me and asking me questions. I am also appreciating the way they are experiencing color mixing as more meaningful to them in order to create a painting, off of something they themselves have already created. To me, this is making it more exciting than say having them do a color chart. I am extremely happy with the way the lesson is going and am hoping to have a chance to see them finished and do a bit of a critique with the students.

Fieldwork Experience

For my fieldwork this semester I have the opportunity to work at a local high school once a week with an excellent mentor teacher. I have been to the school three times already and am going to begin my lesson with the students on Wednesday. Something interesting about my placement are the courses that my mentor teacher has. My mentor teacher has some interesting courses in graphic design, architecture, drawing/design for production, and ceramics, and it has been excited to see how I can help the students. When the graphic design students are working on layouts for designs or collages, my mentor teacher encourages them to ask me questions about composition and color. I also really enjoy her ceramics courses and drawing/design for production class. In these particular classes it is interesting to observe the students problem solve. Whether working on their ceramic hollow animal sculptures or building rooftops for houses in DDP, my mentor teacher encourages the students to work through problems, experience some trial and error, and work hard for a rewarding final product. By experiencing these various courses I am getting a taste for what a high school art curriculum has to offer beyond studio art.
For my lesson I am going to be able to bring a bit of what I know to the graphic design students. As they will be doing a printmaking project in the future, they are responsible for learning color theory and to mix color. Together, my mentor teacher and I brainstormed to come up with a way in which she could introduce color theory to them and I could follow up with a paint mixing lesson. We wanted them to do something more interesting then to just make color swatches. I reflected on what I had done in terms of learning my color mixing and reflected on when I took a Cezanne painting, broke it down into shapes, and recreated those colors. I wanted them to do something similar but with something more meaningful to them. They had been creating collages in order to express a particular emotion. I thought, what if they took a small section of their collage piece, creating a new composition, and matched those colors? This way they could create a painting, with a definite focus on color mixing. They students will have to really examine the color. What would they first define it as? Now how can you tone that down? What is really in there? Below is the teacher sample I made of both the collage and the 3 inch by 3 inch painting. I can't wait to see what the students come up with.

Ushio Shinohara

Last weekend I had the chance to see Ushio Shinohara’s performance in the Fine Arts Building Rotunda.  It just so happened that I was walking by right before it started, remembered seeing the artist’s work in the Dorsky Museum, and stopped in. I did not get to hear much of the introduction but I was able to see him in action. Shinohara’s performance was definitely exciting as he strapped on boxing gloves, towels lumped on the ends, dipped them in paint, and began to box the canvas. With each jab he worked his way across the wall, creating a quite dynamic composition.  Each hit created a circle on impact, a splash effect, and dripping paint. Shinohara’s performance encompassed not only the physicality of the body in making but a definite element of chance. Although he purposefully planted his fist on the canvas the artist had no control over where the paint would go from there.  Reading further about Shinohara I discovered that he began making these paintings in 1961 and became renowned for giving exciting meaning to the term “action painting.” He also known for his works in found object sculpture and assemblage and is encompassed as part of the Neo Dada movement.
After seeing the performance last weekend I began thinking about the unique ways that Shinohara was making mark. How he successfully combines the art of boxing with the visual arts. Along with this, his paintings become a very labor intensive and physical. I thought about how I might be able to explore these concepts in my own making along with how students can be thinking about these ideas. How exciting would it be to do a lesson in reference to Shinohara’s “action painting?” As I develop my unit plan on “mark making” I hope to utilize the ideas of this artist. I aim to emphasize his unusual technique and painting by chance which give a unique perspective to ideas about what it means to make a mark in terms of the visual arts.