Submitted by: Ken Schwab,
formerly of Leigh
High School, San Jose CA
Unit: Painting/Collage/Low Relief - Non-objective Art
Lesson Plan: Cut up painting
Grade Level: High school 9 thru 12 (adaptable to middle school)
Ken's Web Site: http://www.artteacherplans.com/
Objectives:
- Color
planning and painting skills.
- Awareness
of non-objective art
- Reinforce
Principles of design
- Alter
a work of art - create a low relief assemblage.
Materials:
Illustration Board
(or Posterboard), Acrylic Paint (or Tempera Paint
), flat and round Brushes
, scraps of
Mat Board, color Mat Board or Posterboard, paper cutter (or X-acto Knives
and Rulers), White Glue
.
Resources:
Books
The Art Of Gunther Gerzso
- Originally conceived in collaboration with the artist, and finished with the help of his widow and sons, this volume provide a better understanding of the artist's essential role in shaping an alternative approach to modernism in Mexico, one that bears an important relationship to abstract expressionism in the United States and art informel in Europe.
Procedures:
- Use
illustration board (or poster board) and acrylic (or tempera) to make
a nonobjective painting. Use
analogous, compliment, or split-complement color schemes
(monochromatic could also be an option)
- Choose
the colors to be used and with quick brush strokes start a series of
vertical and horizontal shapes that create a center of interest in the
aesthetic center of the board (not in actual center point - think rule
of thirds). Use lightest
colors first going the darker values last. Vary the size of the brush
strokes and overlap colors to produce more complicated areas.
Eventually the painting is complete with a little acrylic over
the entire surface.
- Let
the painting dry and spray with Krylon Acrylic Crystal Clear
to give it a shine and
protect it. Put it under
some weight, after moistening the back, to let it dry flat. (Gloss medium can carefully be rushed over surface, too - even tempera paint)
- Using
a paper cutter (or X-acto knives and rulers) cut the painting into
uneven row widths with the center of interest being smaller than some of
the others. Next take each row and cut it again into the same number
of squares and rectangles for each row.
For example each row has 7 pieces. You can vary this cutting
procedure once you study some of the examples of non-objective art -
you can see how Gunther Gerzso's works have a cut up look to them and
sizes of shapes are varied)
- Use
colored matt board (or poster board) that goes with the paintings
scheme and /or contrasts in value (black would be a safe color choice
in doubt. One could also mount to corrugated card board that has been
painted black to save on expense).
Start at the upper right or left side and begin to use white
glue to stick the shapes to the matt board. Overlap each shape and use
tabs of scrap matt board to even out the pieces (note from Judy - I
had a bag full of small scrap matt board shapes that I used for
projects). The tabs are
out of sight and rise up the end of the overlapped piece so that it is
even and flat. Never go
more that three layers high (From Judy: Hmmm...."Never say
never".... I think this is something that you will have to experiment
with on your own. You might want to go for a higher relief effect.
Results could be quite interesting).
- The
results are fun, the original painting much more complexity than the
original but still keeping the original compositional structure.
Another way is to cut squares and reassemble them with a space
between each shape (See example above).
