Enjoyment of Art: Hands-On Art History

Getting to Know You

Grade Level: 9 - 12

Art Experience: Pictionary

Materials:

• Pictionary® game

Procedure:

1. Divide students into two teams.
2. Follow directions and rules for the Pictionary® game.

Assessment:

None. This is an exercise in community building, therefore students are given points for participation only.

Art Experience: Conversation Pieces

Materials:

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolors
• Paintbrushes
• Water containers
• Music

Procedure:

1. The teacher will ask a student volunteer to help with the demonstration.
2. Without talking, the teacher and student will take turns making marks on the watercolor paper, each enhancing what has been "said" with paint by the other. Each may make as many marks as they want within a turn and then lay the brush down as a signal to the other that they have finished what they have to say.
3. The students will choose partners to create Conversation Pieces of their own. Music will play in the background to encourage the students to use their paintbrushes instead of their voices to add to the conversation.
4. When each pair has finished creating one piece, they will create another so that each student has a finished painting to take home.

Assessment:

None. This is an exercise in community building and empowering students to overcome any fears/anxieties associated with making art, therefore students are given points for participation only.

Art Experience: Mandalation

Materials:

• Black paper
• Newsprint
• Colored pencils
• Compasses or circle templates (dinner plates, bowls, container covers)
• Templates for other geometric shapes
• Meditative music

Objectives:

Standard 1: Creating Art

1. 1AV-E1. Choose the most appropriate media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of one's own ideas and experiences
2. 1AV-E2. Demonstrate increasing technical ability and skill to complete visual arts assignments

Procedure:

Establish set:

1. The teacher will present examples of mandalas from across the cultures: Christian, Native American, as well as those from India…and of course, personal examples of expression!
2. The teacher will play meditative music and invite the students to close their eyes and allow images to form in their minds. Explain that they are not to pass judgment on the images that come, but to simply notice them.
3. After a few minutes of envisioning symbols, the students will open their eyes and quickly sketch the designs on newsprint.

Demonstration:

1. Draw a large circle on the black paper, using a white pencil.
2. Using the sketch as a reference, draw the symbol inside the circle with the white pencil. Use very light pressure when drawing the outline of the symbol. You may repeat and overlap a symbol more than once. You can enlarge and expand it to fill the whole circle. You may feel inspired to add other elements to the drawing as you go along.
3. Use other colors to illuminate the drawing.

Assessment:

The students will present their projects to the class.

Resource:

Cornell, Judith

Mandala: Luminous Symbols for Healing. 1994 Quest Books, Wheaton, Illinois