Lesson Plan Activity 2

Art 11 Unit: Introduction to 20^th Century Art Styles

Lesson 8: Abstract

August 13, 2009

Objectives

By the end of the lesson the students will increase their capacity to:

• Develop knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of art and design in historical and contemporary cultures
• Show competence and responsibility in use and manipulation of required materials, tools, and techniques.
• Engage in artistic inquiry, exploration, and discovery in collaboration with others
  

Introduction

Activity 1 (Student Directed)

• Students will go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_art and read about Abstract Art
  
• Students will go to jacksonpollock.org and create their own splatter painting
  

Development

Activity 2 (Student Directed – 35 min)

• Students will create an abstract piece of art, it can be total or partial abstraction
• Students may chose their medium
• Students must give some thought to color and composition (not just scribbling on a page)
• Students will use a single 8” x 8” piece of artist quality paper
  

Reinforcement

Activity 3 (Teacher Directed – 15 min)

• Students will critique their own work and the work of their classmates with at least one positive point and one point for consideration.

Rationale for Technology Inclusion

This lesson plan was created by me for my Fine Arts methodology class The introductory activity was originally a 10 minute lecture.

I decided to change the introductory activity to the students accessing a wiki on Abstract art because it is more interactive. Students will be able to follow the links for more details the concepts and artworks in the wiki. Also by following the artworks as they are mentioned in the document the students can see the progression of the abstract movement.

I Decided to include the Jackson Pollock website to demonstrate to students that his paintings were more that just dripping paint on a canvas. Pollock (and other abstract artists) obviously thought about color combinations and movement, because as the website demonstrates just splashing random colors on a page can look pretty terrible. The website makes doing this activity a lot cleaner! can you imagine giving a class of high school students a bucket of paint and telling them to drip it on a canvas!!