Possible Approaches in Presenting the Reproductions

 

• Write the name of the artist and painting on the board.  Help the children with the pronunciations. You may wish to sometimes have them give the title ideas of their own and then give them the title after the discussion.
• Ask what feeling the colors convey…pleasure, joy, sadness, anger, noise, etc.  And why.
• Relate painting to the senses: rough, smooth, sharp, cold, hot, loud, etc.
• Using the sensual as well as the emotional and intellectual response to things in the painting, relate to their everyday feelings about themselves and people and environment.
• Don’t forget rhythm, color movement, line movement.
• Point out that an idea or feeling is the beginning of the artist’s creation; the artist then develops this idea or felling through the different medias and processes of art.
• Do not overlook the technical aspects of creating a work of art, the media, materials, techniques.  Children want to know ‘how’ things are done.
• Relate the painting to history.
• Relate the painting to characteristics of the particular period in art.
• Discuss the artist’s background and habits, etc.
• If a picture has obvious narrative or dramatic content, discuss this first as it will be most important to the children…but never stop the discussion with more verbal storytelling.  Make it visual.
• In discussing abstract works, you may find helpful the idea of looking for ‘expressive personality: i.e., the idea that paintings, like people, have personalities.
• Do not use questions that are too vague and open; for example, “what do you think of this picture? Is of no help.  Instead, having been told by a child that a particular painting gives them a spooky feeling, a good follow-up might be to ask the group to find all the various factors which create the spookiness.
• Use music or poetry to set a mood that corresponds to your picture.
• Help the children find colors, lines, or shapes that are repeated.
• Always try to bring in a real object that is shown in the picture.  A scarf, hat, lantern, raincoat, bowl, candle, letter, piece of fruit, etc., will often be a great way to introduce a picture.  “The artist for this month has one of these in his/her picture…”
• Sometimes our eyes complete lines that are left unfinished by the artist…give the children an opportunity to ‘find’ these imaginary lines.  Ask them to come forward and show the class.
• Artist use many different kinds of brush strokes to ‘fill in’ area of color.  Help them to see lines that are hurried, detailed, thick, wavy, wide, tiny, precise, etc.
• Challenge the children to continuously look and find new information.

Resource:  Northshore School District