1438 Aldersbrook Road London, ON. N6G 3V7 Phone 519 471 4278 [email protected] www.artventure.ca
Title: Connecting the World with Dance Objectives: � Art History: The works of Matisse (specifically The Fall of Icarus) � Art History: The works of Haring (specifically Circle of Men Dance) � Element: Warm/Cool Colours & Organic Shapes of the human body � Principle: Movement within a composition Media: Can be completed with: Oil Pastels Tempera / Acrylic Paint Coloured Pencils Watercolour Paint Steps: 1. Discuss the ways in which Matisse simplified the human body to focus on the flow and organic nature of the human – including a simplification of head, arms, body, legs. 2. Discuss what happens when an arm of a dancer is lifted above their head. Where does the palm of the hand reach? Now bend the elbow and see where the dancer’s hand reaches? Do the same with the legs. When a dancer moves, what happens to their legs and feet? What shape do they make when a leg is bent at the knee? 3. On a piece of paper, create a horizontal line across the page. Encourage artists to vary their horizon line (some may choose a straight division line, while others may go for a curvy horizon full of hills). 4. Review Matisse’s simplification of a human body before creating your first dancer. Then, on the horizon line, sketch one dancer next to another next to another. Make sure that your family of dancers vary in height and body position. Make sure that some have an arm stretched up above their head, while others bend or lift their legs. A connection between dancers can be achieved by ensuring that dancers hold hands. 5. Allow the opportunity to add a hint of sky/ground before starting to colour. Some artists may choose to add stars/moon while others may want to add a flower or two. But true to Matisse’s simplification of the human body, we want to keep our landscape simplified as well. 6. Before applying colour, identify warm and cool colours on the colour wheel – by folding the colour wheel in half along the middle line – separating the Blue, Green, and Purple to showcase our Cool Colours from the Red, Orange, and Yellow to showcase our Warm Colours. 7. With our Warm and Cool colours identified, artists will decide which colour family will be used for their foreground (dancers) and which colour family will be used for their background (sky/ground). 8. Using bright and vibrant Oil Pastels to complete the project, artists will begin by outlining their dancers with either the Warm or Cool Colours (whichever family of colours they chose for their dancers). For example, by adding a dark red outline to an orange coloured dancer, they are able to enhance the overall effect of their dancers while ensuring that they stay within their self-created outline. 9. Once all the dancers are fully coloured complete the artwork by adding the opposite family of colours to the background (either warm or cool, whichever they chose for their background).
**A variation of this project can be achieved by studying Keith Haring’s simplification of the human body. To explore a Haring style painting and achieve a powerful contrast between foreground and background, artists can either paint their dancers with warm/cool family of colours, or they can choose to keep their dancers white and paint the background instead.
Variation for younger artists: Sketching the dancers on a coloured construction paper will already provide a colour for the sky, which in turn will avoid asking young artists to colour around their dancers.
Cross-Subject Connections: Physical Education, Health, Science
1438 Aldersbrook Road London, ON. N6G 3V7 Phone 519 471 4278 [email protected] www.artventure.ca
SAMPLES OF WORK CREATED BY ARTVENTURE STUDENTS
1438 Aldersbrook Road London, ON. N6G 3V7 Phone 519 471 4278 [email protected] www.artventure.ca
SAMPLES OF WORK CREATED BY ARTVENTURE STUDENTS
1438 Aldersbrook Road London, ON. N6G 3V7 Phone 519 471 4278 [email protected] www.artventure.ca
Original Source: Henri Matisse
Original Source: Keith Haring