“Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.”
With the grade 1s and 2s, we often talk about the subjects of artworks and why an artist might choose a particular subject. They're really interested in the backstory behind artists and their artworks. We've been looking at a lot of abstract expressionist artworks lately, and they've really engaged with the opportunity to interpret artworks. However, when it comes to creating their own works, students often gravitate towards depicting scenes or objects. For this painting unit, I wanted us to move away from representational subjects and towards depicting abstract ideas.
0 Through 9, Jasper Johns
Using the quote above as a jumping off point, we looked at his works and talked about how we could use the idea of an every-day object, like a number, as a way to make art. Students then created their own compositions with numbers using watercolors and explored they could create a feeling or emotion with their composition.