Students will study the art and life of Kandinsky. They will also make an oil pastel picture of circles while listening to music.
By Laura Stuart-Smith [Laura is an art teacher and artist at St. Joseph School and NCCA.]
What You Need:
- tagboard (poster paper)
- oil pastels
- a variety of music
- a book that shows Kandinsky’s work
What You Do:
- Students are taught about famous visual artist Wassily Kandinsky and how he was also a talented musician.
- Students are shown a variety of Kandinky’s work including Kandinsky’s circular color studies.
- Children explore concepts of color and how it relates to emotion. Examples: What emotion do you associate with red? (anger, embarrassment etc.) What emotions do you associate with blue? (sadness, loneliness, calm) What emotions do you associate with yellow? (happiness, contentment, warmth) etc.
- Children then fold a large sheet of paper into six squares.
- Students listen to a variety of music and create circular color studies (in each section) based on how the music makes them feel.
- When students complete their color studies they are put together to make a large piece of art. The results are quite stunning.
About Kandinsky:
Written by Andrea Mulder-Slater, KinderArt®
Type of Work: Painting
Born:1866
Died:1944
Nationality: Russian
Style/Movement: Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider); Bauhaus
Best Known For: Founding the group the Blaue Reiter and connecting art with music and spirituality.
Important Works: Composition IV, 1911 & With Black Arch, 1912
