Slotted Color Sculptures with Josef Albers

Lesson Objective

Work with elements of art: Color 

Work with principles of Art: Scale 

Create a Slotted color sculpture exploring color relationships 

Key Vocabulary: 

Hue

Value

Intensity

Chroma

Saturation

Contrast 

Complementary Colors

Simultaneous Contrast 

Successive Contrast 

Color Schemes (relationships)

Materials: 

Foam Core 

Paint

Exato Knives

Focus Artists: 

Josef Albers 

Beg: Project Requirements: Create a Slotted color sculpture exploring color relationships 

Sketchbook: Students will draw color plans for each side of their slotted sculpture and

submit plans for approval. Required: 

Square slotted format for each side (Construction)

Color Relationships (5 different schemes minimum)

Color Placement (Neighbors/Scale)

All sides and angles of the sculpture (Details)

Scale as it pertains to final look of sculpture

Create Free-standing Slotted Sculpture exploring Josef Albers studies on color

Precision (Painting and Slot Construction)

Scale (How color looks from ALL sides)

Adv: Project Requirements: Create a Slotted color sculpture exploring color relationships 

Sketchbook: Students will draw color plans for each side of their slotted sculpture and submit plans for approval. Required:

Slotted, one shape format for each side (Construction)

Color Relationships (8 different schemes, minimum)

Color Placement (Neighbors)

All sides and angles of the sculpture (Details)

Scale as it pertains to final look of sculpture

Create Free-standing Slotted Sculpture exploring Josef Albers color studies 

Precision (Painting and Slot Construction)

Scale (How color looks from ALL sides)

Assessment: 

Informal: Written Peer Critique

Formal: Artist Statement

Formal: Grading final sculpture

CA STANDARDS: 

1.1 Identify and use the principles of design to discuss, analyze, and write about visual aspects in the environment and in works of art, including their own. 

1.3 Research and analyze the work of an artist and write about the artist's distinctive style and its contribution to the meaning of the work.

1.5 Analyze the material used by a given artist and describe how its use influences the meaning of the work.

2.2 Plan and create works of art that reflect complex ideas, such as distortion, color theory, arbitrary color, scale, expressive content, and real versus virtual. 

4.5 Employ the conventions of art criticism in writing and speaking about works of art.

5.2 Compare and contrast works of art, beyond the obvious and identifying psychological content found in the images

Modifications: 

English Language Learner: Handout for project, project samples, Power point with visuals, Critique for additional understanding, Demonstration of techniques

Special Needs: Handout for project, project samples, Power point with visuals, Critique for additional understanding, Demonstration of techniques

Accelerated Learner: Expand on skills learned to create a unique project. 

Advanced art students will be asked to increase the difficulty of their final sculpture They will also be expected incorporate 8 color schemes in final sculpture. 

Scaffolding adaptations: 

Students will revisit color and line from the earlier learning. We will use similar visuals to refresh earlier learning.  Notes on color, scale and artists will be taken throughout discussions for added understanding. Creating sketchbook plans and Constructing final sculpture will be demo started in class using guided instruction. 

Art Link: 

Science and Art

How have we used science in the course already? 

INTRODUCTION to lesson (Anticipatory set): 

Watch a video on Josef Albers and his work 

Use discussion form to enhance learning

OBJECTIVE: Using Slotted Sculpture as your 3-D Form 

Create Free-Standing Artwork exploring 6 different color Schemes/Relationships

Must Complete Sculpture from all Angles

Discuss Science and Art as pre-assessment

Discuss and practice drawing your final project on paper

Work closely with teacher before moving to foam core

Students will understand new vocabulary as is relates to visual art: 

PURPOSE: Complete Free-Standing, Slotted sculpture exploring color relationships. 

INSTRUCTION: 

Students will discover review the elements of color and Scale. they look at the artwork of Josef Calder and create a Slotted sculpture piece as a final art project. 

DIRECT INSTRUCTION:

Day 1 and 2: Power Point Presentation Color and Albers

Pre-assessment: Science and Art

Opening: Art Link: Quote from Albers on Science and Art

Review: Elements of art 

Discussion: Color

Key Vocabulary featured on PPT with visuals: 

Hue

Value

Intensity

Chroma

Saturation

Contrast 

Complementary Colors

Simultaneous Contrast 

Successive Contrast 

Color Schemes (relationships)

ART HISTORY: Josef Albers 

German-born American artist and educator 

He worked, both in Europe and in the United States

Taught at Yale University

He formed the basis for the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the 20th century.

Studied color with paper

Avoids mixing paint

Saves time and materials

Gain active interest, no prep

Precision of tone, light and surface quality

No texture (i.e. brush strokes)

Huedoku: Students play the app Huedoku to see their learning at work. The app is created from Albers studies and allows students to place colors in the right order based on hue. Students will both watch and play. Student playing will be active in color placement students watching will observe how color changes based on its neighbors. 

Review each Color scheme on last slide to check for understanding 

Teacher Models: 

Color throughout discussion 

Students take notes in their sketchbooks 

Teacher Monitors throughout discussion

The game Huedoku on how to play with three color boxes 

Check for Understanding: 

Monitor room during Pre-assessment in sketchbook

Monitor throughout discussion ensure comprehension and active note taking 

Students play the Huedoku App with 4 color boxes and higher

Present Rubric through Power Point Slides: 

FINAL PROJECT:  Using color relationships considering colors will be placed next to each other on final sculpture 

Students will draw  plans for their Color sculpture before moving to paint stage

They must consider:

Color Relationships

Color Placement

All sides and angles of the sculpture

Scale as it pertains to final look of color on sculpture

Create Free-standing Slotted Sculpture exploring Josef Albers studies on color

Day 3: Students receive a full day to create and label their five color schemes 

Students show me their color schemes to show understanding and receive foam core

Day 4: Students measure and cut slots based on model I presented or their own ideas. 

Student will use exact knives to achieve slot cuts

Safety Measures in place: 

Watch a video about how to cut slots on youtube

Teacher passes out and retrieves exacto knives 

Students must have a partner also ready to make cuts before receiving 

exacto knife

Students are reminded about keeping thumbs in and watching partners

throughout exacto use

Teacher monitors exacto knives by observing each table throughout 

class time. 

Day 5: Slot Cutting Continues

Day 6: Students begin paint planning

Once slots are in place and structure is complete

Students will begin to add paint lines and details on the final sculpture

This planning will help complete painting of each color scheme

Paint is applied in the style of Josef Albers Squares

Day 7: Painting Continues

Albers Reflection through Art Link (15 Minutes)

Students read a quote from Josef Albers

They are reminded about how we got to this stage of our sculpture

They are asked to read through their notes and find their favorite fact as a table 

group

They discuss and expand on the fact and present their discussion to the class

This will prepare students for upcoming Critique

Students are asked to take notes on this process for Friday sketchbook checks

Students return to their stage of the sculpture 

Day 8: Full studio Day

All students should begin the painting Process today

Check the room for students who are lingering in the slot phase or color 

planning phase

Day 9: Critiques: 

Peer Critiques

Directions: Present to the class first by Power Point

Show the rubric on Power Point 

Review Rubric Goals

Remind students to critique by rubric

Students can partner with anyone in the room but a table mate

Students will exchange sculptures 

Each student will create a written critique about their partners work

Each student should address goals achieved and goal 

opportunities

Students should use the name Albers at least once

Students should refer to a Rubric Goal at least twice

Students should incorporate key vocabulary throughout. 

Critique is based on Rubric Goals

Students will exchange their written critiques

Read and discuss new goals with their partner

Day 10: Full studio Day 

Focus on New Goals from yesterday critique

Focus on getting to the halfway mark of your painting process

Day 11: Full studio Day 

All should be at the 3/4 way mark by the end of the day 

Day 12: Final day of sculpture (November 10)

Students should complete sculpture today and be ready for Artist Statement 

Turn in completed sculptures at the end of the period. 

Day 13: Artist Statement (November 12)

Cool new App for Art Education

         Cool new Art App for your classroom: Huedoku. The application is a color puzzle that puts Josef Alber’s experiments into practice. Alber’s insisted that education should be a practice of search vs. research. This app finally puts his ideas into motion at a teenagers pace. Students search for the solve to the color puzzles without realizing they are discovering color theory. The app works for all learners. While advanced learners may solve the puzzles more quickly, special education and ELL students are pulled in by the visuals and excited to play along. By using apple TV to project the game on the large white board, students can play as a large group or table by table. 
        After studying Albers theories and practices on color for a full class period, I needed a fun in-between to pull students into the concept of working with color for a 3-D project. This app was the perfect solution. It incorporated all students and was immediately engaging. We started by completing the three sided puzzles together, as a large group. Using my iPad and a projector, I picked up the color and students would tell me where to place it in projected puzzle. As soon as the puzzle was solved, we moved on to the next one. The students loved the app. We solved all three sided puzzles together, as modeled practice, then we went into small table groups for the four sided puzzles. I gave the first table the iPad and they worked as a four person group to solve the puzzle. While this group was actively working on the puzzle, the classroom was watching them solve the projection on the large screen. More importantly, they observing how colors change when they are placed next to a new background. It was Albers in action and the students had no idea how much they were learning as they played along. These were the strengths of the activity. I ran into only one challenge, after students played a first time with their table groups, they really wanted to play again. It led me to contemplate how I could get more iPads so we could have students playing at each table simultaneously. This was a small challenge considering that by observing and waiting, these students were gaining so much from watching the color interaction. 

I will continue to use this app. I will also use this success as an opportunity to grow. I would like to find more apps like this to use in the classroom. I believe students today need relatable, technology to be included in their learning. It allows me to increase understanding using a familiar, everyday item (iPad) that students utilize and comprehend. It was exciting to see the energy and camaraderie in the classroom. I would love to grow by finding more art application opportunities for the 3-D classroom.  Check it out: http://huedoku.com/

Value Pulling with Mike Henderson

Mike Henderson, Upstairs (not in crocker) Each way is at Crocker…similar

Recap: Colorwheel

Discussion: 

Value:

How do we make colors lighter?

How do we make colors darker?

What is value?

What is shade? 

What is tint? 

Draw a value scale

Artist: 

Born in the small farming town of Marshall, Missouri, in 1944

Mike Henderson was supposed to work in the local factory with his father. 

His passion for art led him across the country to one of the first integrated art schools in the United States, the San Francisco Art Institute. 

He earned a B.F.A. in 1969 and an M.F.A. in 1970. 

Henderson has been teaching art and art history at the University of California at Davis ever since

He is considered a prominent figure among the second generation of Bay Area abstract painters.

Project: Create a Mike Henderson inspired Value piece by pulling paint

Step1: With the long side of a craft stick, pick up white and any pure color

Step2: Place it on your paper and pull it across to create a new color

Step3: allow the mixing to show, so you get many colors in each pull

Step4: try and create a rectangle with each pull

Step5: repeat the process with each of your pure colors with black and white

Use a paper towel to wipe craft stick between

Step6: feel free to break your stick to get new shapes with your pulls

Materials: 

White paint 

Black Paint

Pure colors of paint, primary and secondary for each student

Pulls: pop sticks, illustration board 

Large Card stock White 

Pop Art Clay with Wayne Thiebaud

Art Link: 

Compare Pop art and Op art

What is pop short for

What artist do you associate with Pop art? 

If you had to create a Pop art project what would you create? 

INTRODUCTION to lesson (Anticipatory set): 

Show Wayne Thiebaud’s ice cream

Analyze

Describe

Interpret

OBJECTIVE: Create clay sculpture inspired by Wayne Thiebaud’s desserts

Score Slip Hand-built Subtractive sculpture

Additive Sculpture Pop Art Texture

Physical Texture Visual texture Leather hard

Bone Dry

CA STANDARDS: 

1.1 Analyze and discuss complex ideas, such as distortion, color theory, arbitrary color, scale, expressive content, and real versus virtual in works of art.

1.3 Research and analyze the work of an artist and write about the artist's distinctive style and its contribution to the meaning of the work.

1.6 Describe the use of the elements of art to express mood in one or more of their works of art.

1.4 Analyze and describe how the composition of a work of art is affected by the use of a particular principle of design.

2.1 Create original works of art of increasing complexity and skill in a variety of media that reflect their feelings and points of view.

2.2 Plan and create works of art that reflect complex ideas, such as distortion, color theory, arbitrary color, scale, expressive content, and real versus virtual.

3.3 Identify and describe trends in the visual arts and discuss how the issues of time, place, and cultural influence are reflected in selected works of art.

4.4 Articulate the process and rationale for refining and reworking one of their own works of art.

5.2 Compare and contrast works of art, probing beyond the obvious and identifying psychological content found in the symbols and images.

5.3 Prepare portfolios of their original works of art for a variety of purposes (e.g., review for post secondary application, exhibition, job application, and personal collection).

PURPOSE: Complete a clay sculpture with texture and an emotional mood based on the art element color. 

INSTRUCTION: 

Students will receive details about Pop Art

Hand built sculpture

Pop Artists

Mood and emotion in art

MATERIALS: 

Clay

Toothpicks

Clay tools

Slip

Acrylic paint

DIRECT INSTRUCTION:

Day 1: Power Point Presentation Pop Art

Opening: Art Link: Compare Op Art to Pop art

What is pop short for?

When you hear the words Pop Art what artist comes to mind? 

If you were asked to create a Pop Art project, what would you 

Create? 

Pre-assessment: Sketchbook: Wayne Thiebaud’s Ice Cream Cones

How does this art effect you? 

Review: Describe, analyze, interpret

Teacher Models: 

Pop Art and art History

Students take notes in their sketchbooks 

Teacher Monitors throughout discussion

Check for Understanding: 

Monitor room during Pre-assessment in sketchbook

Monitor throughout discussion to be sure notes are being taken 

Presentation assessment

Art Activity: Critique Claes Oldenburg’s Dropped Cone

Think-Pair-Share Table Groups

Describe, Analyze, Interpret

Discussion: Pop Art

History

Pop Art defined

Pop Art Characteristics

ART HISTORY: Wayne Thiebaud

VIDEO

Critique works of dessert

Color 

Texture

Bio Info

Claes Oldenburg steals from Wayne

We steal from them both!!!

Sketchbook Activity: 

Begin to sketch your final clay project

Day 2: Texture and Color

Art Link: What is Pop Art, compare to Op art

Relate texture to the Wayne Thiebaud video from

                        yesterday

Discussion: Texture and Color

What is Texture? 

Physical Texture

Visual Texture

Color: Mood and emotion

Teacher Models: 

Texture and color

Students take notes in their sketchbooks 

Teacher Monitors throughout discussion

Check for Understanding: 

Monitor room during Pre-assessment in sketchbook

Monitor throughout discussion to be sure notes are being taken 

Presentation assessment

Sketchbook Activity: 

Continue to sketch your final clay project add texture and color

Day 3:

Art Link: 

What mood does this piece show? 

Discussion: Sculpture

Additive

Subtractive

Scoring and slipping

Teacher Models: 

Clay construction Pinch Pot and slab pot

Students take notes in their sketchbooks 

Teacher Monitors throughout discussion

Check for Understanding: 

Monitor room during Pre-assessment in sketchbook

Monitor throughout discussion to be sure notes are being taken 

Presentation assessment

Sketchbook Activity: 

Continue to sketch your final clay project add texture and color and add 

Plans for scoring and slipping the final project. 

Day 4, 5, 6: create clay and allow it to get leather hard add texture/details when leather 

hard

Final Dry time art activity Day 7 and 8: 

Each table will receive research paper on one of nine artists

Students will read, collect data and present one artist to the class as a

Group

Presentation will be of a group artwork inspired by their artist. 

Artwork must be of the subject matter most identified with the artist

Artwork must include characteristics of the artist

Students will aid in instruction by researching one of nine artists and sharing the information with the class. 

Students will take notes in their sketchbook about each of the nine artists

Wayne Theibaud

Jasper johns

Andy Warhol

Jim Dine

Roy Lichtenstein

Tom Wesselman

Claes Oldenburg

David Hockney

Robert Indiana

FINAL PROJECT Painting: Day 9, 10, 11, 12

Students will paint clay sculpture using Pop Art style

Students will use color/texture to achieve an emotion or mood

Typography and Pattern with Lou Dorfsman

Discussion: 

Typography

What does it mean? 

Where do we see it? Daily lives, Computer

ARTIST

Louis "Lou" Dorfsman (1918 – October 22, 2008) was a graphic designer who oversaw almost every aspect of the advertising and corporate identity for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in his 40 years with the network.

In Eero Saarinen's CBS Building on 52nd Street and Sixth Avenue, Dorfsman was responsible for all of the building's graphics, designating the type, design and spacing for wall clocks, elevator buttons, and elevator inspection stickers.[2] He designed a 35-foot-wide (11 m), 8 1⁄2-foot-tall (2.6 m) design called Gastrotypographicalassemblage for the building's cafeteria that listed all of the foods offered to patrons in hand-milled wood type. Dorfsman considered this work to be "his magnum opus, his gift to the world".[3] The work has now been installed in a building on the campus of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

Pattern

What is pattern? 

How do we create pattern in art? 

Project
Step1: Grab small square of practice paper

Step2: Practice your letter

Step 3: Make suer the letter is open, like a coloring book 

Step4: Fill the page

Step4: get your letter approved by an adult

Step5: Recreate your letter on the page with type

Step6: Make sure your type page in long ways

Step7: Draw your letter again in the same manner as your practice

Step 8: Fill Your letter with pattern

Step9: Turn in your letter to mrs. Mollie

Materials: 

Pre-cut paper with type

Thin Sharpie markers

Practice paper

Sticky notes for each student with their letter on it (ABC etc). 

High School Art Final

Mixed Media Collage Reproduction
• Must create a reproduction of work by any famous artist. 

• Minimum 12” X 18” 

Must incorporate: 

Blind contour

Create depth and/or perspective

Shading and value to create form:

USE ONE: Stippling, scumbling, hatching, cross hatching, etc. 

Tessellation OR Op art reference

Pop Art reference

One of the following: Oval action figure, gestural figure OR portrait

Visual and/or tactile texture

Color, emotion, mood

Newspaper and/or magazine 

Paint (watercolor or acrylic) 

Oil Pastel

Graphite pencil drawing

Pen and ink (sharpie OR black ink pen)

• Required: Please complete the artist statement and final rubric. Blue tape both on the back.
• Required: Title of work: incorporate original artist’s name into your title. 
• One day to find your fine art inspiration
• Four days of studio time, three days of independent work. 
• Due on May 28 with presentation, including: why you chose the artwork and how you incorporated each requirement. 

Final meets California Art Standards: 

• 1.8 Analyze the works of a well-known artist as to the art media selected and the effect of that selection on the artist's style.
• 2.1 Create original works of art of increasing complexity and skill in a variety of media that reflect their feelings and points of view.
• 2.2 Plan and create works of art that reflect complex ideas, such as distortion, color theory, arbitrary color, scale, expressive content, and real versus virtual.
• 2.4 Demonstrate in their own works of art a personal style and an advanced proficiency in communicating an idea, theme, or emotion.
• 2.6 Present a universal concept in a multimedia work of art that demonstrates knowledge of technology skills.
• 3.2 Identify contemporary artists worldwide who have achieved regional, national, or international recognition and discuss ways in which their work reflects, plays a role in, and influences present-day culture. (artist statement question)
• 4.1 Describe the relationship involving the art maker (artist), the making (process), the artwork (product), and the viewer.
• 5.2 Compare and contrast works of art, probing beyond the obvious and identifying psychological content found in the symbols and images.

Wire Birds with Paul Klee's Twittering Machine

Wire Birds with Paul Klee (all student art project: ASAP)

Recap

Audubon

Mo Willems

Discussion: 

Sculpture

3D

What is Form

Compare and contrast Form to art we have created in the classroom

Texture:

What is texture? 

 How does your hair feel?

 How does the bottom of your show feel?

 Do they feel the same?

 What about tree bark vs. A puppy? 

Art and texture: 

 The job of an artist is to create visual texture

  A dog might look fluffy and a marble would be shiny and smooth

CA Art Standard: 1.5 Identify and describe elements of art in works of art, emphasizing line, color, shape/form, texture, space, and value.

Paul Klee

ARTIST: Paul Klee

(1879 – 1940) 

Swiss painter of German nationality.

His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. 

Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually mastered color theory, and wrote extensively about it. 

His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes child-like perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality. 

He and his friend, the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the German Bauhaus school of art and architecture.

for additional information, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Klee

Prep: 

Cut Copper wire into 15” pieces

Cut Watercolor paper into 3” by 3” pieces

Project: 

Step 1: 

Twist copper wire into the shape of a bird

Start with one leg 1”

Work up and create a head that sticks out

Try to make a point for the beak

Work down to form a neck

Twist back up and curve to make the back

Twist in and out for the back tail three times

Curve down to make a second leg

Twist legs together at the top to complete

Your bird should be no larger then your 3”x3” paper

Step2: 

Think about the type of texture you want to create for your backbround

Look again at Paul Klee’s work Twittering Machine

Pay attention to the background texture

How will you add texture to your watercolor

Step1: Paint 3”by 3” piece of paper with turquoise liquid watercolor

Step 2: using various forms of texture (Cotton balls, rag, cars, tooth picks 

add in black ink to the wet watercolor

MATERIALS: 

3”x3” watercolor paper

Copper Wire 18 gauge 

Liquid Water color