This project brought to you by copycatting real art teacher Kathy over at Art Projects for Kids. Another project using this same artwork as inspiration for the younger set can be found at Deep Space Sparkle.
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an early abstract artist (he could paint realistically, too). Kadinsky was one of the artists targeted by the Nazis for his
Degenerate Art. Our project for this class was inspired by this
Kadinsky painting. I showed the children how a
colorful fabric design used as chair upholstery mimicked this painting.
We used oil pastels on dark construction paper. Each child chose black or brown construction paper, and I directed them to fold the paper in half lengthwise (hotdog fold), and then in thirds, then flatten out the paper. Then they simply filled each rectangle with concentric circles of color with oil pastels. They chose the colors. Some colored randomly; others chose to make warm or cool color circles.
Keisuzi even got involved with her own picture.
Each week I want to teach the children something about the art we are doing - artist, history, technique...something. After our Mondrian-inspired art, Keisuzi and her son were surprised to hear that the question was, "Who was Mondrian?" on an episode of Jeopardy.
