Teacher: Julie Vladika
School: Madison School, Hinsdale, IL
Grade: K-5
Subject: Art
Estimated Time: 2-3 45 minute periods
Title: Integrating Movement, Sound, and Visual Art
Lesson Summary:
Students will describe and analyze various works of art with visual rhythm and
movement, then explore what they see by using their body movements.
Students will then listen to music to match to the works of art.
Essential Question: How can we integrate movement, sound, and visual art to
allow students to interact with visual works of art and respond with their own
movements and sound?
Personal/Curricular Connections:
By exploring movement, sound, and visual rhythms, students will be using their
bodies, which connects to their physical education goals, as well as developing a
deeper understanding of rhythm and mood in music.
Standards:
Illinois State Fine Arts Goals 25A, 25B, 26A, 26B, 27A
Objectives:
Students will:
Explore and analyze works of art.
Develop a deeper understanding of visual movement and rhythm.
Translate sound and movement into visual rhythm.
Explore various painting techniques and tools.
Focus Artworks:
(Label Information)
Gino Severini
Italian, 1883-1966
Festival at Montmartre, 1913
Oil on canvas
35 x 45 3/4 in. (88.9 x 116.2 cm)
Bequest of Richard S. Zeisler, 2007.281
Archibald John Motley, Jr. American, 1891-1981
Nightlife, 1943
Oil on canvas 91.4 x 121.3 cm (36 x 47 3/4 in.), 1992.89
Georgia O’Keeffe American, 1887-1986
Blue and Green Music, 1919/21
Oil on canvas 58.4 x 48.3 cm (23 x 18 in.)
Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1969.835
India Tamil Nadu
Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja), Chola period, c. 10th/11th century
1965.1130
Procedure
Materials:
White drawing/painting paper in a small size, such as 6”x9”
Various painting tools such as small and large brushes, sponges, stamps, sticks
Watercolor paint
Images of artwork
scarves
Activities:
1. Looking/Describing the Artworks
Have students look and describe and analyze each work, or choose one or
two for time’s sake. Ask students questions focusing on each of the five
senses.
Sight: Describe the lines you see. Are they wavy, straight, thick, thin, etc.?
Describe the shapes. Are they organic/geometric? Describe the colors.
Bright/dull? What mood do you think the artist wants us to feel? How does
the artist create visual movement or rhythm in the piece? Use your finger as
an imaginary paintbrush and trace the movement and rhythm you see. Is it
slow, fast? Is it regular, or does it change?
Sound: Imagine you are inside the painting. What do you hear? Where are
these sounds coming from? Is there a song or type of music that would match
with this piece?
Smell: What do you smell? Where are the smells coming from?
Taste: What taste experiences do you have? What in the work contributes to
taste?
Touch: Describe the textures you see. Are they bumpy, soft, rough…? How
did the artist create these textures? If you were a shape or a line in this work,
how would you move?
After students respond to the painting verbally, thinking through their five
senses, explain the background information of the artist and work.
2. Explore Movement
In an open space in your classroom, outside, or in the gym, have students
find their own personal space. Explain that they will need to have a bubble of
personal space around them at all times so they don’t bump into anyone
else’s bubble. Tell the students to imagine their body is a paintbrush, or
another artist’s tool used in creating the piece. Show the image of each
artwork again, if possible, and then ask the students to think about one part of
the work of art. For example, pick a shape or line in the work. How would you
move? Fast or slow? Are you dripping with paint and heavy? Or are you
light? Do you hop, skip, jump, twirl, wiggle, spin, glide, etc.? Now follow
another shape or line. This time use your head to lead your body through the
work of art. Try it again with your elbow, knee, foot, etc. Use your body to
recreate shapes in the painting. Remember the mood you said you felt
looking at the painting? Now try to move to show that mood.
Offer scarves for children to hold in their hands as they move to help them
see their own visual rhythms.
After the students get a chance to move through each painting, hold a
discussion to review how the students felt moving, and how it compared to
looking at the artworks.
3. Explore Sound
After looking, and moving through the paintings, ask the students to review
visual rhythms, mood, and sounds that they would imagine hearing in each
painting. Then have the class listen to selections of 3 to 5 songs for each
painting. Through class discussion or voting, choose a song that best fits
each artwork. Talk about the visual rhythms the artist created and match
them to sound rhythms heard in each song, along with the mood and subject.
4. Create
Give each student a stack of small paper. Explain that they will be again
listening to different sounds or music, and will listen for rhythms and mood.
As they listen to each song, tell them to close their eyes and think about
colors, shapes, or lines they imagine.
Replay each song one at a time, and this time students will use one of their
small papers to paint the lines, shapes, colors and visual rhythms they hear.
Give them various tools to create with, such as large and small brushes of
different kinds and sponges or stamps. For each song, students will create a
small painting. It can be abstract or it can depict subject matter of their choice
to fit the sound. Remind them of different movements they made when
exploring the artworks, and tell them they can use different movements with
their arms, wrists, or shoulders to create different lines, shapes, and rhythms
on their paper.
Have each student label the paintings on the back before they begin with their
name and the number of the song.
The end product of this lesson will be a series of small paintings that students
can choose a selection of to put together in one display, or it could be a group
display to show how each member of the class responded to the music in a
different way.
Reflection:
After the paintings are dry, ask students to put their paintings in number order
on their table. Create a gallery walk around the room so students can see
what their classmates created while listening to the same music. When they
sit down, ask students to talk about differences they saw, as well as
similarities. Ask them if they would like to show another student’s work and
talk about the way the artist created visual rhythms, or a mood with color, line
and shape. Ask them to think about the experience and turn to a partner and
tell them one thing they enjoyed about the experience, and one thing they
may like to do differently if there was a chance to do this project again.
Assessment:
Through observation, base students’ assessment on their class participation,
and through their ability to create visual rhythms with various painting
techniques.