Title of Lesson: Action Painting
Grade Level: 3rd-4th grade
1. Context: Our class is in the middle of the semester. We just got done talking about
elements and principals in the previous unit and we are starting a more broad study of
abstract art. Jackson Pollock seemed like an obvious choice because of his fun and action
packed art that can be related to a lot of different cross curricular activities and is the basis
of abstract/action painting.
2. Theme and General Description: Our theme is action painting and we are focusing on
using marbles and paint.
3. Goals: Our goal is for students to distinguish action painting and to have them recognize
it as art.
4. Objectives:
 Students will be able to define the phrases abstract expressionism and action
painting.
 Students will be able to express their own inner “struggles” or moods through their
art.
 Students will be able to find different elements and principals during critique time.
5. Adaptations for Diverse Learners: Someone who cannot control the marble could use
assistance from a teacher or aide. Other than that, we feel like this is a pretty diverse
project for all types of learners.
6. Concepts:
 Elements:
o Color: has three properties: hue, intensity and value.
o Line: a mark made by a pointed tool brush, pencil, stick, pen etc. and is often
defined as a moving dot.
o Texture: Texture refers to the surface quality, both simulated and actual, of
artwork.
o Space: Actual space is a three-dimensional volume that can be empty or filled
with objects.
o Form: Form describes volume and mass, or the three-dimensional aspects of
objects that take up space.
o Shape: An area that is contained with an applied line or is seen and identified
because of color value changes.
 Principals:
o Balance: Balance refers to the distribution of visual weight in a work of art.
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Movement: Visual movement is used by artists to direct viewers through their
work, often to focal areas.
Contrast: Contrast refers to differences in values, colors, textures, shapes
and other elements.
Rhythm: Rhythm is the repetition of visual movement - colors, shapes or
lines.
7. Visuals:
Painting #1:
Title- Shimmering Substance
Artist’s name- Jackson Pollock
Media- Oil on canvas
Size- 30 ⅛ in x 24 ¼ in
Painting #2:
Title- Eyes In The Heat
Artist’s name- Jackson Pollock
Media- Oil on canvas
Size- 54in x 43in
Demonstrations by teachers.
8. Supplies and equipment:
 Each child gets 4 pieces of paper
 Paint=red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, black
 Marbles = 2-3 per child and must be glass
 trays
 spoons
 bowls for the paints
 cups
 napkins
 Music player of some sort
9. Teaching Procedure:
1. (8 min.) Introduction (names and what we will be learning)
2. (15 min.) History and Concepts (see below for information)
3. ( 5 min.) Instruction of the project we will be doing as a class.
4. (70 min.) Activity and Clean up.
1. Marble painting in silence. (show their current emotion/mood)
2. Do three paintings to different songs, displaying the moods or emotions those
songs make them feel.
3. Clean up the paint area
5. (20 min.) Critique and Review
Jackson Pollock:
o He was born on Jan 28, 1912 in Cody, Wyoming
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He painted during the great depression.
Painted murals for the Federal Art Project.
It took him 11 years for his technique to take precedence in society (to
become popular).
His dad was a farmer. His mother was artistic.
He is the youngest of 5 children
He attended Manual Arts High School and Art Students League of New York.
He actually started as just an abstract artist and then moved into action
painting.
Action Painting:
o A famous art critic described action painters as modern heroes who
transformed their canvases into arenas wherein epic struggles between man
and material are fought.
o Kid language: A famous art critic (what is a critic?), described action painters
as modern heroes (who are your heroes? what do they mean to you?), they
are considered heroes because they were able to express emotions through
the paintings movements and abstractness.
Criticism/Aesthetics
 5 Subjective questions:
o What colors are you noticing in all of the painting during (specified) song?
o How do you define abstract expressionism?
o Of the elements and principals talked about earlier, which ones do you see
more prominent in all of the paintings?
o Of the elements and principals talked about earlier, which ones do you NOT
see in the paintings?
o Why do we define Jackson Pollock as an action painter? What makes your
painting and action painting? Why can we relate ourselves to Jackson
Pollock?
 5 Open-ended questions about elements and principals:
o How were you influenced by the silence and how did it affect your color
choice? (relate to all songs)
o How did your rhythm differ with each song/silence?
o Are your colors balanced? If so why? If not why?
o How would your art look different if we only gave you a pencil? Would you
change the heaviness, or would you focus on lines? etc.
o What were you feeling when there was silence (change silence to the
designated songs and relate it to the mood)
10. Evaluation
 Were our transitions smooth and worked well in the lesson?
 Did every member contribute the same amount?
 Did slides and activities give the correct information needed to meet objectives?
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Were students busy and in control?
What did we do to help keep the classroom management in order?
Did the students listen well to instructions and understand what was expected of
them?
Would there need to be any review the next time we had art class?
11. Cross curricular discipline:
 Music: This is connecting because we can incorporate music and moods within this
lesson but also a music lesson.
 P.E.: This is connecting because we can incorporate movement and dancing along
with moods, much like what we are doing in the art class.
 Science: This is connecting because we can incorporate the concept of mixing
colors.
 History: This is connecting because we can incorporate the historical setting of when
Jackson Pollock was painting in the great depression.
 English: This is connecting because we can incorporate writing in our journals. We
can talk about our feelings that the art and music made us have.