Name of Project: A Dance With Paint
Classroom, School: Seventh and Eighth grade classroom at Clara Barton Open School in Minneapolis
Cooperating teacher: Alison Rubin-Forester
Grade Level : 7-8
Presenter's Name: Jane Wunrow
Subject: Painting, Dance
Topics: Creating a performance collaboratively to recreate a piece of artwork into performance
Visual Elements: Slides, prints of artists work per group, example work of lesson
Skills Development
Performance, Working collaboratively, Rendering a set image into performance
Key Knowledge and Applications
Role play in performance, mark making through paint and an understanding of space
Prior Learning Needed
Basic understanding of paint, paint mixing and performance
Objectives
- Students will learn an understanding of space
- Students will learn to work collaboratively
- Students will make their own discoveries of how their movements create different marks and discover how to conceptually render prior artwork
- Students will gain understanding of rendering an image into performance through their collaborative performance and mark making on a 2D surface
Materials
(class size: 20-30 students)
- Tempera paints: red, blue, white, yellow, green
- Plastic tubs per paint color and water: roughly 10
- Arches paper 36 x 48
- Paper towels
- Soap
- Plastic tarp
- Chairs: roughly 10 or more depending on group sizes
- Plastic plates
- 81/2"x11" paper: 2 per student
Teacher Vocabulary
write on chalk board
Performance, Working Collaboratively, Space
Focusing attention
"This is a dance with paint where our feet will make a painting but our minds are focused on the performance"
Learning activities
- Class will view slides to introduce various performance techniques and help students develop conceptual ideas
- Students will be placed into groups, the amount in each group depends on class size
- Each group is assigned an image of a piece of artwork
- Students then use their finger tips to mimic feet
- Dip finger tips into paint and move them around as feet to perform their image into performance
- During the first part of the class period students will work together to create their performance to begin to engage them
Summary of lesson
This lesson deals with students working collaboratively on a performance. Each student group is given an image in which to create a performance for.
They will work together to either create a dance of what is happening in the artwork or what they believe will be happening next. During their
performance they will apply paint to their feet and dance. The focus during the performance is not the paint. Afterwards the result of their dance
will be what the paint has done. This gives the students the idea of where they have moved during their performance and the idea of the space they
they have created during their performance.
Feedback activities
Each student will receive a take-home critique in which to evaluate their performance
and identify the knowledge they've gained.
