First Grade Kandinsky Pinch Pots

This week, first graders learned about the Russian abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky. We talked about the bright colors we saw in his painting and the different sized circles in his most famous work, Squares with Concentric Circles, pictured below.

We were then inspired to create our own version of Kandinsky's painting. First graders started by making pinch pots out of model magic clay and then painted concentric circles inside with bright neon paint. Here are the beautiful results below!

Visual Arts Standards for this lesson:

1. 1.1  Use a variety of materials and media, for example, crayons, chalk, paint, clay, 
   various kinds of papers, textiles, and yarns, and understand how to use them 
   to produce different visual effects 
   
   
2. 1.2  Create artwork in a variety of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional 
   (3D) media, for example: 2D – drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, weaving; 3D – plastic (malleable) materials such as clay and paper, wood, or found objects for assemblage and construction 
   
   
3. 1.3  Learn and use appropriate vocabulary related to methods, materials, and techniques 
   
   
4. 1.4  Learn to take care of materials and tools and to use them safely
   
   2.1  For color, explore and experiment with the use of color in dry and wet media 
   Explore how color can convey mood and emotion
   
   2.2  For line, explore the use of line in 2D and 3D works
   Identify a wide variety of types of lines in the environment and in artwork 
   
   2.4  For shape and form, explore the use of shapes and forms in 2D and 3D works
   Identify simple shapes of different sizes, for example, circles, squares, triangles, and forms, for example, spheres, cones, cubes, in the environment and in artwork
   
   2.6  For space and composition, explore composition by creating artwork with a center of interest, repetition, and/or balance
   Demonstrate an understanding of foreground, middle ground, and background
5. 
   
6. 3.2  Create 2D and 3D expressive artwork that explores abstraction
7. 
   
8. 5.1  In the course of making and viewing art, learn ways of discussing it, such as by making a list of all of the images seen in an artwork (visual inventory); and identifying kinds of color, line, texture, shapes, and forms in the work 
9. 
   5.3  Describe similarities and differences in works, and present personal responses to the subject matter, materials, techniques, and use of design elements in artworks