Third Grade Jackson Pollock Instruments

Third Graders studied the artist Jackson Pollock this month in the art room. We looked at some of his "action paintings" and studied his process. Jackson painted with buckets of house paint and he used a paint brush to throw paint onto his canvas, which he placed on the floor. His action painting stirred up the abstract expressionist movement and gathered a lot of attention around his artwork. One of his paintings recently sold for $140 million! We took his idea and then used our painted paper to create instruments. We also looked at complementary colors for our background. Here are our action instruments below!

National Visual Art Standards BY grade 4

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

1.2 Create artwork in a variety of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional

(3D) media 

1.3 Learn and use appropriate vocabulary related to methods, materials, and techniques

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

 Identify primary and secondary colors and gradations of black, white and gray in the environment and artwork

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

2.3 For texture, explore the use of textures in 2D and 3D works

Identify a wide variety of types of textures, for example, smooth, rough, and bumpy, in the environment and in artwork

Create representations of textures in drawings, paintings, rubbings, or relief

2.4 For shape and form, explore the use of shapes and forms in 2D and 3D works

2.5 For pattern and symmetry, explore the use of patterns and symmetrical shapes in 2D and 3D works

Identify patterns and symmetrical forms and shapes in the environment and artwork.

Explain and demonstrate ways in which patterns and symmetrical shapes

3.2 Create 2D and 3D expressive artwork that explores abstraction

3.3 Create 2D and 3D artwork from memory or imagination to tell a story or embody an idea or fantasy

4.1 Select a work or works created during the year and discuss them with a parent, classmate, or teacher, explaining how the work was made, and why it was chosen for discussion

4.2 Select works for exhibition and work as a group to create a display

4.3 As a class, develop and use criteria for informal classroom discussions about art

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 

5.2 Classify artworks into general categories, such as painting, printmaking, collage, sculpture, pottery, textiles, architecture, photography, and film

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 

6.1 When viewing or listening to examples of visual arts, architecture, music, dance, storytelling, and theatre, ask and answer questions such as, “What is the artist trying to say?” “Who made this, and why?” “How does this work make me feel?”

6.2 Investigate uses and meanings of examples of the arts in children’s daily lives, homes, and communities

7.1 Investigate how artists create their work; read about, view films about, or interview artists such as choreographers, dancers, composers, singers, instrumentalists, actors, storytellers, playwrights, illustrators, painters, sculptors, craftspeople, or architects

8.1 Identify characteristic features of the performing and visual arts of native populations and immigrant groups to America, such as 

• styles of North American native cultures of the East Coast, Plains, Southwest, and Northwest;

• styles of folk and fine arts of immigrant groups from European, African, Latin American, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries