Monochromatic Masterpieces

Monochromatic means one color, which sounds pretty boring until you realize that you have almost an infinite number of values.  For this monochromatic color scheme assignment, students picked a masterpiece from art history, and a single color. Tints were made by adding that color to white, and shades were made by adding black to the color. The goal was to match the values in the original painting. The trick is recognizing that color already has value built into it. For example, it takes much less black to make red dark than it would a yellow because red is inherently darker than yellow.

When you fill a wall with a blush Botticelli, purple Turner, and green Gauguin, it stands as a testimony to the value of value.

Monochromatic Compositions

I didn't study color theory until college, but it turns out color schemes aren't difficult for children to learn, if you start simply. For a recent monochromatic color scheme assignment, I had each student make a composition. They each started with their marker (a pencil would work fine for students without visual impairments) at the edge of the page and move it through curved straight, curly or zig-zag lines to another edge. They continued doing this with lines crossing over one another until the page was divided into large, medium, and small shapes. 

Then they picked a color, and painted several of the shapes, throughout the composition in that color. Tints were made by adding the chosen color to white. Shades were made by adding black to the original color. the shades and tints of the color are spread throughout the picture plane to make it a strong composition, one that leads your eye around. 

I used a large hot glue gun for students who couldn't see their original lines and had to feel the edges of the shapes. We used tempera, which leaves a chalky feel when it dries, so students could feel which shapes had already been painted. Here is one made by a student who is totally blind. The only thing he wasn't able to do independently is trace the shapes in hot glue, and mix the various tints and shades.

Monochromatic Landscapes

Here on planet Earth, we have a little thing called atmosphere, which makes it possible for us to stay alive. It also makes things look fuzzier the further away they are. If it is night-time, things will probably look darker if they're farther from you. If the sky is a light gray, mountains and buildings may look lighter and softer from far away. Atmospheric perspective is a way for artists to show depth in their paintings.

I think the easiest way to introduce atmospheric perspective and color schemes to students is with a monochromatic assignment. Mono means "one" and chroma is "color." Students pick a color and add that color to white to tint it. They add black to that color to shade it.

Before mixing paint, students had to research and draw landscapes or cityscapes, thinking about vertical placement of rooftops or mountains. The foreground is at the bottom of the paper, the sky is at the top, and there are several divisions in the middle.

The color, straight out of the bottle was used to paint the middle ground before tinting and shading in increments for the other layers. My students who were completely blind decided what they wanted to paint and what color to use. Then I cut out layers of cardboard and paper for them to paint on their own. Ultimately, we glued the layers together. This makes for a tidier end product for sighted students as well. 

If you try this assignments with students be sure that they add the darker color to the lighter color so as not to waste a gallons trying to lighten up a dark color. It's also helpful to look for how atmospheric perspective works in the real world, beyond the classroom doors.

Teaching Art to Blind Children: My New Job

I have a new job teaching art at the Academy for the Blind. Until I saw on the school's marquee that there was an opening, it hadn't occurred to me that such a job could exist. It does. Considering that there's only one (maybe two) schools for the blind in any given state, and each of those schools may or may not have an art teacher, I feel especially lucky to land such a challenging and fulfilling position!

My students' ages range from four to nineteen, and their visual and learning abilities are as varied as their ages. Because the needs are diverse, the classes are small, sometimes only two or three students at a time. This has allowed me to get to know and love the children very quickly.

I started my first full week, ironically, with an Op Art assignment. Optical illusions may not mean much to most blind, but the line is the simplest of art elements and repetition isn't a hard concept to grasp.

This student exclaimed, "I did it!" after drawing each line. It warmed my heart to think of all the encouragement she's received during her short life. I love the sense of movement in this simple piece.

Week two I plunged into color theory, which is difficult, even students without visual disabilities. In fact, I have taught many college students with 20/20 vision who made it through childhood without learning their color wheel. Luckily, these kids were up to the challenge of mixing the three primary colors to get secondary and tertiary colors in even steps.

Here is another Op Art project using line and repetition in complimentary color schemes.

 Piet Mondrian and Roy Lichtenstein are favorite artists to study when learning about primary colors and triadic color schemes. You can see from this picture how close most of my students need to get to the paper in order to see what they are doing. This Mondrian-style piece was done on braille paper.

The student who created the red piece in the upper right said, "This is really beautiful. Do you think people will like it?" We discussed Picasso's Blue Period before making our own monochromatic paintings. I believe that teaching art history and formal design principles is what separates real art lessons from mindless craft time. I want to give kids the tools to make informed aesthetic choices to better communicate ideas.

The youngest students have done crayon rubbings of various textures and created textures in salt dough by stamping it with objects. We are also making and decorating newspaper hats. I've only been at the school for a few weeks but so far I am loving it. I pinch myself every morning.