Jackson Pollock was born in 1912, so he would be enjoying his early hundreds if he was still around today. Sadly he died back in 1956. I must be getting old because I look at those numbers and think he sure was awfully young to go. He only got about 20 years to share his ground-breaking art with the world, and that includes his years as a student. The best part, and the bit that makes him the most fun for kids to emulate, is that he combined the act of painting, the movement, with the painting itself.
You could say he was involved with his paintings. :) He said, "On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting."
That resonates on a very basic level. In fact, for toddlers and young children, the act of moving the crayon across the page is more important than the finished product. But for most of us, that changes as we get older. My daughter had SO much fun dancing as she literally flung paint around from the bottom of her brush. Anyway, you could read a short biography on him here.
For the project, I had bought massive rolls of paper, because if we're going to do this, we were going to do it right! He painted on enormous canvases, so we should too :) (if you used chalk paint or anything that washes off easier than the leftover house paints we used, you could even have your whole driveway be your canvas!!) With the older kids, we started out taking a survey. I asked them on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being not important at all and 10 being essential, how important different things are to art. Or in other words, how important are these things to making a piece "good" or not. I listed off a bunch of things like the art is beautiful, the art has a political purpose, the art is in a museum, the art was done by a famous artist, the art has good lines, the art looks realistic, the art is impressively big, this kind of art has never been done before, the art took skill to make, the art makes you think, the art tells a story, etc. We read "Action Jackson," and watched this short video of the artist himself working. So cool to see the real artist in action! I asked them each to point out something they'd noticed about his style or techniques. They couldn't wait to get started! I gave them the option of collaborating on a really huge sheet, or doing their own smaller work.
Darn North Dakota wind caused some problems, but overall it was a hit! And they turned out pretty impressive too! Oh and my bathroom looked like a color wheel had exploded in it. Make sure you have access to LOTS of soap and water if you give this a try. And a press washer for your driveway. Tee hee. Oh and if at all possible, do your best to discourage intentional paint flinging at fellow students, but I wouldn't mention it if they haven't started on their own. Better not to give them ideas! Ha!
To see examples of students' work, check out my original post here. And have fun!!
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