Color Magic!
Color Theory can be one of the most exciting art lessons you do with your classroom. In this lesson, your students will assemble abstract sculptures, with each sculpture determined by a set of color relationships, much like a game. In their hands these color relationships become immediate and tangible. As soon as they finish one sculpture they take it apart and use the pieces to make another, different, sculpture, determined by a different set of color theory "rules". As the students do these over and over, they quickly begin to understand and make color theory "their own". In no time they have a good working knowledge of primary and secondary colors, complementary colors, and warm and cool colors.
The students shown in the picture are in a fifth grade class, but this lesson has been done with kids as young as first grade. If you are working with younger children, you might want to recruit some parent volunteers to give you a hand. They can be available to help answer questions and steer some of the students through the first sculpture or two.
What this lesson does not get into is the tertiary colors. You can mention these, but explain to your students that for now we are going to focus our discussion and our Color Wheel on the primary and secondary colors.
For this lesson, you will need to prepare the colored foam core pieces that make up the sculptures. It does involve an investment of both time and expense, but keep in mind that these kits can be used over and over each year. Several teachers can pool their time and expense budgets to make the kits, and then share them.
What You'll Need To Make The Sculpture Kits:
1. Foam Core: The easiest way to do this is to get the foam core board available in colors. (While these are generally available with the color only on one side and white on the other, the fact that the color is only on one side doesn't seem to bother the kids, and doesn't affect the learning process at all.) This colored foam core is usually available in any well-stocked art supply store. You'll want a sheet each of red, deep blue (not turquoise), bright yellow (not gold yellow), orange, deep purple (not lilac), and bright green (not lime green). Do not use the flourescent colors! You'll also want two sheets of black.
If you can't get the colored foam core, you will have to get white, and paint it. This will probably be more expensive, and definately take more of your time. You will probably want to use spray paints, and you should paint both sides of the board. It will bow a bit when you paint it.
2. An Exacto Knife with a large box of blades. You will need to change the blades frequently. You may want to take a look at page 39 in Everyday Art for Kids, where you'll find tips on cutting safely with an exacto knife.
To Prep the Foam Core Sculpture Pieces...
First slice each sheet of foam core into four pieces, to make it easier to work with. The dimensions do not have to be precise - from this point on, you will be working "free-form", and just about anything goes!
Cut each of the four pieces into smaller pieces. You might find it easier to cut these holding the piece vertically to the floor and cutting in the downward direction. These pieces can be any shape - triangles, rectangles, curved shapes. Only circles are not recommended because they are too difficult to be practical. Be sure to try to vary your shapes. You will end up with smaller pieces of all shapes (see next note for actual size and quantity). The only thing you'll want to avoid is a long pointed shape. These will tend to bend or break. When one of these pieces does bend or break (and this will happen, no matter how careful your students try to be) just cut to re-shape the piece. You may need to cut it into two pieces, or discard a small bent edge.
On each piece, cut a long thin notch in one, two or three places, to join the pieces to the others. In the photo below you can see the notches clearly, on the pieces laying on the table. At first, test each notch, until you get the hang of how to make them.
How Many Pieces?
The number of pieces you cut (and the size) will depend upon the size of your class. In a class of twenty students, you may want to make five color sets, and have the students work in groups of four. (Working in groups is also a good way for your students to work on their social skills!) If you have a group of eight, you may want to make eight sets, with smaller pieces, so that each child can make their own sculptures. Regardless of how many sets you need, each set should contain one or two (or more) of each of the six colors, and two to four pieces of black. You may want to make the black pieces bigger, as they tend to be the base pieces. To get more sets, you can either buy more board or cut the pieces smaller.
It helps to bring the pieces into the class already pre-sorted into sets. Small shopping bags with handles are ideal for this.
Preparing Your Presentation
Before you turn the students loose on their sculptures, you will introduce them to the subject by talking with them about color. You may want to divide the color lesson into two parts - the first for discussion of color and introduction of the color wheel, and the second for the assembly of the sculptures.
When you lead the discussion, you may want to ask the students to think about how important color is in our lives. Imagine if we lived in a black and white world! It's difficult to imagine that, because we normally don't think of things without their color. Imagine sitting by a warm fire - it's orange color seems to be part of its warmth! Think of the cool water of an ocean wave - it has to be blue-green - it could never be yellow! Red poppies along a walk make us smile. The vivid green of a lawn in a park, the cheerful yellow of a banana, the brilliant gold of a goldfish - we can't separate these things from their colors.
But not only that, we associate colors with mood - even to the use of the phrase, "feeling blue". Because color is a powerful symbol. Think of some of the ways we use color as symbols. Red to stop, green to go. Purple means royalty. In some cultures white is a wedding color; in others red is, while white is for death. These days Green means Ecology. Red White and Blue together stand for our flag and patriotism. Color is so symbolic that it is used to describe race - even though the colors named have nothing to do with reality! A "white" person is certainly not really white, and a "black" person is not really black, but both are overlapping shades of brown! So to call them black or white is pure symbolism.
After you have engaged your students in this kind of discussion, you will be ready to move on to an introduction of the Color Wheel. You can read up on the Color Wheel and Color Theory in Everyday Art for Kids on pages 35 to 37, or find similar material in the library.
Before class you will want to prepare a large sheet of white paper with light pencil lines to indicate your color wheel (see example below), and bring it to class with a set of wide markers, one black and one of each of the six colors on the wheel. You will draw and color in this Wheel as you explain it to the class. If you have indicated each color in its circle very lightly in pencil, this will cue you in class. What you will end up with, when you have finished going over the color relationships, will be a hand drawn color wheel like the one shown below, with the three primary colors joined by a triangle, and then the three secondary colors, and a dotted line between the cool color side on top (green/blue/purple) and the warm color side below (yellow/orange/red). Don't try to bring in a pre-printed wheel - it is much more engaging for you to color each one in as you talk about it. And the hand sketched version has an immediacy about it that is very appealing.
To start, draw in the black outlines of the three primary circles, and ask if anyone can name a primary color. If someone says red, for example, you'll fill in the place for red on the color wheel, using your red marker. If no one can answer this, tell them about the three primary colors, explain why they are called primary (because they are the "first" colors, and that all other colors can be made from them, but no colors can be mixed to make them.) and fill in the three primary colors on your color wheel using the markers.
Continue to go over the rest of the color wheel, filling it in as you talk about it. You
should have covered the following points, by the time you are finished:
You'll want to spend some time on the Complementary Colors, because this is where the real magic of color comes in. Point out that Complementary Colors are capable of creating two opposite effects. On one hand, when they are placed next to each other, they make each other more exciting. For example, to bring out the zing in a dull blue, just try putting orange right next to it - it becomes vivid! On the other hand, when they are mixed with each other, the complement makes the first color darker, duller. So when you want to show a darker side to an object, you can create this shading with the color's complement. On a blue mug, the darker side could be created by adding orange to the blue.
However, in this color sculpture lesson we will not get into the effects of using colors mixed with their complement. Our focus here is on the wonderful way the two complements give each other pizazz when placed next to each other. As your students do their sculptures, point out the magic of these complementary relationships.
Optional: If you have examples of work by Matisse, Chagall or Van Gogh, share these with your class because they are good sources of color theory examples. (Calendars are a good source of art by these artists - make a point of looking for calendars on sale every January to add to your collection.) For example, Chagal's "The Magic Flute" is a wonderful example of a painting using the three primary colors. His "Fleur de St. Jean-Cap-Ferret" is a good example of a painting using the strong complementary relationship of red and green. Van Gogh's famous self-portrait is almost all blue, with the strong orange complement in the artist's red beard. His "The Night Cafe" is another example of the complementary use of blue and orange. Matisse's "Goldfish" has strong red and green complements, as does his "Harmony in Red". Look through your art reference collection and you'll start seeing more combinations like this. When you share them with your class, give the class a brief introduction to the artist, and encourage your students to discuss what they like about the paintings, and what they see. Be prepared for a lively response!
And Now the Sculptures!
Arrange the students in their groups. Explain that each group/student will get a kit, and that all kits are virtually alike. No mixing up the kits, and no trading. Also, the sculpture pieces are fragile and will have to be handled carefully. Finally, explain that the sculptures will be assembled according to very specific instructions - but that within that framework the students will be the artists. For example, they may be told to use one primary and two secondaries, only, in addition to black. (Note: In all the sculptures, Black is "Free" - the students can use all the black they want.) That means they will work with black pieces and only three colors - not all the colors will be used at once! But the students get to determine which colors within that framework, and assemble the sculptures each in their own unique way.
The Assembly Instructions:
Other Color Exercises
You can follow up this sculpture exercise with several more color projects. Here are some ideas:
Directed Color AbstractIn this project you have students use similar "rules" to color in something that they have drawn. The abstract drawing ideas shown on page 69 of Everyday Art for Kids are perfect for this approach. After your students have made one of these sketches using black markers, you guide them through the coloring. For example, you may start: "Color in the largest shape on your drawing with your choice of a secondary color." When they have followed that direction, move on to the next: "Now pick a shape that touches the one you just colored, and color it with the first color's complement." Then: "Take a look at your first color, the secondary color you selected. Now pick one of the colors on either side of it (these are called adjacent colors) and use that to color three small shapes that are not touching each other". You can make up your own combinations. The coloring can be done in any media - crayon, watercolors, markers, whatever you prefer.
Directed Color Sketches in a Series
In this project you select a simple pencil sketch by each student - it should be of an object (their own shoe is a popular subject). Photocopy them, making six copies of each. Then use the same "rule" process in class to have them color their six drawings. Crayons, colored pencils, craypas or markers will all work just fine on this paper. Each photocopy is colored differently, with its colors determined by a different set of rules. For example, for one you might direct them this way: "Color the exterior of your object a primary color." When they have done that, you say "Color its interior with the complement of the exterior color you chose. Then, "For the background, if the exterior is a warm color, make the background a cool color, and vice versa." And so on, with various combinations that you make up and dictate to the class. And example of some finished drawings colored this way is shown below.
You'll want to take some time at the beginning to go over "definitions" - everyone should be clear what is meant by the exterior of the object, the interior of the object, and the background. You can also have them outline the object with one of the colors. If you do this, remember to give the direction for the outline color before you do the background color, so it will stand out. If your students are ready for shading, you can include shading with a complement as one of the steps.
This directed approach to color is not only fun (the students think of it as a game) but it yields results that are visually exciting and your students will use colors in ways they would never have thought of. They also find it exciting to be free from coloring something the color that is usually associated with it!
This leads us to one more color project that can follow the ones above:
Topsy Turvy Colors
Ask your students to draw a picture using colors that are normally never associated with the objects in the picture. For example a purple horse could be running across red grass, with a yellow sky and a green sun. Wow!
All these color exercises look wonderful mounted on black paper. And the Series sketches look wonderful mounted together (see the shoe drawings above, by a fifth grader.)
You can help support this site by getting your art and framing supplies from Dick Blick when you go there from here!
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