Life In The Arts

Improvisation with Laurie Myers

Wednesday, January 16, 2002 - 10:30 - 11:30 AM

LONGTIMERS PRODUCTIONS AND THE MONTEREY COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION PRESENT

Synopsis of Show:

Laurie Myers will be featured and will show teachers how to help children learn to turn their creative ideas into something real. A poem, a play, a piece of art."It always surprises me how good they are at doing this if they are free to follow on the journey you take them. when they are not worried about what someone else thinks. when you keep reassuring them that the joy of art is in the process."

Lesson:

Students will be introduced to the Art of Improvisation through Expressionism, inspired by Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky

Ranked among the artists whose work changed the history of art in the early years of the 20th century, the Russian abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky is generally regarded as one of the originators of abstract painting, or abstract expressionism. In both his painting and his theoretical writings he influenced modern styles. Spending many years of his life in Germany, Kandinsky became an instrumental force in the development of German expressionism.

Kandinsky was born in Moscow on Dec. 4, 1866. He studied law and political economy at the University of Moscow, but after a visit in 1895 to an exhibition of French impressionist paintings in Moscow, Kandinsky decided to become a painter. Moving to Munich, Germany, he worked under Anton Azbé and Franz von Stuck, studying impressionist color and art nouveau (an ornamental style of about 1890 to 1910). From the very beginning Kandinsky's own work showed an interest in fantasy.

Between 1900 and 1910 Kandinsky traveled widely, including visits to Paris that put him in contact with the art of Paul Gauguin, the neoimpressionists, and fauvism (a style with aggressive use of brilliant colors). He began developing his ideas concerning the power of pure color and nonrepresentational painting. In 1909 Kandinsky helped found the New Artists' Association in Munich.

Kandinsky painted his first abstract watercolor in 1910 and began formulating his important theoretical study, 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art', which was published originally in German in 1912. In this work he examined the psychological effects of color and made comparisons between painting and music. Together with the German painter Franz Marc, Kandinsky became a leader in the influential Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) movement, an expressionist group. He and Marc edited a Blue Rider almanac in which they reproduced art from all ages.

Marc and Kandinsky organized avant-garde international exhibitions in Munich and elsewhere--exhibitions that proved to be major events in the development of German expressionism. With the outbreak of World War I, Kandinsky left Germany to return to Russia, where he taught and organized numerous artistic activities. He went back to Germany in 1921 and became one of the principal teachers at the Bauhaus school in Weimar, remaining with the school until it was closed by the Nazi regime in 1933. Kandinsky then moved to a Parisian suburb, where he stayed until his death on Dec. 13, 1944.

A significant change took place in Kandinsky's work during the 1920s. From the romantic superabundance of his earlier abstract expressionism, his style evolved into geometric forms--points, bundles of lines, circles, and triangles. During the last decade of his life, Kandinsky blended the free, intuitive image of his earlier years with the geometric forms of his Bauhaus period.

MATERIALS

8 1/2 X 11 drawing paper or copy paper

colored markers

pencil

eraser

Expresso pen

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Show a piece of Kandinsky's work. Have the kids study the movement and power.Point out the diagonals, color combinations and shapes.

2. Have the students draw with a pencil their own abstract piece using Kandinsky's work as inspirational.

3. After they have their shapes and lines drawn, have them outline all the pencil lines with the black Expresso pen. Of course they only outline the lines they want to keep. Once this is finished have them erase all the pencil lines. Now you have a coloring book like drawing.

4. They now will color in their piece witht he markers being careful not to use two colors in one space, staying in one direction with their markers for a cleaner finished product.

5. When they have completed this they might need to add some black lines over the top to create that visual tension. Art is anexpression of you so go ahead and express like the Expressionists. This is abstract art at it's best.

Return to the Life in the Arts 2001 - 2002 Broadcast Season