The first class I introduced Jackson Pollock and some of his earlier paintings (no splatter painting yet). We had a great discussion about how his style and description of objects changed throughout his career and eventually evolved into a rapid and loose style, whereas the artists no longer tries to manipulate his or her media, but instead frees it and allows it to take control. I showed the same video that was recommended on the Dali Moustache Blog along with a short clip from biographical movie about Pollock's life starring Ed Harris. I then showed students a slide show of Pollock's top 20 most famous paintings and we discussed what we liked and didn't like about each of them.
In the second class, we started to SPLATTER PAINT!!! This was a daunting task, and I must admit I was very nervous during the first class when we did this. I had placed a large garbage bag on the floor next to each table. I had collected some cardboard boxes that were big enough to place a 12"x18" sheet of paper inside and at least 12" deep in which we were to splatter paint. I had given each table 5 bright colors of watered down acrylic paint in squirt bottles. I gave a demonstration making sure to emphasize that every particle of paint that comes out of the bottle should end up somewhere inside the box...preferably on our papers. I had that oldest student at each table start painting first and gave each student about 2 minutes to splatter and go crazy while each other student had a job such as clean up, paint tray holder, and box flap holder (one class of students figured out that if they helped each other hold up the open flaps of the box, there box got taller and allowed them more freedom for painting). We did two rotations so each student got to paint twice and then we began clean up. The boxes ended up looking SUPER cool too.
The third class was the one which students wanted to cry or beat me up. I gave a big enthusiastic speech about how awesome their splatter paintings turned out and then I sprung it on them...now, we are going to CUT THEM UP!!! Haha I think a few of them actually wanted to hurt me. Many said that they simply were not going to do it, but after they saw what we were turning them into they came around. I showed students how to measure with a ruler to make long lines from on end all the way to the other on the long 18" side making sure to keep a 1" strip on an end to hold all of it together. We measured and cut our painting into fringes so that it looked like a Hula skirt, and yes I did some Hula dancing with mine when I was done, heard a whole bunch of "Haha Mr. Malcore, you are so silly." When they finished cutting the fringes, they chose two different colored 9"x12" sheets of construction paper and drew lines 1" apart all the way across the long 12" side.
In the fourth class we began the weaving. I showed students how to cut out their colored strips and weave them into their splatter painting. Every other strip was the different color to create some variety. We did lots and lots of "Over...Under...Over...Under." I had students glue the ends of each strip into place so it wouldn't come loose. Once finished weaving, we matted them and admired all of our hard work. The kids really loved them and I think they turned out great. I actually laminated four of mine and am currently using them as place mats on my diner table haha.
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