DESCRIPTION: Students create their own abstract drawings. One half will depict the concept of good friends and one will depict the concept of bad friends.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this tour is to demonstrate for students the ways that art elements communicate, even in completely abstract artworks.

PROCEDURE: It is a common misconception that abstract art expresses nothing. Many people believe that a work of art has no meaning if it does not depict recognizable objects.

While some artists who make abstract art are concerned primarily with the presentation of actual forms, others are concerned with expressing particular ideas or feelings. In abstract art concepts and emotions can be expressed through the visual elements of color, shape, line and texture alone without forming a recognizable picture. Let's see if we can prove this.

Using only paper and pencils, we are going to make really quick drawings (about one minute). We can only use lines (no recognizable figures). One half of you should think about a good friend. The other half should think about enemies (or some other situation that would promote anger). When everyone has completed the drawings, we will compare the stylistic features of the good friend drawings and the bad friend drawings.

(Place all of the drawings into a pile and have the students pick out works of art that they think represent a good or bad friend. Ask them to explain why.) What are the major differences between the good and bad friend drawings? (Students recognize that good friends are represented by soft, flowing, harmonious and curvy lines as opposed to vigorous, angular, dark, heavy and zig zag lines.)

Let's look at some abstract works of art that have sources in the real world. (Note: Most of the abstract artworks in the Walker's collection, do not illustrate concepts literally. However, art objects such as Sol Lewitt's geometric Cubic Modular Piece No. 2 (L-Shapes Modular Piece) allude to such concepts of order.)

VARIATION: Many contemporary artists create abstract works of art. That is, they combine lines, shapes colors, and textures in a way that does not depict figures or represent recognizable objects and places as they look in everyday life. In many cases, abstract works are concerned with the visual elements themselves and how they function in a composition. Nonetheless, abstract works of art may also serve to convey certain ideas or feelings because the elements of art themselves are expressive.

Let's get into two groups and create two abstract compositions. Here are different materials that consist of shapes, lines, colors, and textures. Using the floor I would like group one to create an abstract composition which expresses the idea of chaos and I would like group two to create an abstract composition which expresses the idea of order. Combine the visual elements I have given you and use the lines on the gallery floor as boundaries for each composition. When you have completed your abstract works we will discuss how the visual arrangements convey each concept. (Compare and contrast the two compositions, and discuss elements in the compositions such as symmetry, harmony, dissonance, etc.)

MINNESOTA GRADUATION STANDARDS:
(1) Read, View, Listen
(2) Write and Speak
(3) Literature and the Arts

Age level: Appropriate for grades 4 and up.
Artworks used: Abstract and non-objective paintings.
Props needed: Paper and pencils. If you use the Variation, bring along plastice shapes.
Related to Minneapolis Sculpture Garden: Yes


© 1998 WALKER ART CENTER