Piet Mondrian

Introduction

In this Web quest 3rd grade art students will learn about art history by studying the famous painter, Piet Mondrian. Mondrian was most famous in the 1920’s and is known for his use of basic lines, shapes and colors. The students will learn about the elements of art most used in Mondrian’s paintings. They will demonstrate what they learn by creating a piece of art inspired by Mondrian’s work and they will discuss their finished products.

Task
  • Students will learn a little bit about Piet Mondrian and his art by watching a short video.
  • Students will use a computer program to decide how they want to lay out their Mondrian inspired artwork.
  • Students will create basic paintings inspired by Mondrian’s paintings.
  • After the students are finished we will discuss everyone’s artwork as a class.
Process
  • For the first task students will watch two videos about Piet Mondrian:

This first video talks about Mondrian's art work and how he created it:

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/179

The second video shows the progression of his artwork, make sure to let the students know that the project will be inspired by the more simple, geometric painting near the end of the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XKSfyV_i8s#t=18

Afterwards the teacher will ask questions about the geometric paintings from the video, such as:

-        What kind of line does Mondrian use in his art?

-        What colors does Mondrian use in his art?

-        Are these colors primary, secondary or tertiary colors?

-        What shapes does Mondrian use?

 

  • For the next task students will go to this website:

http://www.tristesse.com/~howie/Flash/MondRect.html

This website allows students to easily create possible compositions for their art project before sketching out their design.

  • For the final task students will begin working on their Piet Mondrian inspired art projects.

The materials for this project include:

-        White canvas panel

-        Paint brush

-        Ruler

-        Pencil

-        Black electrical tape

-        Red, yellow and blue tempera paint

The students will sketch their design first using a ruler and a pencil, the teacher will walk around and help students and approve their sketches before they move on to the next step. Next, the students will put black electrical tape over the lines they sketched to create straight lines and shapes. When this is done the students will use blue, yellow and red tempera paint to fill in the shapes they created.

Evaluation
Score Criteria
1- Needs work

Did not follow directions.

Work is messy.

Project is incomplete.

Did not participate in discussion.
2- Good

Usually followed directions.

Work is mostly neat.

Project is mostly complete.

Occasionally participated in discussion.
3- Great!

Followed directions.

Work is neat.

Project is complete.

Participated frequently in discussion.
Conclusion

To conclude our lesson on Piet Mondrian the students will critique each others artwork by comparing it to the artwork of Mondrian. The students should be able to explain how they used line, shape, and color in their artwork.

Credits