LOOKING AND MOVING art observation through movement

1. LOOKING AND MOVINGart observation through movement Nicole Livieratos livieratosnicole@gmail.com

2. Judy Pfaff, Apples and Oranges, 1986, Plastic laminates, painted steel and wood, 1989.47

3. SHAPE Suggested starting questions • Where do you see curved shapes? Straight shapes? Are there places where straight and curved shapes are combined? • Or simply… what do you see? What do you notice? What do you wonder? Guiding and modeling • Can you make a curved shape with your body? A different curved shape? Could you make it another way? Now let’s try a straight shape. And could you do that another way? Could you make your body both curved and straight? • How does this piece make you feel? What does it make you think of?  • Let’s try gently connecting with another person to make our own sculpture with curved and straight shapes. Now let’s try with more people. What shapes do you see being created?

4. Laddering • Begin by three people, then go to five. Can gradually build to larger numbers. Work toward students really being able to hold the shape and remain focused. • Deconstruct the shape carefully- first person in becomes first person out and they must leave without touching anyone. Last person in becomes the first to take on a new shape. • Try only with curved shapes. What happens with only straight shapes? • Invite others to walk around the sculpture. What do you see? • Invite a few to move through the sculpture- under, over, between, in, out. How does it feel? How does it change the sculpture to see others move through it? Connecting • Where in your day do you see a circle? The letter A? Spirals? • If this were to move how would it move? Ex: Bounce, roll, spin, dive… • Have you seen something do that action? Ex: a ball, a wheel, a door knob…

5. Julie Mehretu, Mogamma, 2012, Ink and Acrylic on canvas, 2013.31

6. SHAPE and LINE Suggested starting questions • First, guiding the eye to under the color lines….What shapes do you see? Where do you see them? Do you see one or many? Now let’s look at the lines moving through the painting…. What do you see? Are all the lines the same? If they are different, how are they different? Are they long or short? Do they connect? Intersect? Guiding and modeling • Using your arms, create a straight line. And another. Low to high. Diagonal. Forward and back. Now let’s do the same with curved lines. Can you intersect your lines? Could you intersect with someone else’s line without disturbing it?

7. Using ribbons Give each student a length of ribbon. Within a designated area (taped off rectangle, on a carpet square, a blank canvas of some kind…) ask them to lay down a line. See what happens. Start by doing one at a time and adding in. When someone adds a line ask them to be respectful; in other words a line might connect or intersect with someone else’s rather than rearranged. Make observations along the way and at any time remove ribbons and start fresh. Lines can connect, crisscross, swoop, loop, be on a diagonal, be straight up and down, straight across the middle...

8. Laddering • Start with a few and gradually increase the number.  • Continue to observe. How does it change? Does it remind you of something? What do you notice?   • Add specific directions such as “I wonder if your line can cross another”, or “Could you match someone else’s line?”, or “Let’s start with three parallel lines, now let’s have someone curve their line over those”.  • Add use of repetition. Connecting • Where do you see lines? Curved or straight? Ex: a crosswalk, a baseball field, rows of corn… • Maps and pathways: think about how you walk to your table from the pencil sharpener? From your table to the door? If you were to draw this as a line what would it look like? • Where else might you notice pathways? Ex: In the grocery store, in the library,… • Create a map of the classroom and decide main paths people travel.

9. Anselm Kiefer, Dragon (Drache), 2001, Oil emulsion on lead and canvas, 2003.5

10. TEXTURE Suggested starting questions • What do you see? What do you notice? How does this make you feel?   • Let’s lay down to look at this piece and the night sky. Do you feel big or small looking at this painting? Guiding and modeling: • This artist layers materials in his work. Now, let’s look from the side, what do you notice now? • What if we direct our attention to the sky: could you make a star with your hand somehow? Your whole body? • What if we direct our attention to the water: how do you think a wave moves? Let’s try it. A calm ocean. A stormy ocean. Do you think the water is warm or cool? What makes you think that? Try cupping hands over your ears and do ocean breathing.  • How do you imagine the sand feels? What would it be like to walk on this surface? Would it be hard or squishy?

11. Laddering • Students can move through all three parts of the painting- stars, ocean, sand as a sequence or landscape. What might you add to this? How would it feel- what texture would it have? What sounds might accompany this?  • Constellations moving and changing while ocean flows forward and back. Connecting • Have you been to the ocean? What was it like? What do you imagine it would be like? • Think of a sand box, now what would it be like if there was sand as far as you could see instead of streets? How would you travel through it?  • What textures do you have around you? In the classroom? Outside? Find three different surfaces and put them together.

12. Alex Katz, Winter Landscape 2, 2007, Oil on linen, 2011.51

13. Suggested starting questions:   • What do you see? What do you notice? What season do you think this is? How many trees do you see? Is it cold or hot? What makes you think that? How does this make you feel?   • Read the book The Snowy Day and use movement through-out: toes pointing in and out, crunch, crunch, crunch; draw tracks with your hand; plop; snow angels; climb up mountain & slide down. Guiding and modeling • Could you make a tree with your body? What if it had snow on it? Make another tree.   • What if we put our scarves on the floor and walked crunch, crunch, crunch carefully across?   • Snowballs- make one with your scarf. Toss and catch.

14. Laddering • Students can make a forest together, snow scarves on different limbs. Take turns walking through the forest. Imagine what it would be like, sound like, feel like. What animals might be in this winter landscape? • Toss snowball scarves with a partner. • Insert one red scarf into the landscape- how does that color change things? Why do you think the artist Alex Katz chose not to have vibrant color in his painting? Why do you think the illustrator chose red for the snowsuit?  Connecting • Seasons • Weather  Have you been in the snow? What did you or would you like to do in the snow? How do you move in the snow? How is that different on a hot sunny day? In the rain?

15. Agnes Martin, Untitled #3, 1994, Acrylic on graphite on canvas, 1995.96 Martin Puryear, Untitled, 1985, Acrylic on pine, kozo on steel mesh, 1994.50

16. Bamileke Artist, Cameroon, Elephant Headress, Glass beads, wood, cloth, and raffia, 2011.1 Book: Elephant, Elephant, a book of opposites, by Pittau and Gervais

17. Suggested starting questions • How are these works the same? How are they different? How are they opposite? Or if using artwork #7 • What animal is this? Is that animal big or small? Would it move heavy or light? What do you imagine the beads feel like- smooth or bumpy? What other opposites do you notice?  Read the book Elephant, Elephant and move throughout. Guiding and modeling • Can we think of an animal that is opposite in size to an elephant? How would it move? Ex: mouse is small, fast, light, quiet vs elephant big, heavy, loud or snake… Laddering • Where else can we find opposites? How else can we move in opposites?   • Can you pick one thing and create as many opposites as you can the way the illustrators did? Connecting • Where else do we have opposites? Ex: inside, outside; fold,unfold; twist, untwist;