Action Painting 2

Action Painting

Unit: Modern Art 1860-1945
Grades: 9-12 Advanced
Medium: House Paint
Durations: 45 minutes

Objectives
Students will develop an understanding of the use of body movement and
momentum in painting.
Students will select painting instruments and methods to use paint
expressively.
Students will explore experimentation and risk taking within their
artwork.
Art Production
1. Anticipatory Set 2. State Objectives 3. Input (art history, instructions) 4. Demo
5. Check for Understanding 6. Guided Practice 7. Independent Practice 8. Closure
1. (3minutes) As students enter the room jazz music will be playing while a
slideshow of Pollock & Klines works is projected on the screen. Teacher
should be prepared for action painting (no shoes, pants rolled up, hair tied
back, apron). Slideshow will play for first 2 minutes of class while an
explanation of Abstract Expressionism, or Action Painting, is given.
2. (2minutes) Throughout class we will focus on understanding how to use
body movement, painting instruments, and thin paint to express ourselves.
We will experiment and take risks; some will result in success and some
in failure but all will be an expression of ourselves our signature.
3. (8minutes) Play MoMA videos describing Pollock and Klines processes.
4. (5minutes) Demonstrate how to set up paper either on floor or on the wall.
Students who wish to paint on the floor, in the way Pollock did, will need
to lay their paper out on top of the tarp away from walls. Students who
wish to paint as Kline did, will secure their pieces with tape to the paper
covering the walls. Students should also take off shoes, roll up pants, and
cover clothing with an apron or trash bag.
Instruct students to each take one can of white paint and one can of black
paint and select their painting instruments. Students may trade amongst
each other during painting but may not waste time by rinsing off utensils.
5. As students prepare their spaces, walk around the room to ensure that
everyones space is appropriately set.
6. Guided practice: implemented during setting up paper and supplies.
7. (20minutes) Independent Practice: Students will practice action paint,
moving around their pieces and using different motions and utensils,
while various types of music play in the background.

Materials
4 Wide Natural Tone Roll Paper
Black House Paint
White House Paint
Paintbrushes (various)
Alternative Painting Instruments
Masking Tape
Tarp/Paper (to cover floor)
Aprons/Trash bags
Elements of Art
Line
Principles of Design
Rhythm
Movement
Unity
Vocabulary
Abstract Expressionism
Action Painting
Mood/Emotion
Gesture
Resources
Pollock and Kline image slideshow
AB EX NY - Pollock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enc
R_T0faKM
AB EX NY Kline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xQ
Tlp0hscs&index=8&list=PLA9DED03231
B5E68B


Action Painting 2

8. (7minutes) Closure: As students clean their utensils and move their
artworks to line the wall, we will discuss the feelings about this project.
Art Criticism/Analysis Questions
1. Homework: Students will be given a list of questions to respond to in
writing (at least 2-3 sentences per question).
Questions include:
Did you notice a change in your movements as you became more
comfortable with this process?
Did you notice a change in your movements as the music changed?
What emotions did you feel while creating this piece? Is it visible in the
lines?
Do you think this is expressive?
Do you think this could be considered a portrait?
Do you think this is art?


Art History
For Abstract Expressionists, the
authenticity or value of a work lay in its
directness and immediacy of expression.
A painting is meant to be a revelation of
the artist's authentic identity. The
gesture, the artist's "signature," is
evidence of the actual process of the
work's creation. It is in reference to this
aspect of the work that critic Harold
Rosenberg coined the term "action
painting" in 1952: "At a certain moment
the canvas began to appear to one
American painter after another as an
arena in which to actrather than as a
space in which to reproduce, re-design,
analyze, or 'express' an object, actual or
imagined. What was to go on the canvas
was not a picture but an event."