Mark making Unit I: K-2nd Grade

Marks, Scribbles, and Movement:

Expressive mark making through drawing, painting, dancing, and play

Unit target: Pre-schematic stage (K - 2^nd grade)

Created by Elizabeth Mirabal

This unit aims to introduce very young elementary students to the processes and effects of expressive mark making through activities targeting drawing, painting, and bodily movement. Featuring varying multicultural art work aimed at informing and inspiring students of mark making possibilities, this unit emphasizes in-class observation/discussion, experimental play/ media exploration, and peer critique.

What overarching understandings are desired for this unit?

This unit explores the following big ideas:

• ·         Artists express emotion through painted, smeared, intentional, and unintentional marks.
• ·         A mark is a sign: we see it, we see past it, and into it for meaning.
• ·         A painting is composed of a cluster of marks on flat surface.
• ·         The process of creating art is sometimes more important than the finished art work.
• ·         Color and physical gesture may be the subjects of a work of art.

What are the essential questions for this unit?

This unit explores the following essential questions:

• ·         What makes a mark “expressive”?
• ·         How do marks convey meaning and evoke emotion?
• ·         What are the relationships between the body, gesture, and marks?
• ·         What different visual effects are created from controlled vs. spontaneous marks?
• ·         How do artists use marks to create artistic identities/styles?

What will students understand or be able to do as a result of this unit?  (Unit goals)

As a result of this unit, students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of:

• ·         How to render visual effects through expressive, repetitive, controlled, or spontaneous marks
• ·         How to use and distinguish between drawing and painting media to best render desired marks
• ·         How bodily gesture and movement may be used to create marks and express emotion
• ·         How music expresses emotion, and how to draw from music as inspiration for mark making
• ·         How to identify and interpret expressive, conceptual, or symbolic marks in art
• ·         How artists over time have created marks as a means to express ideas and emotions

What Florida Sunshine Standards pertain to this unit?
Grades K – 2

Art

VA.A.1.1.1:  The student uses two dimensional media, techniques, tools, and processes to depict works of art from personal experiences, observation, or imagination.

VA.A.1.1.2:  The student uses art materials and tools to develop basic processes and motor skills, in a safe and responsible manner

VA.A.1.1.3:  The student distinguishes the differences within and among art materials, techniques, processes, and organizational structures.

VA.B.1.1.1:  The student knows how subject matter, symbols, and ideas are used to communicate meaning in works of art.

VA.B.1.1.2:  The student understands that works of art can communicate an idea and elicit a variety of responses through the use of selected media, techniques, and processes.

VA.D.1.1.1:  The student uses age-appropriate vocabulary to describe, analyze, interpret, and make judgments about works of art.

VA.D.1.1.2:  The student understands that works of art can be rendered realistically, symbolically, or abstractly.

Music

MU.D.1.1.4:  The student understands how music can communicate ideas suggesting events, feelings, moods, or images.

MU.E.1.1.1:  The student understands how concepts within and between art forms are related.

What key concepts will focus this unit?

The key concepts for this unit will be: 

• ·         Marks may be used in any repetitive manner to render almost any visual effect.
• ·         A mark extended in time is a line; marks clustered together may define a shape.
• ·         Marks may be intentional and unintentional, descriptive and expressive, additive and subtractive.
• ·         Marks are the fundamental building blocks of the fine arts.
• ·         Mark making is fun!

How will students demonstrate understanding of mark making as a fun means to express emotion, construct artistic identity, and render forms? 

PLAY = Preliminary Marks

SLIDES: Gather student in large group and present slideshow featuring images of marks in real life (i.e. tire marks, oil drips, cement hand prints, footmarks in the sand, etc). If possible bring in example of real life mark. Ask students to identify each mark and interpret its effect (how the mark got there, what potential effect it will have). Discuss potential mark making processes.

PLAY/ EXPLORE:

• 1.      Break students into groups (4-6 students per table). 
• 2.      Gather and collect a stack of age appropriate toy cars, dolls, other repurposed toys, feathers, string, toothbrushes, combs, etc, and place in the middle of each table. Also provide: open jars of finger-painting paint, large brushes or sponges, paper towels for clean up. Hand each student a large piece of drawing/packing/freezer paper. 
• 3.      Present brief demo: grab toy car, dip “tires” in pool of paint, and “drive” it across the paper in swirl motions, straight lines, and zig-zag lines.
• 4.      Encourage students to experiment with making marks with each of the different materials by dipping them in paint and creating abstract, sweeping motions with them on the paper. Provide further paper if necessary. 
• 5.      In order to lead up to group project, play mixed shuffle of instrumental music, jazz, dance, etc. 
• 6.      While supervising class activity, sit down at each table for 5-7 minutes. Ask each student to describe the marks they have made, what materials they have used to make those marks, what material they intend to use next and why. Encourage further experimentation. Suggest that students follow the rhythms of the music playing when making marks.  
• 7.      Before clean up and the end of class, gather each student’s process work and hang to dry. When dry, pin to the classroom’s walls and begin the next class’s activities by asking students to gather into groups and discuss the different marks their classmates made. Ask students to identify the processes of the marks, and what they like or don’t like about them.

GROUP PROJECT: DANCE MARKS

Artist slideshow: Present slideshow featuring the works of artists: Jackson Pollock, Yves Klein, Trisha Brown, and Tony Orrico. Ask students to identify the marks they see (drips, lines, scribbles, foot prints, etc). Ask students to interpret those marks, identify the emotions those marks generate, identify what they like/ don’t like about them. Discuss the role of music in the work of these artists. Discuss the role of bodily movement, dance, and gesture in the process work of these artists. Encourage students to brainstorm ways in which they would use their bodies to create marks.


Suggested works to show/ discuss:

• Yves Klein's Anthropometries
• Trisha Brown's Incident Drawings
• Tony Orrico's Penwald Drawings

Video: (Optional) Access youtube.com/laurakvince. Show videos: “MoveWriteEditMove,” and “Processes of Performance.” Discuss in class the relationships between the music, dance, and the painting/drawing. 

Procedures:

• 1.      Divide students into small groups of 2-4.
• 2.      Clear classroom space of desks, tables, chairs etc. Lay down large, sweeping rectangles of paper, canvas, or fabric. Pin painting supports down on all corners.
• 3.      Provide each student with two pieces of plastic wrap and blue painters tape. Instruct students to cover both their feet with plastic wrap, and to tape loose edges of the plastic around all around their ankles. Students should all have plastic wrap “slippers” to protect their feet.
• 4.      Pour 4 different colored finger-paint paint or tempera paint onto trays, and set on the floor next to the paper/ canvas/ fabric.
• 5.      Start playing mix track playlist of varying types of instrumental music, i.e. Jazz, blues, African drum music, etc.
• 6.      Instruct students to dip their covered feet into the paint, and dance across the surface of the painting support guided by the beat of the music in order to make different marks. Encourage students to repeatedly dip their feet into differently colored paint, and to dance over their group members’ marks.
• 7.      Limit each dancing session to 10 – 15 minutes.
• 8.      If time allows (and the painting support is not too muddy with painted marks), ask student groups to alternate and continue dancing/painting on different compositions. Limit the following dance/paint sessions to 5-7 minutes.

Extra and alternative possibilities:

• 1.      Break students down into even smaller groups (2 students per paper, maximum). Blindfold each student and have them dance on the support guided by their partner’s movements and the rhythm of the music. Allow students to lift blindfold only to dip their feet in different colors.
• 2.      Have some students dance without protective plastic wrap slippers. Compare marks made with plastic covered feet and those made by bare feet.
• 3.      Alternate the shape of the painting/dancing support. Compare the marks made on a circular support, a long, rectangular support, a square support, etc. 

Discussion: After compositions have dried, hang each one on the walls in a continuing frieze. Ask students to gather around, walk up to and away from each composition, and try to identify marks according to the style or music that was playing. Discuss the differences and similarities between marks made when dancing to different musical genres (i.e. long, continuous marks for the blues; short, staccato marks for jazz). 

Evaluation: Evaluate each student based on his/ her active participation in the group project dancing/painting session, and their active participation in the discussion. Each student should contribute: at least one observation about different marks, and at least observation/interpretation of the way in which the music guided those marks. Encourage the shy/silent students to try to identify their own individual marks, and build discussion on from there. 

EXPRESSIVE MARK-MAKING

SLIDES: Briefly present/ review elements of art in visual, slideshow format: 1. Line, 2. Color, 3. Shape/ Form, 4. Pattern, 5. Texture, 6. Balance. Present art works by the following artists or in the following artistic styles: 

• ·         Impressionist/ Post-Impressionist: Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
• ·         Modern: Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Henry Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky
• ·         Contemporary: Dana Schutz, Ray Turner (portraits), Elizabeth Peyton, Vik Muniz (food work)

 Suggested works to show/discuss:

• Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night and The Night Cafe
• Claude Monet's Impressions: Sunrise
• Paul Klee's With Green Stockings and The Niesen
• Wassily Kandinsky Motley Life 
• Dana Schutz's Sneeze and Feelings
• Ray Turner's Works on Paper series
• Vik Muniz's PB&J Mona Lisa and other food works

For each work, ask students to identify long/ short/ thick/ thin/ horizontal/ vertical/ jagged/ smooth/ continuous/ broken/ dark/ light/ sharp/ soft lines. Encourage students to discuss the effects of the lines and other marks in the work; encourage students to identify the emotions associated or conjured by those marks. Inquire: 

• ·         Where are they leading? What color are they?
• ·         What color(s) is/are that/those line(s) next to, and, what effect does it produce?
• ·         What shape do they form? How heavy/ light/ open/ closed/ opaque/ transparent is that shape?
• ·         Are the shapes bumpy/ smooth/ coarse/ fine?
• ·         Are the lines singular, repetitive? Do they form a pattern? Are they sedentary, or moving?
• ·         How do the different lines/ marks balance each other out?
• ·         What emotions do they convey?
• ·         What is the overall mood of the composition?
• ·         How does the painting make you feel?

DRAWING:  “Emotional” marks

• 1.      Break students into small, evenly numbered groups (4-6 students per table).
• 2.      Gather drawing paper and a variety of age appropriate drawing instruments: crayons, oil pastels, chalks, water soluble markers, other available materials. Present a brief demo of proper material use. Demo how to draw with the tip of the, the side. Demo sweeping marker lines, bumpy crayon textures, and oil pastel blends. Encourage free hand student material exploration for about 10 minutes.
• 3.      Survey results of student explorations. Once satisfied, introduce activity: Drawing Emotions
• 4.      Direct students to take one sheet of paper and any combination of drawing materials (supply a tray of varying materials and paper at each table or work station).
• 5.      Give students a time limit of 10 – 15 minutes. Ask students to illustrate HAPPY using freehand marks in any color. Drawings may be illustrative or abstract. Emphasize repetition, texture, balance, light and heavy lines in each composition. Ask students to label emotion.
• 6.      While working, go around classroom and ask students how they are illustrating HAPPY, what marks they are making, what colors they are using to make those marks. Encourage peer discussion of HAPPY marks.
• 7.      After time is up, collect HAPPY drawings, and instruct students to illustrate SAD. Repeat procedures with different emotions (i.e. angry, bored, scared, etc.)

Evaluation: Following the completion of this exercise, ask students to exchange their drawings with those of their classmates are other tables. Encourage small student groups to critique the drawings based on the strength of the marks used to interpret the labeled emotions. Encourage questions: what colors indicate [happy/ sad/ angry/ bored]? What lines, shapes, or figures does the student use to indicate those emotions? How do they manipulate materials in the drawing? Supervise and encourage student critique sessions – make sure each student participates with an observation on every different drawing. Then, hand back the each student’s drawing back to them. Ask each student to get up and present his/her drawing to the class, discussing his/her own use of marks, colors, what they would do differently, etc to illustrate the emotion. Limit each presentation to 2-3 minutes. Evaluate students on material experimentation and participation in peer critique. 

CALLIGRAPHIC MARKS

Warm up activities:  Lead students outside to an available garden or grassy patch on school grounds. Instruct students to forage for sticks, rocks, sturdy flower stems, etc. “Draw” into a soil, sand, or pebble patch using these foraged instruments. Beautify this “composition” by adorning with petals, leaves, pebbles, etc. Instruct students to this of these adornments as marks. As they’re working, speak to the students about the additive/ subtractive nature of these marks to ease into the following activities.

SLIDES: Present slideshow of calligraphic strokes, featuring diverse examples of artwork from the Chinese, Japanese and Islamic cultures. Study and discuss individual calligraphic characters in class by asking students to break apart and name the different figures, lines, and strokes making up the calligraphic character. 

DRAWING: “Invisible” Calligraphy

Provide students with:

• 1.      Sturdy white drawing paper
• 2.      Glue sticks
• 3.      Watercolors
• 4.      Brushes 

Demo: write/ draw with the glue stick on to the white paper. Bring the paper to the sunlight to reveal writing. Paint over with a watercolor wash to reveal the message. 

Instruct students to create a brand new, calligraphic mark to represent them, their name, and/or their identity. This mark may be composed of different shapes (circles, triangles, squares), skinny/thick lines, open or closed strokes, etc. Students will use glue sticks as drawing instruments so as to prevent their neighbors from copying the same strokes for their calligraphic figures. Students will reveal “invisible” calligraphy mark by painting over it with a wash of watercolor. 

Alternative possibilities:

•          Draw/ write with white vinegar or lemon juice; skip watercolors.

Discussion/ Evaluation: Pin up all the finished drawings, and ask volunteers to share how and why their calligraphy represents them or their identity. Ask these students deconstruct their calligraphic mark – explain and describe the shapes they drew and the colors they chose. Ask students to discuss the effects of the invisible marks versus the more obvious, vibrant marks from the previous activities. Evaluate students based on in-classroom participation in discussion and drawing activities.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A thousand thanks to artist Laura Vince for contributing ideas for the Group Dance/ Paint project.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bohannon, R. L. and McDowell, C. (2010). Art, music, and movement connections for elementary education teacher candidates. General Music Today, 24 (1). Retrieved from http://gmt.sagepub.com/content/24/1/27

Church, E.B. (2011). From scribbles to symbols: how children learn to draw and write – and what their pictures and stories tell you. Scholastics.com. Retrieved from http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=628#process

DeBord, K. (1997). Child development: creativity in young children. North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.  [Web site] Retrieved from: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pdfs/fcs470.pdf

Matthews, J. (2010). Scribble: the development of children’s mark-making. In B. Wagoner (Ed.), Symbolic transformation: The mind in movement through culture and society. (pp. 209-229). London: Routledge.

Schirrmacher, R. (1993). Art and creative development for young children. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers.