in the afternoon on thursdays, we have been learning about a new artist each week and then creating artwork using the same style as that artist. (it's lotsa fun.) today we learned about jackson pollock, and it ended up as one of those lessons where i didn't expect it to turn out the way it did. (but such is life in the world of kindergarten.) i started the lesson by having the kids join around the computer and i showed them several examples of jackson pollock artwork. i also showed them pictures of jackson pollock creating the artwork. that's when the questions and comments started rolling in...hands fly up and i call on the first student. "so is this guy dead? because all the other artists we learned about are dead." i explained that, yes...he died in a car crash in 1956. one child yells out..."wow! 1956? that's like before i was born! that was probably before you were born!" (lots of nods) i explained that he died before my dad was even born. most of the kids were smacking their heads at this point and absolutely could. not. believe. that his death happened so long ago. then one of my favorites says, (shaking his head) "so another dead guy...why are we learning about another dead guy. my brother is learning about artists too in his class and they are all dead, too! nothing but dead guys!" (i bust out laughing...i couldn't help it.) a little girl looks at him and says, "well, i'm an artist and i'm not dead..." he looked her straight in the eye and said, "well we aren't learning about you now are we! you are not famous...and your art is not that good!" (i bit my lip...as she is not very 'talented' in this department.) she stuck her tongue out at him. "now, now...kind words please."
i went on to ask them why they thought pollock's art was so popular and why people liked it so much. one student yells out, "i have nooooooooooo idea...this looks stuff looks like garbage." (garbage!) another one pipes in..."yeah! it looks like i could do this artwork...and i'm only 5 years old!" (i kinda agree.) i said, "well...you are going to get to try this style of painting." (hoots and hollers all around!) so we venture outside to the parking lot and they are all giggling like a gaggle of monkeys. losing. their. minds. that i am going to allow them to fling paint all over the place and that they aren't going to get in trouble for it. i showed them how to (carefully..if that's possible.) fling the paint from the brush to the paper. there were a few gentlemen that i knew were going to get a little out of hand. (i saved them for last.) one child ended up with yellow paint on his pants, shirt, shoes, socks, and in his hair. he also had it up his nose and in his left ear. (i sent him home with a matching yellow post-it stuck to his shirt that said, "sorry for the mess.") as we finished up....i asked the kids how they liked doing the art project. they were PUMPED. i knew this project was a real winner when one little girl yelled on the top of her lungs.."THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!" (paint dripping off the end of her nose...)
below are 2 pieces of artwork. one was made by jackson pollock...one was made by my kindergarten class. can you tell the difference? yeah....neither can i.
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