Junior Docent School Program - Milwaukee Art Museum

Ask students to look around and name examples of lines that they observe in the
environment and help them classify the examples as horizontal, vertical, or diagonal;
curved or straight.
Hesse, Eva, Right After and Morris, Robert, Untitled (felt piece)
Compare the two sculptures. “What kind of line does Right After show? What type of line
did the artist start with in Untitled? What kind of line do you see now?”
Shape
Using a painting, have the students reduce it to one color and shape. Have the students
look at the finished painting and help them notice how the artist painted with implied
shapes. “What shapes do you see in this work of art? Do these shapes create calmness
or tension? How do you think the shape of the main subject in the work of art contributes
to the purpose or feeling of the work of art?”
Have the students form a large circle. Taking turns, as you call out a shape that the
students have identified in a work of art, 2-3 students collaborate to form the shape
using their bodies. Use both organic and geometric shapes. “There are many ways to
make every shape. Can you think of another way to make a circle?”
Using a work of art, have the students search for examples of each shape and form and
describe what it is in the work of art (for examples, a circle is a clock or apple and a
rectangle is a door or book).
Munter, Gabrielle, Boating
Ask the students what shapes they see in the work of art.
Judd, Donald, Untitled (either) and Noland, Kenneth, Sunrise
“What shape(s) do you see here? Are they geometric or organic? What type of lines
created these shapes? One of these works is two-dimensional and the other is threedimensional,
giving us a form. Which has form? What form(s) do you see?” Use the line
cards/yarn to create and discuss lines.
Smith, David, Cubi IV
“What form do you see in this sculpture?” “What is the basic shape? If this sculpture was
a person, what shape or form would the person‟s head be? Why? What type of lines do
you see? Can you put your body in a similar shape or form?”
Color
Share the following poem with the students from Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary
O‟Neill, Doubleday & Co., N.Y., 1961.
Color
The colors live
between black and white
in a land that we
know best by sight.
But knowing best
isn‟t everything,
for colors dance and colors sing,
and colors laugh
and colors cry –
turn off the light
and colors die,
and they make you feel
every feeling there is
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JDSP – Docent Packet
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