Junior Docent School Program - Milwaukee Art Museum

22
from the grumpiest grump
to the fizziest fizz.
And you and you and I
know well
each has a taste
and each has a smell
and each has a wonderful story to tell…
Using felt pieces and a felt board, make a color wheel as you discuss color in a work of
art. The primary colors are cut into three triangles; the secondary colors are cut into
three circles.
Make and show the students a picture out of felt pieces with warm colors using blue or
purple for the background, brown for a table top, and three warm color shapes placed on
the table – red, orange, yellow.
Then make and show the children a picture out of felt pieces with cool colors using red
or orange for the background, brown for the table top, and three cool color shapes
placed on the table – blue, purple, green.
Compare both pictures. “Which picture is more effective in showing perspective?” (The
yellow, red, and orange shapes should visually stand out more effectively because warm
colors advance while cool colors recede.) “How do you think color is used to create
special effects?”
Have the students stand in a large circle. Ask them to close their eyes and imagine that
they are in a large, empty room. The room is all one color, very intense and bright red.
“How do you feel standing in this room? How would you like being in this room all day?”
Repeat with various colors.
Invite students to look at works of art and identify red objects. “Does red look the same
each time?”
Using pairs of various one-color objects and various colored fadeless paper, choose a
pair of objects and lay each of them on a different-colored background. “What
combinations of color have the best contrast? (For example, orange object on an orange
or blue background.) What combinations of color appear to vibrate?”
Discuss how each color has certain feelings associated with it.
Yellow = cheerful. Red = angry. Blue = sad.
Invite the students to find the colors in a work of art and describe how the color
makes them feel. “Are there other elements of art that support that feeling?”
Kelly, Ellsworth, Red, Yellow, Blue II
Use a felt board with felt pieces of triangles to discuss primary colors. Ask, “What
happens when you mix red and blue colors together?” Add the corresponding circle
to the point of the primary colors triangle. Continue with the remaining primary colors.
Agam, Yaacov, Union II
“What color do you see from this direction? What colors do you see from the other
direction? Which are the warm colors? Which are the cool colors?” Using the felt board,
place the colors in warm or cool color groups. Help the children remember the difference
by offering the following explanations: red = fire, yellow = sun, orange = afterglow of fire,
blue = ice, green = grass, purple = when you have been outside too long in winter.
Hoffman, Hans, Dew and Dusk
Use a felt board and create a warm color picture, then a cool color picture. Discuss with
the students how an artist uses shape placement to create mood and balance action
while thinking of color choices too. Compare and contrast the two pictures next to each
other using identical shapes in each. Ask, “What color do you notice when you first look
at the picture? Which color is in front and which color is in back?” Have the students look
at a painting and discuss what happens when a warm color is placed next to a cool
color.
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JDSP – Docent Packet