Classroom Resource

The Elements of Art: Shape

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

1, 2

Overview

Students will be introduced to one of the basic elements of art—shape—by analyzing the types of shapes used in various works of art to differentiate between geometric and natural shapes. They will then create their own cut paper collage based on a theme they select.

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 1 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.1.6

Use art vocabulary while creating art.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.1.6

Vocabulary

  • Complementary colors
  • Contrast
  • Curator
  • Elements of Art
    • Texture
  • Landscapes
  • Portrait
  • Positive/ negative space and shape
  • Principles of design
    • Repetition
    • Variety
  • Secondary colors
  • Still life
  • Technique
  • Venue

Essential Questions

EU: Artists and designers develop excellence through practice and constructive critique, reflecting on, revising, and refining work over time.
EQ: What role does persistence play in revising, refining, and developing work? How do artists grow and become accomplished in art forms? How does collaboratively reflecting on a work help us experience it more completely?

Skills Examples

  • Work with a partner or small group to create an artwork.
  • Use the book Perfect Square by Michael Hall to help "thinking outside the box" skills.
  • Create two-dimensional artworks using a variety of gadgets for printmaking.
  • Use paint media to create paintings of family portraits or a favorite memory.
  • Create three-dimensional artworks such as clay pinch pots or found-object sculptures.
  • View a step-by-step demonstration of an artistic technique.
  • Properly clean and store art materials.
  • Use Mouse Paint book by Helen Walsh to teach color mixing of primary to achieve secondary colors.
  • Create a painting inspired by Piet Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie.
  • Create a "Pop Art" inspired artwork of positive and negative spaces and shapes by using colored paper cut-outs and gluing to different background squares.
  • Make a color wheel and identify the complimentary colors (red and green, blue and orange, yellow and purple).
  • Draw different forms in the school environment: cones in the gym, cubes in math center, and sphere used for a globe.
  • Create texture rubbings by placing paper over different surfaces and rubbing with a crayon or oil pastel. Use a rough brick wall, a smooth table, bumpy bubble wrap, or soft felt shapes.
  • Use repetition in art by looking at the designs on a shell or the stripes of a zebra for inspiration.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 3: Refine and complete artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 1 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.1.12

Interpret art by categorizing subject matter and identifying the visual qualities.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.1.12

Vocabulary

  • Complementary colors
  • Contrast
  • Curator
  • Elements of Art
    • Texture
  • Landscapes
  • Portrait
  • Positive/ negative space and shape
  • Principles of design
    • Repetition
    • Variety
  • Secondary colors
  • Still life
  • Technique
  • Venue

Essential Questions

EU: People gain insights into meanings of artworks by engaging in the process of art criticism.
EQ: What is the value of engaging in the process of art criticism? How can the viewer "read" a work of art as text? How does knowing and using visual arts vocabularies help us understand and interpret works of art?

Skills Examples

  • Identify the basic elements of art in a work of art through group discussion.
  • Discuss how people create works of art to communicate ideas and serve different purposes.
  • Investigate how a select work of art was created.
  • Identify elements of art and principles of design in their own artwork and in those of others using art vocabulary.
  • Connect the stories in works of art to the cultures they represent.
  • Compare Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa with Johannes Vermeer's The Girl with the Pearl Earring to identify different uses of the elements of art and principles of design.
  • Compare images that represent the same subject matter.
  • Connect visual stories with literary stories.
  • Share their art-making processes with peers
  • Classify/ group art work by portraits, landscapes and still life.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 2 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.2.6

Integrate art vocabulary while planning and creating art.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.2.6

Vocabulary

  • Principles of design
    • Balance
  • Brainstorming
  • Composition
  • Concepts
  • Characteristic
  • Elements of art
    • Space
    • Value
  • Expressive properties
  • Foreground
  • Middle ground
  • Neutral colors
  • Resist

Essential Questions

EU: Artists and designers develop excellence through practice and constructive critique, reflecting on, revising, and refining work over time.
EQ: What role does persistence play in revising, refining, and developing work? How do artists grow and become accomplished in art forms? How does collaboratively reflecting on a work help us experience it more completely?

Skills Examples

  • Create two-dimensional artworks such as drawing or painting by using a variety of media.
  • Use the book, The Goat in the Rug by Charles L.
    • Blood & Martin Link to learn about weaving.
  • Use clay or pipe cleaners to create small animal sculptures.
  • Work in groups to brainstorm ideas for a collaborative art project.
  • Use a book about clay, When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor to study Native Americans and their traditions.
  • Use the book A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle to explore collage techniques.
  • Create a real or imagined home using two-and-three-dimensional media.
  • Learn how to properly use and store brushes, close glue bottles and marker tops.
  • Use found objects such as leaves, rocks, paper tubes, egg cartons, etc.
    • to create artworks.
  • Use the book A Day with No Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch to explore different colors and values.
  • Create a landscape showing depth by placing the foreground, middle ground and background in their correct positions.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 3: Refine and complete artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 2 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.2.12

Interpret art by identifying the mood or feeling suggested by a work of art through subject matter and visual qualities.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.2.12

Vocabulary

  • Principles of design
    • Balance
  • Brainstorming
  • Composition
  • Concepts
  • Characteristic
  • Elements of art
    • Space
    • Value
  • Expressive properties
  • Foreground
  • Middle ground
  • Neutral colors
  • Resist

Essential Questions

EU: People gain insights into meanings of artworks by engaging in the process of art criticism.
EQ: What is the value of engaging in the process of art criticism? How can the viewer "read" a work of art as text? How does knowing and using visual arts vocabularies help us understand and interpret works of art?

Skills Examples

  • Compare lines on a seashell to lines made by fence posts.
  • Discuss how artists make choices that communicate ideas in works of art.
  • Discuss how artists use familiar symbols to express and create artwork.
  • Discuss how the artistic process can lead to "happy accidents" discovering something new.
  • Use basic self-assessment strategies to improve their artworks.
  • Discuss the difference between assessing the quality of an artwork and personal preference for the work.
  • Talk about color qualities and composition in Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist.
  • Discuss and recognize how artists use different materials and processes to create art.
  • Recognize patterns and textures that can be found in many places in and around the school and community.
  • Use statements that include artistic terminology such as, "I know the texture of the cat is soft from the pencil marks I see."

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Link to Resource
https://www.nga.gov/education/teachers/lessons-activities/elements-of-art/shape…

CR Resource Type

Lesson/Unit Plan

Resource Provider

Other

Resource Provider other

National Gallery of Art
Accessibility
License

License Type

CUSTOM

Custom License Type (URL)

https://www.nga.gov/notices/terms-of-use.html

Approved Date

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