Action Painting

Painting in the style of Jackson Pollock
Age 3-5 

After learning about Jackson Pollock and action painting, students will use movement to create art. students will work on color recognition and color mixing to create their own palettes to use for action painting. They will then paint by dripping paint onto a canvas from high above, Students will repeat the process with colored scarves to improve tactile learning. 

Artist Resources: 
​Jackson Pollock 

Student Group

• Age 2.5-5

Objectives

• Children will be on their feet and moving while creating art
• Children will drip paint from far above their paper
• Children will choose and mix colors and discuss what new colors they create

Developmental skills 

• Children will exercise independence and decision making skills
• Children will practice color recognition and color mixing
• Children will improve motor control and learn to predict how paint falls from a distance by working from above

Developmental Rationale

• movement can be an effective cognitive strategy to (1) strengthen learning, (2) improve memory and retrieval, and (3) enhance learner motivation and morale (Erik Jenson, Teaching with the Brain in Mind, 2005)  
• Children in the scribble stage (age 1-3)  create marks for the joy of the process. They are not yet attempting to communicate ideas through art. This is an appropriate time to experiment with process and not emphasize product
• ​Children in the pre-schematic and schematic stages (age 3-6) create their own symbols for things in their lives. (ex a line may represent their dad.) Ask children in these stages to describe what is going on in their abstract paintings. They may not be abstract to them.

Materials 

• Tempera paint
• 11x14+ unstretched, unprimed canvas OR paper
• Spoons or brushes
• Drop cloth/table cloth
• Small cups or containers
• Paint palettes
• Metal trays (optional - paper can be put inside trays to prevent mess as paint splashes or runs)
• Music: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie
• colored scarves 

Instructional Strategies
Discussion 

• Show images of Action Paintings by Jackson Pollock 
• Discuss how the painting are from a period called Abstract Expressionism.
• Abstract art doesn’t show real things, like a place or a person.  
• Abstract paintings are about using art to express emotion, or feelings. Ask kids to name emotions, and ask what emotions they think the painting is expressing. **note: there is no right answer. Whatever they see is valid**

• Discuss how the kind of painting Pollock created is called action painting. It involves a lot of movement. Pollock dripped paint on a canvas on the floor as he moved all around it. **Note: He dripped, not splattered. Discourage splattering**
• Talk about the music students will listen to that day and how it is the type of music pollock listened to when he made the paintings they’re looking at

Guided Practice 

​Action Painting Activity 

• **determine quantities of containers and paints based on class size and behavior**
• Children will create a palette of colors to use for their action painting. Give each child small containers and a palette with colors that they choose. Ask them to identify what colors they have   
• Children will use spoons to transfer paint colors from their palettes to their containers and mix them to create new colors. Ask children to identify what new colors they have.
• Have the children name the colors and ask why they chose the name **this encourages children to relate color to objects in the world around them**  
• Talk about how thick/thin the paint is. Will this drip off the spoon easily? Add water if necessary.

• **Instructor’s choice: work on the floor or the table. Put paper inside trays to catch splashes/paint runoff**
• Set up a drop cloth on the floor/table. Put out paper.
• Ask children about the discussion of Action painting. Why are we standing up? Why are we working on the floor?  (if at tables) Why are there no chairs today?
• Children will use the containers of colors they created. They will dip a spoon/brush into the container, hold the spoon above the paper and drip the paint onto the paper. Tell them the one rule is they can’t touch the paper with the brush/spoon
• Encourage children to move around their paper, to dance to the music while they paint
• Talk to children about what they are expressing in their paintings? What feeling do they think their painting looks like?

​Tactile Learning Activity 

• Children will use rainbow scarves to create another action painting. On a table or the floor, put out a bucket of scarves. Designate a table or section of floor as their “canvas,” or the space where they will “paint” with scarves
• Ask children to talk about how these are a different texture than the paint they just used. Do they fall faster or slower? Do they splat? Do their colors mix when they touch each other? Is this still a painting?
• As a group, encourage children to move around, to drop scarves from different heights and see how they land. ​