Neo-Rationalist Theory and Poetry
Exploration: Students will explore the Neo-Rationalist Theory
Objective: Students will be able to understand the concepts of the Neo-Rationalist Theory and how it applies to writing.
State Standard: Grade: 2 Fine Arts
Standard: 2 Objective 1- Identify significant works of art that have the appearance of depth. Grade: 2 Language Arts
Standard: 8 Objective 1- Prepare to write by gathering and organizing information and ideas.
Question of Inquiry: How can you apply the Neo-Rationalist Theory to your own art, by taking concepts or ideas from other artists and using these aspects in your own creativity.
Arts Discussed: Alexandra Nechita, Picasso, Jackson Pollack
Other Subject Connections: Language Arts: poetry
Teacher Visuals/ Supplies: PowerPoint on Neo Rationalist Theory, Tempur paint, Paper, Paintbrushes
Preparation: Prepare paint and brushes for students to recreate their own Jackson Pollack
Student Materials:
• Tempur Paint
• 8x11 paper
• Brushes
• “Art smock”—Jackson Pollack recreations are messy :)
Lesson Sequence:
1. Discuss the idea of Neo-Rationalism in simpler terms: we adopt ideas from other artists and recreate them in our own way.
2. Discuss Alexandra Nechita and how she is named the “Petit Picasso.” Discuss how she adopted Picasso’s techniques in cubism and invented her own way of art.
3. Ask students if they think this theory of creating their own work by adopting others’ ideas is good or bad. Discuss that some theories are neither good or bad. Discuss the way in which we adopt others ideas in other ways other than art: hairstyles, fashion, recipes, interior design, literature, movies.
4. Discuss that imitating, assimilating then innovating is a way we learn
5. Discuss how we can find our own inspiration through many different mediums.
6. If you wanted to tie in Neo-Rationalism to other cores, you could talk about poetry. You could read a Shel Silverstein or Dr. Suess poem and then have the students recreate their own poem using the same style/format that Silverstein or Dr. Suess uses.
Assessment:
• Discuss Jackson Pollack’s technique of creating his art
• Have students recreate their own Jackson Pollack artwork, but emphasize that they can choose to use any colors of their choice, just adopt the technique of applying the paint to the paper.
Resources: http://www.sojournmusic.com/2008/07/22/imitate-assimilate-then-inno... Teaching Creativity: http://www.goshen.edu/~marvinpb/arted/tc.html Alexandra Nechita and the Petit Picasso: http://www.lewisbond.com/nechita/about_nechita.html Video on Alexandra Nechita: http://www.cnn.com/exchange/blogs/ypwr/2007/11/alexandra-nechita_26...
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Reply by Nancy
This was such a fun lesson and project. I think another thing that would be really fun is to take your class outside and make a giant painting all together although it would probably be messy. We could also use this lesson and let the kids pick from a variety of different artists and choose their favorite one and try to create something like them.
Reply by Tiffany Baum
I really loved this lesson, during that class I was having a bad day, so coming to class and getting to flick paint was a great stress reliever. One thing that I would do differently is that I would ask the school if I could take part of the cement outside in front of the school and block it off. I would put up plastic all around it, than I would have the students create their own "Pollack" design out in front of the school so that way the students could keep it there forever. (Or until it gets ripped up.)
Reply by Brooke Stevenson
To adapt this to my own classroom, I would ask students to imitate other artists such as Piet Mondrian. I would have a list of options of different artists to imitate. The students would be able to choose which artist's technique to use in creating their own art. It would also be interesting to try combining two different artists' styles. For example, a student could paint an Andy Warhol can of soup in the cubist or impressionist style.
Reply by Karyn Alvey
I really liked your lesson. I thought it was great! Great job. :) I liked our discussion about Alexandra Nechita. I'm amazed at how young she was when she started painting. I also like how she wants to be known not as the Petit Picasso but as herself. She doesn't want to be connected with Picasso, despite of how famous he is. One of my favorite things about this theory is that it teaches that it is ok to be inspired by something and then add to it and create your own. I don't feel like I'm super creative, so I often rely on getting inspiration from others' works, so I liked this theory:) I really liked the activity. It was a lot of fun and very applicable. Another idea you could implement is to have the students bring in a copy of their favorite painting or picture. Then, have take an element or aspect in the artwork they brought and have them apply it in their own artwork. Great Job!!
Reply by Kim Brown
I would love to have my students imitate multiple artists at one time, drawing inspiration for different aspects of artwork. Perhaps use Leonardo de Vinci's Mona Lisa as the subject, Van Gogh's style or form, but make it out of sculpting clay. Or, to tie it into more curriculum, you could have them use the style of one artist and the mood or tone from a certain piece of literature we have studied to create an artwork about a historical event of figure. That would really cause the students to stretch, but I think they could also really succeed. Actually, this suggestion reminds me of an art work that is in the MOA right now in the Visions of the Southwest exhibit. There is an artist there who was inspired by Van Gogh, and paints in a similar style, but painted the southwest. It is amazing.
Reply by Brielle Romney
i really liked your lesson! since kids are more prone to copy what is put in front of them as opposed to adults, i think it may be a little difficult to get this point across. a way I might try to get students to realize the difference between imitation and their own ideas is to, one week, tell them to draw a certain figure. then the next week (so they can possibly forget about what they had drawn the week before) show pictures of the figure they drew, and then ask them to draw that figure again. then compare both of the pictures they drew. see if kids changed their pictures at all or not, and have a discussion about why they did or didn't. was it because they were trying to imitate the pictures they had already seen? be sure to use the same wording when talking about the figure to draw both times!
Reply by Amanda Morgan
Children are prone to copy other artists when they are younger! It will be hard for them to create their own artwork without having a copy to look at first. I would pick random artists that I have learned about or heard about and have the kids copy their work. I want them to have their own imagination and to come up with their own ideas but to start them off I would show them a piece of artwork from Picasso that I really like and I would have them imitate his work. The next couple times of doing this I would give them different ideas to draw. I don't want to get them stuck on only imitating someone else's work! It would be fun to do an activity where we made something like the pizza thing we ate in class! I know the kids would remember doing that and why we did it!
Reply by Natalee Biggs
Great work girls! This is an interesting theory. I would use this theory to lead a discussion with my students to teach them that it is okay to take inspiration from other people. Its good for us to share ideas with each other and try things that others have done. I would discuss the difference between being inspired by others ideas and techniques and just copying their work. I would show the class artists like Alexandra Nechita and discuss how her technique is very similar to Picasso's but she has made it her own. Hopefully through showing many different kinds of examples each student could find something that they like and connect with that they could try and imitate. After imitating for a little bit, we would move on to trying to take elements of the artists they have chosen and create pieces that have a personalized twist to them.
Reply by Brittany Crowder
I thought this lesson was very interesting and and liked learning about the "Petit Picasso". When using this lesson in my own classroom I would for sure use her as an example and compare her to the regular Picasso. I would then use this theory to do an art project. Something fun would be to have the children bring in a favorite painting, picture, sculpture, or anything, and have them do an art project based on what they like from what they brought in.
Reply by Brett Baldry
To adapt your lesson into my classroom I would collect a very wide variety of paintings. I would have all sorts of different types to try and find a painting that each student will have the opportunity to relate to. I would then have them pick their favorite painting and try to imitate it. I think it is awesome that you brough Alexandra Nechita into this lesson because I think it is a great way to show children that they can create art at a young age.
Reply by Ellen Funch
I really love the principle behind this theory that new artwork and creativity often comes through immitating, then assimilating, and THEN innovating! I would have to agree with everyone else's posts. If i were to teach this theory in my classroom, I would have them immitate a drawing but I would love it if they could think about it in their head before. For example, most kids have at least seen the Mona Lisa, but not all of them know exactly what it looks like off the top of their heads. It would be interesting to have the kids immitate a drawing of the Mona Lisa from memory first and then later have them do it again with a copy of the painting in front of them and compare the results. I do not really know what we would teach from that but maybe something science related about our visual memories and how we look at things and what we remember? I was also thinking it would be cool to apply the principle of this theory (immitate, assimilate, innovate) into more ciriculum. We could use what we are studying in history and look at what societies or peoples in history used this approach. For example, the foundation of our country being taken from the principles that ancient Greece and Rome were built upon. It would be a cool project to have a class notice these similarities and maybe draw a picture of life in Greece and life now and accentuate the similarities. Great lesson girls!
Reply by Rachael Haught
After studying various artists and styles I would have the students decide which one they like the best. After choosing their top two I would want them to combine them and make it their very own. Perhaps some students will like Monet and the meaning behind the impressionist movement. But perhaps they do like Jackson Polluck's style; by combing these two movements the students can come up with something very unique and something they can claim as their own!
Reply by Mandy Turner
I think this would be a great lesson for teaching students the difference between plagiarism and adoption of ideas. A class discussion could include comparing novels to their movie version. After introduction of various artists, each student can pick their favorite and adopt some aspect of their artwork to implement in their own work. I like the idea of connecting poetry with it so that kids can have a better idea of how to write poetry they enjoy instead of just being assigned a topic or structure.
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