ARTY PANTS (Episode 2) - Color and Emotion (featuring paintings by Mark Rothko)

Emotional awareness through the exploration of color in art. "When I look at this picture I feel like a green tornado. I feel strong".

• Watch this video with your students.

• General Vocabulary - Help students to recognize the word "emotion" and to understand its definition. Emotions are "feelings you feel in your heart": happy, sad, excitement, fear, anger, love. You may want to stress the difference between "emotions" and physical sensations such as feeling hot, cold, itchy, etc. "Emotions" are different from physical feelings and physical sensations.

• Aesthetic Observation - Prompt students to identify colors. Request specific observations that recognize the subtle differences of color. Some colors are easy to identify and define, but other colors are much more difficult to discern and are defined by a matter of personal perception. Which colors do most students identify in agreement? Which colors are perceived and identified differently? Recognize when students agree, but also accept differences in perceptual opinions. Engage students in discussing perceptual differences.

• Emotional Awareness - When identifying colors, ask students to associate various colors with emotions. Allow their answers to be personal and intuitive. Red doesn't necessarily need to inspire anger and blue doesn't need to always inspire sadness. Observe colors within artworks (famous artworks or self-created). Observe colors in various artworks and share personal emotional responses inspired by those artworks.

• Assignment - Ask your artists to paint or draw a picture with a limited amount of colors. Allow your artists to draw or paint any object or subject of their choice. They may choose to draw a house, a bear, a spaceship, anything at all! Each artist must only use three different colors to create their artwork. ONLY THREE COLORS ALLOWED! As students create their artworks, recognize and comment on how they are using the colors in unique ways. Because there is a color restriction, you might comment on how someone may have painted a green sun within a purple sky, or a pink tree growing out of an orange lawn. When artists have completed their drawings or paintings, ask them to trade and exchange their finished artworks with each other. Then ask everyone to write one paragraph about how the other artist's artwork makes him or her feel.

About the art work in this video:
All paintings on display in this video are by artist Mark Rothko. When displayed, the entire composition of each panting is seen on the right-hand side of the screen. On the left hand-side, you will see a cropped close-up of the same painting.

ARTY PANTS - Jackson Pollock Jumpsuit: http://youtu.be/gzWxdJCEFHU

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  Education