This Piet Mondrian abstract art for kids is a simple art project and lesson suitable for many ages.
Piet Mondrian was a talented and versatile artist, known primarily for his clean, geometric works such as “Trafalgar Square” and “Broadway Boogie Woogie”. His art is a fun one to introduce to children because the style he focused on as his life progressed was very different from many other artists and is fun to create and look at.
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When teaching this art lesson to your child or a group of children, it is best to give them a little background information about Mondrian himself and I will give you some brief historical information to make it easier for you, so you have everything you need here in one place. You can decide to add anything else to it if you like. After that, all you need are the supplies and you have an art lesson planned.
Start your art lesson with information about Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian was born in 1872 and died in 1944. He was Dutch and born into an aristocratic family, eventually escaping World War II and arriving in New York City around 1940. Mondrian studied art while in Amsterdam. His early works were typical of his time and were in the impressionist style, similar to Monet.
He showed talent early on, but at this stage the more developed style that would make him famous had yet to emerge.
Cubsim
Cubism also had a great influence on him after seeing an exhibition featuring Braque and Picasso around 1910, and then in 1912 he moved to Paris to further hone his painting style and focus on making the colors in his paintings as pure as possible.
He wanted to convey simple purity and this is when he started to change, not trying to do what other artists were doing but wanting to do it in his own way.
After moving to New York, he fell in love with the big city, its skyscrapers and the pace of life. He produced many works and was very productive. He coined the term “Neoplasticism” for his work and in his later years his paintings used mostly primary colors along with black and white and reflected the streets and patterns of the city.
Many consider Mondrian to be the first abstract artist.
To create a Mondrian piece, for each student you will need:
- Small canvas or canvas board ranging in size from 8” x 8” to 11” x 14”
- black tape (I’ve used both thin and thick and I prefer the thin one, but either will do.)
- acrylic paint in base colors, plus any colors you want added to those colors
- pencil, ruler and eraser
- 1 inch paintbrush and a thin one
- palette or paper plate, water cup and paper napkin
- disposable tablecloth
Piet Mondrian Abstract Art Step by Step Guide for Kids
Art Lesson
Tips
Explain that the children will be making a series of squares and rectangles on the canvas, lightly tracing with the pencil. However, if they make too many squares and rectangles, it will mean that it will take longer to draw.
Many people get caught up in the process of having fun using a ruler. They don’t think about the time factor and how they still have to color it all in.
For my classes, we end up breaking this lesson into two parts. This way, the paint has time to dry before we apply the tape. This part will depend on how much time you have to work with. The tape part doesn’t take too long, but it won’t stick if the paint is wet.
Use a ruler to create a square (or draw by hand for older children)
Ask them to use a ruler to create squares. Ask them to leave at least one or two squares larger than the rest. This helps break up the design and keeps it from looking more like a checkerboard.
Before you start drawing, ask your child to hold up the canvas and look at it to make sure he or she likes the layout he or she has chosen.
Paint
Let them choose about 3 colors. An odd number looks better, and many people will stick to the primary colors, but some will want to use more. Too many colors will lose the Mondrian feel.
Ask them to color the main large squares first, choosing the color they want to be the main square. If they start with the smaller squares, it will be harder to find the focal square. They may not like the results.
I tell them to paint all the same color first, choosing 3 to 5 squares of the same color at a time. For example, if red is their dominant color, they would paint the largest square red, then choose a few other random squares to paint red before moving on to the next color.
You can first use a small brush to outline the square, which makes it easier to keep the lines inside the area, then switch to a larger brush to fill in.
Now, the child just needs to choose the square to fill in and color it.
One important thing to make sure they know before going too far is to leave some white in the middle. It doesn’t have to be much, but the white is what makes this painting really pop and is reminiscent of the Mondrian style.
Another important thing is to make sure you apply a second coat of paint over the paint. He stressed the importance of pure, solid pigments in his paintings and that if you only apply one coat over most of these colors, the painting will become transparent and look faded and unfinished.
I recommend that they let the paint soak in and almost dry before applying the next coat, so they can see where they really need more coverage.
Let the paint dry.
Once the paint has been applied and cured, they need to let it dry.
Add black tape
The final step is to add black tape in the middle. This is much more effective than trying to fill in the lines or draw them, which looks messy.
The tape is what gives the product a clean, finished look and this is where everything comes together beautifully.
If you have a lot of kids, have them share the tape and pass it around, taking turns. If you have them cut long pieces of tape and try to cut and fit them, you will waste a lot of tape and in one class I taught, we had some kids waste tape and some kids ran out because of it.
It seemed like it would be quicker to have them do this, but it wasn’t worth it. I had them stretch a piece of tape across the canvas where they wanted it and cut it. Then I passed the tape to the next person and smoothed it out while they waited for it to come back to them.
Make sure that if the canvas is a standard pattern and not a board, stretch the tape around the outside edges and then fold it around the back.
This makes a big difference in the finished product.
It was fun to put it all together and take pictures. Each person’s creation was different but still cohesive.
This is a great illustration of how everyone has their own creative and interesting way of doing things.
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Categories: Activities for Kids
Source: fetb.edu.vn