SchoolArts - November 2006

Elementary Studio Lesson

DIEBENKORN

in Denton

Denise Clyne-Ruch

At first, I
only tip-
toed around
the edge of
teaching contemporary art,
introducing my students to
Dine, Warhol, and Thiebaud.
It wasn’t until the University
of North Texas sent student-
teacher David West to my
classroom that I even considered
teaching fourth graders about the
art of Richard Diebenkorn and his
Ocean Park series.

the students what the lines and the shapes in the series might represent. We then reinforced their previous knowledge of abstraction and defined abstraction as the simplification of an image. One way David demonstrated simplification was to draw an easily recognizable object, such as a car, on the board. Then, one part at time, he erased the details until the object was barely recognizable.

Assessment

We assessed on four criteria:

Did the student simplify the view?

Did the student participate constructively in discussion?

Is creativity evident in the painting?

Is artistry evident in the painting?

Creating Abstraction

Using the digital photographs as inspiration, we demonstrated how to simplify the views of the community the same way Diebenkorn simplified his views of Ocean Park. We discussed whether their

paintings should

Students created abstract be vertically or
paintings of their hometown ^{horizontally ori-}influenced by Diebenkorn’s ^{ented based on the}_{orientation of the}Ocean Park series. _{inspiration photo-}graph.

During the second session, students completed their drawings and began painting their abstractions using tempera paint. When David finished his student-teaching with me, I took over. I provided students with large, flat brushes to create a smooth surface, and smaller, round, camelhair brushes that allowed them to paint smaller spaces. During the third session, students outlined some of their shapes with a narrow paintbrush and black paint.

Preparation
The first step to this introduction
began a week or so before the start
of the lesson. David took many
interesting digital photographs of
the community
that surrounds
our school. He
took photo-
graphs from a
high vantage
point, giving
several of his photos a bird’s-eye
view. He took photographs looking
out of windows in order to include
buildings our students recognized.
I made copies of the photographs.

The use of multiple brushes made students feel like real artists. The subject matter was comfortable for them and led to discussions about their connection with the locations in the photographs. Learning about their hometown gave students a sense of civic pride and led them to see how their town was unique, a concept which is especially important in this age of strip malls and fast-food restaurants. Will Diebenkorn be visiting your hometown next?

Artwork: Student art, grade four.

Denise Clyne-Ruch is the art specialist at Borman Elementary School in Denton, Texas, and David West is now the art specialist at Lee Elementary School, also in Denton.

Introducing Diebenkorn
Our next step was to familiar-
ize our fourth grade students to
the Ocean Park series by Richard
Diebenkorn. David put a reproduc-
tion from the series on the board
for our students to view. He asked