Students receive an introduction to color theory and kinetic art in this class that teaches primary, secondary, and tertiary colors; cool, warm, and neutral colors; complementary colors; shades and tints; the organization of the color wheel; the physics of color; and what it means for art to be “kinetic”.
Along the way, we discuss that although atmospheric distortion can make sunlight appear blue, yellow, orange, and sometimes red; the “full spectrum” of the sun is white light. We observe a prism (affiliate link – this one comes in a a set of two with monofilament to hang, which are nestled in a gorgeous silk-lined box) breaking up the sunlight into each color in the visible spectrum.
The lesson culminates in making a “spinning color wheel” that the students color and assemble; made out of paper, cardboard, and yarn. A standard 6-color color wheel becomes kinetic art and a lesson in physics! Laced with four loops of yarn, I demonstrate to the students that winding up the wheel to create tension on the yarn, then gently pulling the loops in opposite directions cause the wheel to spin, and blend back into white light!
“In nature, light creates the color. In the picture, color creates the light.”
– Hans Hofmann
MEET ROY G. BIV
The lesson packet begins with introducing ROY G. BIV: ROY G. BIV is a helpful acrostic (an acrostic is a mnemonic device that uses the first letter or word of each line to spell out a related word or phrase) that helps you remember the names and order of the colors of the rainbow, or the visible light spectrum:
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- Red
- Orange
- Yellow
- Green
- Blue
- Indigo
- Violet
The order of the colors is determined by color wavelengths. Infrared and ultraviolet colors exist outside of the visible light spectrum.
PRIMARY, SECONDARY, TERTIARY COLORS
Also in the lesson are definitions, examples, and exercises that teach these color categories.
Primary colors are the foundation for creating other colors. They cannot be created by mixing other colors together. Primary colors include red, yellow, and blue.
Secondary colors are made by mixing two primary colors together. They are orange (red + yellow), green (yellow + blue), and violet (blue + red).
Each secondary color is located in the space between their primary color ingredients. Orange is in between red and yellow; green is in between yellow and blue; and violet is in between blue and red. The 3 primary colors and 3 secondary colors make up the 6-color color wheel.
DE STIJL
The art history I incorporate in this lesson is De Stijl. De Stijl was a Dutch art movement founded in the Netherlands in 1917. Its main visual characteristic is compositions made of vertical and horizontal lines, and primary colors, black, white and grey.
We look at Piet Mondrian’s Composition A; Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow; The Rietveld Shröder House in Utrecht; and Gerrit Rietveld’s Red and Blue Chair.
WHAT IS KINETIC ART?
The definition of kinetic art is: art (such as sculpture) having mechanical parts which can be set in motion. In other words, art/sculpture that can move. This class is presented as the first in a series of five kinetic sculpture classes. Students are free to sign up for as many or few classes as they would like, though the classes do build on knowledge learned along the way.
I like to also mention that the word “kinetic” might sound familiar to some because of the popular children’s toy/sensory medium kinetic sand, and why the term is used to describe sand with that special property.
At class, I display QR codes linking to examples of kinetic art by famous kinetic sculptors so that the students can watch videos of the sculptures in motion at their convenience, notably Arthur Ganson.
I also display books related to class, such as Mixed: A Colorful Story and Different Like Me: My Book of Autism Heroes, bookmarked to Piet Mondrian.
Spinning Color Wheel Class Spotify Playlist
I love incorporating music into my classes! Sometimes the playlist is only for me, and I listen to the playlist by myself, while I’m lesson planning and writing and designing the class materials. Sometimes I bring a speaker and the whole class listens!
I played (most of) this playlist for the whole class to enjoy.