Introduction
Color theory can be introduced any number of ways, but in a high school design class, creativity can be part of the experience while students learn about the organization of color and the relationships between hues, tints and shades.
- Subject: DESIGN
Topic: Color Theory
Grade Level: Grades 10-12
Student Lesson name and URL: Designing.......in the Round
Standards Addressed
Grades 9-12
The Visual and Performing
Arts
1: Artistic
Perception:
Processing, analyzing, and responding to sensory
information
through the language and skills unique to the arts
2: Creative
Expression: Creating,
performing, and participating
in the arts
3:
Historical and Cultural Context: Understanding historical
contribu-
tions and cultural dimensions of the arts
4: Aesthetic
Valuing: Responding to, analyzing, and making judgments
about works in the arts
5: Connections,
Relations, Applications: Connecting and applying
what is learned in each art form to learning in other art forms, subject
areas and careers
Instructional Objectives
Students will:
- be able to divide a circle equally into twelve (12) equal parts.
- be able to demonstrate the organization of color hues into a color wheel for making sound color coordination decisions.
- be able to define color attributes such as hue, saturation, intensity, value, tint, shade, and complement.
- be able to create a simple design which becomes complex and aesthetically pleasing when repeated in the round.
Student Activities
After teacher demonstration of the use of a compass to divide a circle into sixths, then twelfths, and a lesson in color theory using the color wheel as the method of organization, students will invent a design which fits within a 1/12 section of the entire circle. After the creation of this design, students use tracing paper and the graphite-transfer method to flip-flop it around the entire circle. When the circle is complete, students choose an appropriate place to divide their design into three (3) parts where they can exhibit the hues, tints and shades of all colors included in the color wheel. Students use tempera to paint their designs using the hues, tints and shades accompanied with their corresponding complements. When complete, students paint surrounding area black for contrast. See Images of the Medieval Era and Chartres Cathedral for examples of roundels and rose window designs in medieval cathedral architecture. See Buddhist mandalas for examples of sacred Tibetan mandala designs and Circle Limit IV to see an Islamic influenced circular design by M. C. Escher.
Introductory Activities
Students will:
- take a pretest on color
- use tempera paint to create all twelve (12) colors of the color wheel from the three primary colors (yellow, red, blue).
- experiment with white and black to create tints and shades.
- use a compass to divide a circle into twelve equal parts.
- create an original mandala using the color wheel with hues, tints, shades, and complements.
Teachers need to prepare a lecture on color theory. There are many resources available to support this end. An excellent text source which I have found to be particularly helpful is Art in Focus, by Gene Mittler, a Glencoe, McGraw-Hill publication. On the internet, you may refer to Ask Jeeves, "color theory in art" and select "color."
Teachers need to demonstrate how to create tints and shades from any hue with the use of black and white pigment.
Once students understand the convenience of the organization of color into a circle or " color wheel" and how the wheel will aid them in determining any color's complement, they are ready to begin designing their own personal color wheel which will test their understanding of color and the recognized theory surrounding color.
Teachers need to
model the lesson's primary creative task, that of creating a simple design
or arrangement of shapes which will fit within a 1/12 section of their
circle. If created on tracing paper, the design can easily be transferred
easily into each of the twelve segments of their circle, alternating or
flip-flopping the tracing paper in adjacent segments.
Culminating Activity
Students will use
the primary colors (red, yellow and blue) to create all twelve of the hues
in the color wheel, along with their corresponding tints and shades.
After determining an aesthetically pleasing place in which to divide their
personal design into thirds, students will paint their color wheels,
section by section, arranging hues in order, combining each color with
its direct complement for contrast. When painting a tint of each
color, the students will select the shade of its complementary color for
contrast; and conversely, when painting the shade of any color, they will
select a tint of the complementary color to use with that color to set
it off at its optimal level of contrast.
Assessment
The" proof of the pudding" will be in the final output of a personal color wheel created by each student. Colors need to be mixed to match some semblance of the color identified by its position on the color wheel. For example, yellow-orange would appear between the yellow and orange hues on the color wheel, and would appear more yellow than the orange next to it, and more orange than yellow which is adjacent to it. Next, an assessment would have to be made on the success or accuracy of the complementary combinations made by the student. Overall execution of the project would certainly be assessed, but as a separate grade. It is conceivable that a student could arrange and mix colors successfully, yet work might exhibit a lack of care taken in painting the colors. It's also possible for a student to execute an exquisite design with care and have colors out of order or incorrectly combined with another color.
To check what students have learned in the form of a Post-Test, click here.
Results
My
Reflections and Adaptations
My PowerPoint Evaluation
Presentation and Summary
Web
Resources & Supplementary Materials
Set of teaching posters, Images of the Medieval Era (http://www.philamuseum.org/education/distance.shtml)
Rose window at Chartres Cathedral (sterling.holycross.edu/departments/visarts/chartres/1.htm)
Buddhist Mandalas, (www.cmn.net/%7Ehafer/artgallery.html#Mandalas)
M. C. Escher's Circle Limit IV, (www.WorldofEscher.com)
Reseda
High School, Los Angeles
Unified School District
C
18230
Kittridge Street
Reseda,
CA 91335
Karen Nichols
email: tahoe4911@
earthlink.net
Last Revised:
6/23/01