Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)

Facts:

• Born in Moscow in 1866.• Was a musician from an early age-playing

piano and cello. This was a huge influence in his style of painting

• Became a law professor after studies at the University of Moscow in 1886.

• At age 30 he moved to Munich Germany to study art.

Facts:

• Was a participant in the Bauhaus art movement-influenced by modern influences and industrial age. Very prominent in architectural design in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s.

• In 1933, Kandinsky left Germany and settled near Paris. He continued to work until his death in 1944.

The influence of music in his paintings cannot be overstated, down to the names of his paintings "Improvisations", "Impressions", and "Compositions."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKiinKdH0rU&feature=fvst

I applied streaks and

blobs of colors onto the

canvas with a palette knife and I made

them sing with all the

intensity I could...

How does his composition and use of shape and colors represent music?

How does his work resemble architectural styles of the same art movement?

Look at how he

arranges the

shapes

Vocabulary• Abstract- • Non realistic representation of a subject

• Stylized- • the simplification form and details to create a more abstract depiction of the

subject

• Geometric shape- • 2D area enclosed by a line that can be proven mathematically

• Organic shapes- • 2D area enclosed by a line that cannot be proven mathematically

• Composition- • How the elements are arranged in unison with the principles of design, in a work

of art

• Line, shape, color• Unity, balance, variety

Project: You are going to transform a 2D Kandinsky styleshape into a 3D ceramic vessel.

Hand building techniques

• Slab- rolling out clay in a flat, even “sheet” of clay and letting it become rigid before you construct the form by connecting pieces

Coil construction• Rolling out strips of clay and stacking the clay

before smoothing out the surface.

Pinch technique• Roll the claybody into a ball, insert thumb into

top and rotate around form- pinching the sides to create the vessel.

Vocabulary• Bisque ware - a greenware piece of pottery that has

been fired 1 time at a high temperature and is porous and unglazed.

• Green ware- Bone dry state of clay when all the moisture is evaporated out of the clay before firing. (MOST FRAGILE STATE!!!!!!!!!)

• Leather Hard- moist but no longer pliable clay body.

• Score- to make shallow cuts into the surface of the clay before painting with slip and joining to another piece of clay.

Vocabulary

• Slip- creamy mixture of clay and water used to fasten two pieces of clay after both pieces have been scored.

• Glaze- coating of finely ground minerals that are fired to form a glassy coating on finished ceramics.

• Vitrification-Fired clay that has fused together completely, so that the pores between refractory particles are filled with glass and the body is impervious to water.

Vocabulary

• Slaking-The process of returning dry unfired clay to a slip by soaking in water.

• plasticity -how flexible moist clay is.

• Burnishing-Method of achieving a shine by rubbing clay or slip with smooth hard object.

• Earthenware-Low-fired ware, usually still porous after firing—must be sealed with vitreous glaze to be functional.

Kandinsky Vessels

Objective: Transform abstract Kandinsky style shapes into a 3D ceramic vessel.

Students learned about the painter Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky used a mixture of organic and geometric shapes to depict music. His use of extreme color also lends itself to the mood depicted by the music. The influence of music in his paintings cannot be overstated, down to the names of his paintings "Improvisations", "Impressions", and "Compositions.“ Students draw a series of these shapes while observing his work, and then transformed these drawings by using a slab hand-building technique to create the ceramic vessel.

Resources• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKiinKdH0rU&feature=fvst• http://images.search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A2KJkPyul6ZQ3TcAsqqjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBtdXBkbHJyBHNlYwNm

cC1hdHRyaWIEc2xrA3J1cmw-/SIG=12pv0qdn3/EXP=1353123886/**http%3a//aninesmacadamnews.blogspot.com/2010/12/un-dia-como-hoy_13.html

• http://images.search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A2KJkPyul6ZQ3TcAt6qjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBtdXBkbHJyBHNlYwNmcC1hdHRyaWIEc2xrA3J1cmw-/SIG=1339laev4/EXP=1353123886/**http%3a//abstract-art.com/abstraction/l2_Grnfthrs_fldr/g029b_kandinsky_tr_ln.html

• http://pottery.about.com/od/handbuildingtechniques/tp/basicover.htm• http://www.claystation.com/technical/techniques/handbuilding.html