Picasso Preschooler: Wednesday, February 27th JACKSON POLLOCK

Jackson Pollock is always a class favorite, and why wouldn't he be? He is all about everything children love, so today we turned on some Coltrane and let the paint fly.

We kicked off Jackson Pollock day by watching the master as he created. It is rare to be able to let the children see the artist we are learning about create, but thanks to modern technology, today they were able to watch this master at work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrVE-WQBcYQ

After we watched him paint I shared some of his work with the children. They had a lot to say about what they saw.

Greyed Rainbow

C: "This is sad."

D: "This is mad. The black and white are mad and they are fighting."

S: "This is happy. All the white and grey and black, they are all tangled up and happy."

Blue Poles

C: "Sad. It's a sad picture."

D: "I think Jackson Pollock was happy. This is a happy picture."

S: He was happy. The blue poles are dancing and that means he was happy!"

I love the way children come at art, without pretense or positioning, rather they come at it with their emotions from their guts, the way any artist would want people to respond to their work.

After looking at and talking about Jackson Pollock's art we watched this wonderful video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG2tV-X5NiQ

Then it was time to go outside and sling some paint.

I unrolled a large piece of white butcher paper for the children to paint on then let them loose to create as they would.

Here's our Jackson Pollock style painting. They really had a blast with it.

After we painted our giant "canvas" we went inside and visited this incredible website, I let each child make their own Jackson Pollock on the site, printed them out, asked the children to name their work and recorded what they had to say about art.

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

After all this creative learning it was time for lunch

Beef and cheese quesadillas, refried beans with cheese, taco salad, watermelon and milk to drink

After nap and snack we created a small Jackson Pollock painting to send home.

I recorded their thoughts about their art, Jackson Pollock, and the day, typed them up and put this together for them to take home.

That night, after the children went home, I went to Hobby Lobby to buy some supplies. While there I found large canvases for $2 which I bought for the children to paint in the style of Jackson Pollock the following day.