Pieter Cornelis Mondrian, better know as Piet Mondrian, was a Dutch modern abstract painter. He played a major role in the
De Stijl / Neoplasticism art movement which focused on the
Elements of Art in their most basic form: primary
colors (plus black and white), primitive
shapes, straight
lines, etc.
Because of the way Mondrian refined the Elements of Art to their most basic form, studying his work and creating pieces in his style are wonderful ways to introduce or review the Elements of Art. Additionally, the preciseness of his work makes this a great fine-motor exercise. Although this project is nice any time of year, March is an excellent month to do this, as Mondrian was born March 7th, 1872.
The kids are already very familiar with the Elements of Art, so we had fun really discussing how Mondrian used the elements in his work. We talked about his "back to basics" approach to using the elements in very simple ways.
Next, we set out to make our own Mondrian-style grids. The class very carefully drew grid lines and then filled each shape with primary colors (plus black and white).
After allowing the paint to dry, the class pasted segments of black yarn over their grid lines. Although Mondrian did not use multimedia in his paintings, we added the yarn to give our art pieces a more polished feel. The width of the yarn makes up for small imperfections in the application of paint.
I was impressed with the care each student put into this, especially considering the group ranges in age from 2nd to 5th grade.
Each piece turned out to be quite unique, but all of them are striking.
In the end, the class had an in-depth review of the elements of art, met a new famous artist, and produced stunning works of art.
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Mondrian-Style Grids
