Grade: 1.4Print: Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) oil, enamel and aluminum on canvas

Original size: 221 x 299.7 cm (87 x 118 in.) Artist: Jackson Pollock

Materials:

Tempera Paint30 paint brushes (bigger ‘glue’ brushes)30 disposable cups7 sheets of large white heavy duty paper (found above art docent cabinet)

Biography:

Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming in 1912, the youngest of five sons. His parents, Stella May McClure and Leroy Pollock, grew up in Tingley, Iowa. Jackson grew up in Arizona and Chico, California. While living in Echo Park, California, he enrolled at Los Angeles' Manual Arts High School, from which he was expelled, after having been expelled another high school in 1928. During his early life, he experienced Native American culture while on surveying trips with his father. In 1930, following his brother Charles Pollock, he moved to New York City where they both studied under Thomas Hart Benton at the

Art Students League of New York. Benton's rural American subject matter shaped Pollock's work only fleetingly, but his rhythmic use of paint and his fierce independence were more lasting influences.

Jackson Pollock was an American Abstract Expressionist painter. Nicknamed "Jack the Dripper", he would literally drip paint (of the most toxic variety) on his canvases in order to create his paintings. He was the first "action painter", meaning that he would drip, pour, throw and splash his paint onto very large canvases which were often laid flat on the floor of his New York studio. Many say he would literally dance, as though in a trance, as he created his masterpieces. Pollock is widely considered the most challenging and influential American artist of the 20th century.

Suggested Presentation + Questions to ask the children:

What do you see? What did you see, hear or sense that made you say that? Do you see more? What more can you find? How does this work of art make you feel? If you were the artist, how would you have made this? What

different materials and processes would you use? Does anything you see in this work of art remind you of

something else you have seen or experienced? What is this work of art about? Is there a message that goes

beyond the subject matter? What is the title of this artwork? How does the artwork relate to

the title? If you could rename the artwork, what would your new title be?

Related Art Project:

This project will need to be completed outside (perhaps in the secret garden). Prep- squirt a little bit of tempura paint into each dixie cup and water it down (about 40% paint and 60% water). Cups of paint can be carried outside in a box. The large pieces of paper can be secured on the ground with a rock in each corner.

Students will get into groups of four. Each student will get a cup of paint and brush and will be sharing one large piece of paper with their group (they should put their 4 names on the back of the paper). They can take turns being “action painters” by dripping, dancing, throwing and splattering their paint onto the paper (using their brush). They can use their paint color as a cue as to their emotion and how they should

apply the paint. Encourage the kids to ‘not’ touch their brush to the paper. Kids can swap colors with a friend if they would like after they take their turn so that they get to experience different emotions while painting.

When the paintings are finished and dry they can be hung outside the classroom. When it is time to take the artwork home, each sheet can be cut into quarters so each student can take a portion of their Pollock painting home.

Additional resources:

Quick overview of Pollack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE_76kYvJQg

http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78386

Paint your own Pollock Ipad app:

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

Watch Jackson Pollack Paint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bICqvmKL5s

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/249

Listen to audio about Pollock’s style:

http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/1/12

Jackson Pollock documentary – too long for class but great reference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G5hQWPP74s&feature=related

Action Jackson by Jan Greenberghttp://www.amazon.com/Action-Jackson-Single-Titles-Greenberg/dp/0761316825

Vocabulary: abstract expressionism, drip painting, enamel paint, action painting