Mondrian

The First grade artists studied the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. They learned that Mondrian wanted his artwork to be as basic as possible and that for a period of twenty years he only used the colors red, yellow, blue, white and black. The student artists also learned that Mondrian did not like the color green at all! The student artists created artwork using horizontal and vertical lines and the primary colors. They also made a "map mondrian" from a map of Indiana. They had to trace the lines of the streets to create shapes. They painted in those shapes with the primary colors. The map project reinforced Mondrian's ideas expressed in his artwork Broadway Boogie Woogie. For more about Mondrian visit the Mondrian Machine website: www.ptank.com/mondrian . Check out this great Mondrian montage set to the music of Philip Glass: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fmiKOOvLUo