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A Lesson in Line and The Art Critic Game

© Colleen Madonna Flood Williams

To teach your students about line, follow the steps listed below. Not only will you all learn about line, you'll have a great time, as well.

1. Draw the five basic line types on the board; vertical, diagonal, curvy, zigzag, and horizontal. Identify and discuss the line types. 2. Have students find these types of lines in the environment around them. 3. Look at an appropriate abstract art image. The image should have all of the line types in it and be an abstract work. Try to obtain a print of Kandinsky's Improvisation 28. This piece works well for line discussions. Discuss it. Use the aesthetic-scanning guide provided at the end of this unit to guide your discussion. Explain the term abstract to students. 4. Pass out primary color crayons and paper to students. Ask them to draw and color an abstract drawing, using only the primary colors. Allow ten to twenty minutes for activity. 5. Have students think, pair, and share with a neighbor their thoughts on each other's artworks. Ask students to say what they think their neighbor did correctly, add what could be done better, and then give their neighbor's work a compliment. 6. Place artworks on desks. Prepare to play Art Critic. 7. Play this game! Art Critic Game The Art Critic game is simple and fun! Here is what you will need to prepare in advance:

Laminated (if possible) tag board hearts, dollars, and houses. There should be one of each of these for each of your students. When you hand them out, pass out small stickers that students can write their names on and then, place on their symbols. (This allows you to reuse the symbols next year.)

Tell your students that they are going to become Art Critics today. Explain what Art Critics do and what kinds of places hire Art Critics to work. Tell your students that this is just one of the many jobs held by people involved in the Arts.

Students take their symbols and make two passes around the room. First, they just look at each other's works. On the second pass, they need to choose which piece they love, which piece they think would fetch the highest price, and which piece would match their home interior the best. They must choose three separate artworks for this exercise.

After the students have placed all of their symbols on the artworks around the room, allow each student to explain briefly why he/she chose the three pieces that he/she chose.

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