For

Middle Years Students

Curriculum

Visual Arts – Creating and Making

Think About

"I think of my pictures as dramas; the shapes in the pictures are the performers. They have been created from the need for a group of actors who are able to move dramatically without embarrassment and execute gestures without shame."

Mark Rothko tried to express human emotion and spiritual experience with broad areas of intense, sometimes clashing colour, which appear to hover on the surface of the canvas.

Aim

To research Mark Rothko and complete a practical activity.

Preparation

To do this activity you will need to:

• Use at least three different sheets of A4 watercolour paper. Soak and stain using pigment, sponges and watercolour brushes. Try to use a different palette of colours for each piece of paper. Cover as much of each page as you need. Use white areas to help make your compositions more varied or dramatic.
• Collect a range of coloured tissue paper.
• Tear, cut and overlay different coloured tissue over some areas within your watercolour. Use tissue to intensify or mute the colour.

Possible materials:

• (A4) Watercolour paper.
• Different coloured inks.
• Sponges and paper towelling to 'paint' with the inks\watercolour brushes.

Individual Task

Discuss and explain the different moods and feelings that are conveyed with each of the different compositions.

Research Questions

Read more about the way Rothko uses shape and colour to communicate emotion.

Group Task

Discuss your response to this work with others.

Discussion Questions

Chris McAuliffe, director of Ian Potter Museum of Art said Rothko's work:

"probably embodies what a lot of people think abstract art is about-kind of ethereal, lyrical, abstract and luscious".

Describe the characteristics of Rothko's composition, particularly his divisions of colours on the canvas.