Bold Lines

Kindergarten classes will be exploring line in their individual works and also in the cooperative group experiences of combining all their lines. I think I first saw a version of this lesson on Artsonia (see here). Then I saw how Rachel S. implemented the lesson using red for her students' bold line and knew we had to give it a try. (See Rachel's blog here.)The work is inspired by the work of Sol Lewitt. You can see a brief time-lapsed video of his work here. There are more videos and sample wall art if you Google Lewitt.

Students will begin by drawing a continuous line (that does not cross itself), beginning on one side of the board and ending on another side. They will then draw another line following the first, thus, creating a "bold" line.

The next step will be to make bright lines on either side of each line, using the same color. Following that, they will keep adding lines. I'm not sure how kindergarteners will do with markers, although I would like to teach them how to use the markers to make solid, flat lines. If that is too hard, I'll alter the medium and use something else.

When all the marker lines are drawn, students will paint their bold line with black watercolor. I want to teach the kids how to use pan watercolor and rinse the brush using just one color for now. In later projects they will be using the watercolor pans and I want them to already know how to clean the brush properly.

A final step to this project is to make black and white designs in the background areas with black marker, although I am not sure that there will be time to do this with kindergarteners. Then we will display the work, lining up the ends of all the lines and see where the line takes us!!