I was interested in teaching my middle-school art students diversified art history lessons about the work of a woman in the arts who was important in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Elizabeth Murray (1940–2007) provided an excellent example. I had met Murray when I was a college student, and when her colorful, dynamic work was just beginning to be recognized in New York galleries.
Danny I., grade eight.Jamar W., grade seven.Christopher L., grade eight.Maria S., grade eight.
Discussing Elizabeth Murray
What excites me about Murray’s work is how her canvases break out of the typical rectangle shape and each of her paintings has a moving broken edge; this concept fascinated students as well. They were also interested in the scale of her work. I showed them a photo of the artist sitting in front of one her paintings, and she is dwarfed by the size of the canvas.
Students were further inspired by the images and shapes Murray used for her work—vivid, fun, inspired by cartoons and drawn from everyday life, including people, tools, and animals. We talked about the shapes she used and how some were recognizable while others were completely abstract but not your typical shapes. They were irregular, flowing, jagged, amorphous, and zany.
Drawing and Cutting Shapes
After exploring Murray’s work, students brainstormed ideas for their own shape collages on scrap paper. When they were satisfied with their ideas, they drew their shapes on brightly colored card stock paper and cut them out.
Students were encouraged to think of scale in terms of small, medium, and large shapes. If they had too many small shapes, I told them they needed more medium and large shapes. It was a struggle for some students to draw their images large, and I often had to encourage them to draw using broad arm movements.
Painting with Gouache
Once students had a collection of cut-out shapes, they used gouache paints to create free-flowing lines, patterns, dashes, and dots onto their shapes. Murray used a variety of bold colors and vivacious patterns in her work, and students were encouraged to experiment as well.
Some students struggled with the technical application of the gouache, so we had a short lesson on the qualities of gouache and how proper loading of the brush with water helps prevent the brush from dragging and skipping on the boards.
Assembling
When each individual shape was drawn, cut, and painted, students assembled their final shapes. They arranged them first, then glued the sections together, and finally glued the entire assemblage onto a piece of 18 x 24" (46 x 61 cm) poster board, cutting off any excess so the shape of the work was no longer a rectangle. Students looked for interesting negative shapes that appeared during the assemblage process and either painted those or cut them out.
A Vibrant Display
It was amazing for me to see the images students developed. Each one had become a personal statement of their interests, hobbies, and what was important to them. Students loved the fun, cartoon-like feeling of the work, and the finished pieces are vibrant and joyful. We hung the works in the school café, displaying an array of shapes, images, patterns, and colors for the entire school to enjoy.
Megan Giampietro is a visual art teacher at Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. MMGiampietro@Comcast.net
National Standards
Creating: Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.
VA:Cr1.1.8a: Document early stages of the creative process visually and/or verbally in traditional or new media.
VA:Cr1.2.8a: Collaboratively shape an artistic investigation of an aspect of present-day life using a contemporary practice of art and design.
This issue introduces various ways to address advocacy through different lenses, ranging from cultural perspectives to embracing mistakes and self-expression. Young students use art and creative thinking skills to connect with themselves and the world around them, elementary students turn mistakes like rips and smudges into beautiful works of art, middle-school students make clay puzzle pieces with symbolic objects representing their interests, high-school students create detailed fabric portraits of someone they look up to, and more.
