Over the past few weeks the children from Junior Infants to 6th Class have been learning all about the life and works of the American artist Jackson Pollock.
He experimented with line, scale, and paint and in doing so, created a new way of painting. Pollock broke with the conventions of painting by taking the canvas from its traditional easel and placing it on the floor. He then worked around the canvas, dripping, splashing, flinging, and smearing paint. He put holes in the bottom of paint cans, squeezed paint from a tube, and even used a turkey baster or stiff brush. His process caused the paint to build up, layer upon layer.
The children have considered the choices Pollock made with regard to painting. They focused on line, material, scale, and the artistic process while also learning how to discuss, compare, and think critically about nonrepresentational, or abstract, paintings.
Here is some of the fantastic pieces they have created…
