2nd Grade Project: Piet Mondrian - Stencils, Colored Pencils, and Neoplasticism

The 2nd graders were introduced to the work of Piet Mondrian.  We viewed our introductory presentation and discussed what made his new "Modern Art" special and different. Highlighting his use of lines, shapes (specifically rectangles and squares) and primary colors; we then began our own work in his style.

To the particular enjoyment of the students, they were introduced to 'boogie woogie'.  Mondrian both enjoyed and was inspired by jazz, so during our project we also listened to jazz.  This again was very enjoyable, to the point where I had not even finished handing our materials on our second day when I was being reminded, "Don't forget the jazz."

Using a square stencil, we overlapped and traced square after square.  We traced a minimum of eight squares, though some of our artists wanted to trace more than that.

Then in the style of Piet Mondrian, we used the primary colors on the rectangles and squares in our compositions, leaving the irregular shapes white.  Some students wanted to use patterns to fill their rectangles and squares, while others opted for the more traditional solid color.