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Albers' Squares

Albers' Squares

Create a mobile that will have your imagination spinning with squares, color exploration, and dimension.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Heavy Paper
  • Small Rings

Steps

  • Step 1

    Read about painter and educator Josef Albers, for example, "An Eye For Color" by Natasha Wing, and discuss his use of nested squares and color. Note that his teaching goal was to "to open eyes" and show students that everything in their visual field exists in a context. Show some examples of his work, especially his color square paintings.

  • Step 2

    Have students cut out squares in various sizes from heavy paper. Ask them to think about complementary colors and decide which colors will be superimposed on the squares. Next have them paint both sides of each square in the different colors they selected.

  • Step 3

    When the squares are dry, have them glue smaller squares on top of larger squares in the style of Albers. Help the students put small holes in the squares and connect them with small rings.

  • Step 4

    Ask students to observe each other's mobiles up close before displaying. How are the colors affected by the backgrounds they're on? Does a small red square on a large brown square look different from the same red on a bright green square? How can this observation about viewing something in different contexts be applied to life in general?

  • Step 5

    Display the mobiles in the classroom or around the school.

Standards

ARTS: Analyze multiple ways that images and performances can influence specific audiences.

ARTS: Synthesize knowledge and relate it to personal experiences to create, present, and respond to art.

LA: Assess how a point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of written or oral communication.

Adaptations

Squares in various art forms can have great symbolic meaning. Along the Underground Railroad, quilts were created with embedded codes in each square and displayed to advise slaves of dangers and safe places on their journey north. Students can create their own quilts using pieces of colorful paper. What would they want their quilt to say? What symbols and colors would they use to convey information?

Look at some of the works of Dame Barbara Hepworth, an English artist and sculptor who worked in the modernist style. Most of her art is displayed outdoors. Have students design a piece they'd like to see in a sculpture garden. What materials would they use? How would the work reflect the environment around it?