Kahn's Kolors

1. Modern artist Wolf Kahn is well known as a Color Field painter and a landscape artist. He has combined both interests in many of his versions of landscape paintings. Kahn loved to experiment with colors and how they play with each other in a painting. Invite students to research how sunlight contains all the colors of the spectrum and as the light hits an object only one particular color reflects those photons back to your eyes so that you see only that color. Allow time after research for students to investigate these phenomena.
2. After a discussion summarizing student research, ask student to use Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils and construction paper to lightly draw chosen landscape basics on a large piece of posterboard, keeping only the outlines of the objects. Students can easily erase any extra lines created! Encourage thought about colors that would normally be seen on these objects. Challenge student to paint the opposites!
3. The first layer of paint should fill all the white spaces; basically the sky, ground and a basic layer of color in each of the objects. Allow this layer to dry completely. Then paint the final layer on top by adding details such as any light hitting the tops of the objects as the sun would be in the sky.
4. Allow time for paintings to dry and display prominently in the classroom.

LA: Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

LA: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

SCI: Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.

VA: Artists and designers shape artistic investigations, following or breaking with traditions in pursuit of creative art-making goals.

VA: Artists and designers experiment with forms, structures, materials, concepts, medial and art-making approaches.

Draw the objects in your own backyard or a school landscape and paint it in Kahn’s funky colors!

Choose only one color to paint your landscape, and mix only white, black or grey to it to create a monochromatic landscape.