Sunday, February 26, 2023

Art History - Helen Frankenthaler

Our Specials schedule this year is

    Mon - Nature Study & Form Drawing

    Tue - Farm Day

    Wed - Handwork & Philosophy, Science Club

    Thu - Art History & Structured Word Inquiry

    Fri - Forest School


In my Art History 2022-2023 blog post, I decided March would be Helen Frankenthaler. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

Helen Frankenthaler
1928 - 2011

MMA - Helen Frankenthaler blog post


also Soak-Stain Technique blog post

Helen Frankenthaler's Soak-Stain Painting Technique for Kids
Art History Kids

Helen Frankenthaler "Soak Stain" Art Lesson for Kids
Faber-Castell


100 Watercolor Cards & Envelopes, Cold Press, 5" x 6.875"


I decided to join Lotus Stewart's full Art History Kids website (The Studio) and get access to her past lesson plans. I think it will really help me this year to have so much already done for me. Helen Frankenthaler is in the Archives.


SEPTEMBER 2018: THE WOMEN OF ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
includes Helen Frankenthaler


PDF guide from Magnificent Modern Art
pages 2, 13

PDF guides from September 2018 topic
Week 1 - pages 3, 7 (Lee Krasner)
Week 2 - pages 3, 7 (Judith Godwin)
Week 3 - pages 2, 3, 8 (Helen Frankenthaler)
Week 4 - pages 1-9, 11, 13


Lotus is also doing Women of Abstract Expressionism in The Studio this month! I don't know if Helen Frankenthaler will be included this time or not.

UPDATE: The revised lesson plans for this topic include Helen Frankenthaler and Lee Krasner, but they substitute Alma Thomas for Judith Godwin.

PDF guide from March 2023 topic
print pages 1, 10-20, and 50

week of Mar 13:


week of Mar 20:


week of Mar 27:

    Tuesday - read Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler by Elizabeth Brown

    Thursday - Art History Kids - Magnificent Modern Art Course
    week 3 video - guided discussion of Tutti-Fruitti (1966)

    Wednesday Mar 29 / Thursday Mar 30 / Monday Apr 3
    Create a Soak-Stain Landscape (do this activity multiple times)

    We ended up doing Soak-Stain Landscapes three times and I still think we should have done one more because it was never correct.

    Having done this wrong, I can say that it's really important to give the children their paint in cups and not in the bottles, to make it clear that they are supposed to POUR it and work close to the canvas. Remind them of the photo of her tipping paint out of a pail. A lot of the artwork that we produced -- while very beautiful -- looks a lot like Jackson Pollock. There was also a lot of paint on the children because they were shaking the bottles and splattering paint, and not pouring.

    You also need to think carefully about what material you'll use to push the paint (she used a mop). Do NOT give them popsicle sticks because they will get paint all over their hands. Some options with handles: brushes, rollers, sponges. She also would tip the canvas.

    Definitely show them lots more examples of her work before you begin. How many layers of paint do you think are on this canvas?

    Doing this in a homeschool setting was a lot more fun than doing it with a whole class. I spent a fortune on canvasses, and they used up all of the paint completely by pouring layer after layer after layer. She didn't do that. It was one pour and then she let it soak and stain. I feel like they really couldn't tell the difference between her and Pollock BECAUSE we did this activity outside (as we did with his art) and they got to go off into the yard and do their own painting. It became layers and layers and paint throwing... and it was just a big jumble. I wasted $75 in paint and $75 in canvasses and they still don't know how Helen Frankenthaler made her art. So I'm really distressed. I also had parents who were upset because clothing and shoes got ruined. A lot of paint was tracked into my house as well.

    I LOVED the tea bag activity, which felt slow and enjoyable.

    Also, we really enjoyed the picture book and Lotus's lesson on closely examining "Tutti-Fruitti." But the soak-stain paintings just felt like a violent waste of paint, money, and time. I certainly wouldn't mind spending $150 if I felt they learned a great lesson about Helen Frankenthaler, but they did not. So I will really need to think about this deeply before I teach her again. I just need more clarity about how to introduce it and how to model it, so that I'm setting them up for success!

    Note: I think that not only do I need to change out the type of paint and the way I introduce it and the tools that I give them, I need to change out the type of canvasses as well. She specifically worked with untreated canvas, and I'm sure the inexpensive run-of-the-mill canvasses I got the children were already gessoed. So it only makes sense that the paint wouldn't soak and flow like it should.


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