COLOR THEORY, POP ART, AND PATRICK CAULFIELD

The following lesson plans are based on a book designed by Patrick Caulfield featured in “Artists’ Books,” an exhibition at The College of Wooster Art Museum. This lesson plans, glossary, and resources were compiled by Adrianne Sharrock and Sibyl Williams as part of the Education 240 class taught by Megan Wereley at The College of Wooster in Spring 2005.

Born in London in 1936, Patrick Caulfield was perhaps one of the more influential artists in British Pop art. He began his career as a painter and then moved to printmaking later in his career. In both his paintings and his screen prints he depicts everyday subjects from unusual perspectives. By reducing his subject to the essence of their shapes, he achieves a reductive, yet vibrant composition. using strong, clear colors outlined in a heavy black line. Within these compositions, primary colors are paired with complementary colors, achieving a precision of line, color, and purpose.

Patrick Caulfield (British, 1936– )
Some Poems of Jules Laforgue With Images by Patrick Caulfield, 1969–72
117/200 Edition A
All bindings and boxings made by hand by
Rudolph Rieser, Cologne
Published by the Petersburg Press Ltd, London in association
with the Waddington Galleries
The College of Wooster Art Museum 2004.20

Grade Level: early elementary
Theme: Pop art and Patrick Caulfield
Topic: “Still Life at Home”

CONTENT OF LESSON

Knowledge
1. Familiarization with the fundamental concepts of Pop art.
2. Acquire knowledge of various cultural perspectives.

Skills
1. Enhance basic drawing skills.
2. Enhance observation skills.

CONTENT LEARNING STANDARDS

Math
1. Geometry and spatial ability/sense.

Visual Art
1. Analyzing and responding to a work of art.
2. Valuing the arts/aesthetic reflection.
3. Applying basic reasoning skills to understand why works of art are made and valued.

Materials
Color wheel, examples of Patrick Caulfield’s work, 12 x 12 inch heavy white paper or board, black crayon, red, blue, and yellow tempera paint or watercolor

LESSON IMPLEMENTATION

Anticipatory Set/Motivation
Introduce students to works by Pop artists Andy Warhol and Patrick Caulfield. Compare/contrast the different approaches of these two artists and their use of everyday objects in their art. Ask students what objects they see everyday in their home or classroom that might make interesting drawings but are commonplace objects like coat hangers, glasses on window sills, or patterns in fabric.

Discuss drawing these objects using the least amount of lines. Focus on the color combinations in Patrick Caulfield’s prints.

Activities and Procedures
Prepare a color wheel and show what makes a primary, secondary, and complementary color. Ask students to identify which colors are represented in Caulfield’s work using the examples provided. Note the thick black lines that separate the areas of color in his prints.

Have students choose an object, or bring one in from home, that can be used for a still life. Instruct students to draw a portion or all of this object—or set it in a simple background (e.g. a window sill) and ask them to do a drawing in pencil that fills the page, edge to edge, leaving spaces for color.

Using a black crayon, have the students go over the pencil line in heavy black marks. The wax in the crayon will keep the colors separated. Explain that the colors they choose to fill in the outlines do not need to correspond to the actual object. Have them use tempera or watercolor to fill in the spaces between the crayon with at least one or more primary, secondary, and complementary color.

Closure/Assessment Strategy
Have each student identify the type of color they used in their paintings. If they mixed two primary colors to achieve a secondary color, ask them to identify which colors they mixed together.

GLOSSARY

Primary Colors—a set of colors from which all other colors are formed. These colors are red, blue, and yellow.

Secondary Colors—a color formed by mixing primary colors in equal or equivalent quantities.

Complementary Colors—colors directly opposite of each other on the color wheel.

Pop Art—art in which commonplace objects (such as road signs, hamburgers, comic strips, or soup cans) are used as subject matter.

Still Life—a picture consisting predominantly of inanimate objects.

RESOURCES

Modern British Artists

http:..www.modernbritishartists.co.uk/Caulfield_biog.htm

Pop Art/British and American

http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/C20th/popart.htm

http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=226

Color Wheel

http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html