The art students looked closely, and individually compared and contrasted art with the same subject matter (pies) then decided which one was "the best" using an observed criteria they determined themselves - they then discussed their reasons at their tables, and came up with a table choice. They presented which they thought was the best, and presented their reasons. I shared with them how the pieces of art were valued differently, by individuals, cultures and some valued highly because they were created by famous artists. One of the pies was not originally valued at all, but that is changing because the values of society have changed. People value art for different reasons, depending on their individual preferences, their culture, and the values of the time they are living in. The children then drew pies, and discussed color families. They chose a color family: primary, secondary, neutral, warm, cool, analogous, complimentary, or monochromatic. Students could change their colors as long as they could give a reason for that choice, and relate it to color families.(Color choices can express a feeling or mood.) The goal in this part of the lesson is for the artists to understand how color can affect the feeling of a piece of art, and for them to use reasoned choices based on their knowledge about color families.
