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JOAN MIRÓ – AGES 8 – 9 | ONLINE EDITION

Step 1 - Introducing the Joan Miró Slideshow Guide MOTIVATION BEGIN READING HERE

Have you ever been blindfolded? (BLINDFOLD CHILD) Since you can’t use your sense of vision, you have to compensate with your other senses. What can you use to tell how something looks? (HANDS—SENSE OF TOUCH) I’m going to hand an object to you, and by using your sense of touch you are going to tell me what you are holding. (USE ITEMS LIKE COMB, CRAYON, CANDLE, ETC.) Very good, now let’s take this one step further. (HIDE OBJECTS) You may take off your blindfold. Now I want you to draw the objects that you just felt. What we are doing in this experiment is showing you how our artist today received his art training. Joan Miro had an art teacher who would blindfold him and put objects in his hands. Just like you did, he would feel the CONTOURS and shapes and then would draw what he had felt without having seen them. How do you think this would be beneficial to an artist’s education? (TRAIN AN ARTIST TO USE HIS OTHER SENSES; STIMULATE HIS IMAGINATION) Now I will show you the objects you felt to compare to your drawings. (TAKE OUT OBJECTS) Are they close? Was that hard to do? Thank you for helping us with our experiment. Joan Miro’s sense of touch proved extremely important throughout his career. His art, as you will see, did not rely on what he saw. More important to Miro were his emotions and his imagination. Let’s meet Joan Miro at work on a painting.

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1. PHOTO OF ARTIST JOAN MIRO Miro was born in Spain. From his earliest years, Miro was good at drawing and spent a lot of time doing it with care. He disliked school, but happily there was a drawing class, and he worked very hard there. His first paintings were colorful and very realistic. He painted a vase of flowers, a fish, an umbrella—and even a foot! After school, Joan would roam through the liveliest streets of Barcelona, Spain. He would spend hours happily gazing at the strange sights he found around town in the buildings and costumes of street performers. He was always drawn and fascinated by unusual things.

1 JOAN MIRO – Ages 8 – 9 | MeetTheMasters Online Edition


Miro attended art schools for three years and made rapid progress trying new things while there. As you look at Miro, let me describe his personality, and see if it matches his appearance. Joan was a quiet, modest man. He would start working in his studio early in the day and would work all day in deep concentration and in total silence. When he finished, he sat down in his rocking chair in front of the painting and stared at it. When Miro left Spain to live in Paris, he was very poor and could only afford a very small, dilapidated house surrounded by trash. He also spent any money he had on art supplies, and he could only afford a good lunch once a week. The few things he owned in his studio were a frying pan, a sofa, and a chair. His place was so small that he literally had to crawl under his many canvasses on his stomach to get to the other side of the room. He was also extremely neat and clean. He numbered all his paintbrushes as he lined them up. He wrote out a schedule for himself of when he would do his chores and when he would paint. Do you think you could function well in that type of situation? Well, the cramped, poor conditions never affected either the quality or quantity of his work while he lived there. But he had a dream during those years. Listen and tell me what that dream was.

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“My dream, if and when I can manage to settle down somewhere, is to have a really big studio -- not for reasons of lighting, these things don’t bother me -- but just to have space enough, room for lots of canvasses. For the more I work, the more I want to work. I’d like to try my hand at sculpture, pottery, engraving, and printing.”

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What was his dream? (HAVE LARGE STUDIO AND TRY OTHER KINDS OF ART) Do you think he was successful enough during his lifetime to realize that dream? You’ll find out if you were right as we follow his career and his later life. You’ve learned something about Miro’s personality and early life. What will his paintings look like? Will they be quiet, neat pictures? Let’s take a look.

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2. DOG BARKING AT MOON In all of his artwork, Miro takes us to another world. It is a world of dreams, fantasy, and imagination. In Miro’s world, anything is possible, even a strange animal with a semi-human head wailing helplessly to something in the sky. Is there a way to get up there? (YES, FLOATING LADDER)



It is another world, and this style of art is called SURREALISM. Many times it seems like a mixed-up dream. Even the word itself can sound eerie and strange. Listen to me, and then you try it… “SURRRR-REEL-ISM.” (USE EERIE VOICE AND EXPRESSION) Now you say it. Good for you. That will help you remember the word and style. Since surrealism can seem dreamlike, pretend you have just awakened and you know you have been dreaming. You lay there trying to remember bits and pieces of your dream to fit it together like a puzzle. The things you remember seeing are string-like black lines, a bug-like creature, and a big eye looking at you. And everything is just floating around in space! How would that all fit together? It seems all mixed up and crazy! As you continue to let your memory and imagination run wild, put the puzzle together to form a picture in your mind. Let’s see if your imaginary dream-like picture looks anything like a painting by Joan Miro.


3. WOMAN AND BIRD IN THE NIGHT Did your imaginary dream picture look anything like this painting? (NO) All of our imaginations are different! Does it look like a puzzle or dream that doesn’t quite make sense? (YES) Joan Miro was always surprising his friends with his ideas. His imagination gave him a magician’s touch of changing whatever he came across in real life. A friend said, “When I pick up a stone, it’s a stone. When Miro picks up a stone, it’s a Miro! Let your imagination make you a magician like Miro. Look at this painting and put together what you see to give it a title. What would you call it? Miro’s title is Woman and bird in the Night. Can you find any clues that go with the title? How do you know it’s nighttime? (STAR SHAPES, PLANETS) Point to the bug-like creature. Point to the big eye. Does it seem to make sense? (NO) Now let your imagination again soar like Miro’s. For this next painting his inspiration came from nighttime, music, and the stars. Miro sat for hours in the dim light of a beautiful, grand church in Paris and listened to the organ music, lost in his dreams. And this is what he painted.


4. BEAUTIFUL BIRD REVEALING THE UNKNOWN TO LOVERS Is this anything like you expected? (NO) Do you see anything to indicate nighttime? (BLACK SPLOTCHES IN BACKGROUND, STAR & MOON SHAPES, CATS THAT WOULD COME OUT AT NIGHT) Notice how the many thin, black lines connect and weave like a spider web. Do the lines outline shapes? (YES) Can you give a name to those shapes? (LION, BUG, SNAKE, ANTENNAE)



Does this painting give you the feeling of movement? (YES) Why? (CURVED LINES, ROUNDED SHAPES, LINES CONNECTING SHAPES) Did Miro use many colors? (NO) How many eyes can you find? (6+) How many do you see? There are different answers, because everyone sees something different in Miro’s surrealist artwork. Eyes are included in many of his paintings. Notice how Miro uses colors whenever the shapes OVERLAP. Can you point one out? There are overlapping colors in a shape that could either be a snake or a bird. Can you find that shape? (MIDDLE, LEFT: BLACK, YELLOW) Does this painting give you a happy or a sad feeling? Why? Do you feel confused, strange, busy, or noisy? Let me have Miro tell you what was happening in his life when he painted this and find out how he was feeling. The year was 1941.

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“We had to leave our village in haste. The Germans opened up unending bombings. With the Allied armies completely defeated and continuous bombings, we took the train from Paris. My wife took our little girl by the hand, and I carried with me under my arm the portfolio containing my pictures that are finished. We left Paris to return to Spain eight days before the Germans entered Paris. We wanted to live peacefully, ignored by everyone, and seeing nobody. It took three months to be at peace again and to be able to finish my paintings. I was very depressed. I believed in an inevitable victory for the Nazis. I believed that in this defeat there was no further hope for us.”


So, was this a happy time in his life? (NO) In what event in history is Miro describing? (WORLD WAR II) Was it a final victory for the Nazis? (NO) But you might have said this was a happy picture. All of the paintings done during this period are very special and rare, because they do give some people a happy feeling, even though they were completed in the midst of such a catastrophe. Miro was depressed and upset, so upset he was unable to work for quite awhile. Let’s see if Miro had always been able to paint that way in the midst of tragedy.


5. STILL LIFE WITH OLD SHOE Take a minute and absorb the mood of this painting titled Still Life With Old Shoe. What is a word to describe the overall feeling it gives you? (DEPRESSING, WARLIKE, BURNING, CONFUSING) When Miro painted this in 1937, he was deeply concerned with the suffering of the common people in his country of Spain. What can you find in this painting that would fit with common, farm people? (AN APPLE, A LOAF OF BREAD, BOTTLE OF WINE, OLD



SHOE) He put it all together with powerful colors. What word can you give to describe these colors, especially the combination of colors? (EVIL, DANGEROUS, FRIGHTENING, STRONG, THREATENING) Notice what he does with each of those common objects we mentioned—the apple, loaf of bread, and bottle of wine. I will describe how he adds the drama, and you pick out which object I’m talking about. - It’s being stuck by prongs, which attacks like an arm from the sky. Apple - It has torn paper wrappings, a funny shape, and a cork in the top. Bottle of Wine - It is dry, moldy, and wouldn’t make a good sandwich. Loaf of Bread - It is worn out, dirty, and useless as it falls apart. Old Shoe But why such a dismal, depressing picture of the life of the farm people in Spain? A cruel dictator was trying to take over the government of Spain when Miro painted this. He felt very badly about what was happening to his peaceful country and to its poor people who were being attacked. And his feelings showed up in this still life painting. Let’s go to another painting showing life of common people on a farm. Do you think it will be similar or very different? Let’s take a look.


6. THE TILLED FIELD Is this similar to the last painting? (NO) Is the mood the same? (NO) This is such an exciting painting that I’d like to take a few minutes to look over this painting and find all the interesting, surrealistic things Miro has included here. (ALLOW 1-2 MINUTES) What are some of your favorite things in the painting? Be as creative in your language descriptions as Miro was in paintings. As an example, my favorite character is the “porcudog.” Can you find that? (SPIKED DOG IN FOREGROUND) What do you like? Do you think Miro had fun painting this? (YES) Did you enjoy investigating it? (YES) We’ve seen varying moods—funny, happy, evil, and eerie. What mood do you feel from looking at this painting? (DANGEROUS, ANOTHER PLANET, SCARY, FUNNY, WEIRD) Look around the painting and pick out something that Miro has repeated from other paintings. (EYES, STRANGE ANIMAL CREATURES, BRIGHT COLORS) The title of this is The Tilled Field. Can you find the field with cultivated rows ready for planting? (LOWER LEFT) What else can you find that belongs on a farm? (HOUSE, ANIMALS, TREES) Here Miro’s world of imagination has become supreme. He has changed everything from the ordinary to the ABSTRACT, where nothing looks like the real thing. Miro has changed life on a farm, with his feelings and imagination, into a strange land known only to him. Miro said, “My landscapes have nothing to do with reality.”



What can you pick out that gives this painting a menacing, scary mood? (SHARP, JAGGED EDGES, SHAPE OF TREE LIKE SNAKE, EYES ON TREES, WEIRD CREATURES) Have some of the sharp shapes become part of the farm animals? (YES) Can you find an ear that also could be a snail? (BY TALL TREE TRUNK) What kind of ear would you normally find in the fields of a farm? (EAR OF CORN) Have you wondered how Miro ever gets his ideas of what to paint? Here is one way he starts on a new painting.


7. RED SUN Look carefully at this painting, and see if you can discover where Miro might have had an “accident” and dripped some paint on his canvas. Well, that’s exactly what happened! But Miro planned it that way! Listen to his words about starting a painting.

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“Never, never do I set to work on a canvas as it comes blank from the shop. I make accidents -- a form, a splotch of color. Any accident is good enough. I might prepare by wiping my brushes on the canvas, I might let some drops of turpentine drop on it. If I want to make a drawing I crumple the sheet of paper or I wet it; the flowing water traces a line, and this line may suggest what is to come next.”


Do you think this kind of “accident” would set your imagination off like it did for Miro? Try it sometime and find out! If you guess what the prominent red oval is, you will have the title of this work. Would you like to try? (RED SUN) CONCLUSION Do you remember Miro’s dream? (TO HAVE A LARGE STUDIO) You guessed earlier about whether that dream came true. Let’s see if you were right. 8. PHOTO OF MIRO’S STUDIO

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“I finally had a large, beautiful studio built to my specifications. But I had a very hard time adjusting to working in such a perfect atmosphere. More than two years passed before I was able to live there comfortably, and nearly three years before I again was able to paint.”




So did Miro’s dream come true? (YES) Do you remember what he would do when he finished a painting? (SIT IN HIS ROCKING CHAIR AND STARE AT HIS PAINTING) Picture Miro silently examining his latest painting and slowly rocking back and forth.

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Review Game Hola, Artists! Let’s review what we’ve learned about this Master’s life and art. Answer the following True or False Miro questions as best as you can remember. When you’ve finished I’ll tell you if you scored well enough to be a “Miro Master”! REVIEW GAME ANSWERS (For Instructors Only) 1. Joan Miro was born in Mexico. FALSE 2. When he left Spain, he went to Paris. TRUE 3. Miro’s art teacher taught him to use all his senses. TRUE 4. Miro’s personality was loud and bossy. FALSE 5. Miro starts his paintings with “accidents.” TRUE 6. Miro’s dream was to be famous. FALSE 7. Miro’s style of art is called surrealism. TRUE 8. Miro repeated eyes in many of his paintings. TRUE 9. World War II affected Miro’s paintings. TRUE 10.Miro’s artwork is realistic. FALSE Excellent listening. You are a Miro art expert!

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Step 2 - Learning From: Joan Miró Abstract Shapes Miro’s shapes are simple. Without details, Miro reminds us of a bird. Draw the simplest share you can that reminds you of fish. When Miro did use details, he made them simple:

Add one or two simple eyes, a tail, or feet to each shape below:

Draw your own abstract shapes in the boxes below. Add simple eyes, tails, or feet. Try to make your shapes seem alive.



Abstract Drawing Miro made his shapes seem alive with very few details. He often left out the nose and the mouth. Add only the simplest details to make each shape in the frame below look more alive.



Overlapping Lines and Shapes When a line or a shape overlaps another, it makes new shapes: Draw a line through this shape. Use a pencil or marker to color one of the new shapes you made.

Draw a shape that overlaps this shape. Color the overlapped part.

Miro drew a line through a painting to connect the different parts

Draw one line to make these shapes seem connected. Color divided parts of shapes differently.



Simple Shapes



The last few pages of this section contain the Art Activity for Joan Miro. This step-by-step outline will be a guide for instructing your child(ren) through the activity. The parent/instructor should review all steps necessary to complete this project before beginning any work. Cut out the Artist Profile Slip below and attach it to the back of the completed art project. Joan Miró (“Juan” mee-ROE) - Spain 1893 – 1983 Anything is possible in the dreamlike, imaginative world of Surrealist Miro! For this Spanish artist, feelings were more important than realism. His imagination gave him a magician’s touch of changing the nature, size, and meaning of whatever he came across in real life. ART ACTIVITY EMPHASIS: Abstract, Surrealistic Shapes MEDIA: Paper Cutouts and Markers Joan Miró (“Juan” mee-ROE) - Spain 1893 – 1983 Anything is possible in the dreamlike, imaginative world of Surrealist Miro! For this Spanish artist, feelings were more important than realism. His imagination gave him a magician’s touch of changing the nature, size, and meaning of whatever he came across in real life. ART ACTIVITY EMPHASIS: Abstract, Surrealistic Shapes MEDIA: Paper Cutouts and Markers




Step 3 - Working With: Art Activity Instructions ARTIST Joan Miro (Whan mee-ROE) 1893-1983 Spanish ART ELEMENTS Shape, line MEDIA Paper, marker EMPHASIS Abstract shapes

TECHNIQUE Paper collage and line combination VOCABULARY Surrealism, abstract, overlap, squiggle VISUALS Print: Acrobatic Dancers SUGGESTED MUSIC (On CD-Rom) Carlos Montoya - Malaguena (flamenco guitar)

MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTOR AND CHILDREN

Three 4” x 4-1/2” pieces of construction paper in the following colors: 1 red, 2 yellow One 9” x 12” sheet of blue construction paper One 12” x 18” sheet of white construction paper One 9” x 12” sheet of newsprint Paper towel Artist profile slip Black markers (pointed tip) OPTIONAL: Red or blue powdered tempera paint and Cotton balls (Sprinkle 3 small shakes on each sheet of newsprint at the appropriate time during the lesson.) Scissors, Glue Pencil Miro Learning Packet

PREPARATION Construct an example to become familiar with the procedure. Place the print in front of the students. Punch holes in foil seal of tempera container if applicable. SET-UP [ 5 minutes ] Distribute the following materials to your students:

SUPPLIES: Black marker, cotton balls PAPER: Colored pieces of paper, blue construction paper, white construction paper, newsprint, paper towel, and artist profile slip


ORIENTATION [ 5 minutes ] Do you remember the name of the artist who created this painting? (Joan Miro) How about the strange sounding art word for the dreamlike style of painting for which he was known? (Surrealism) Good! Today you will create your own Surrealist artwork. Remember how Miro took ideas for shapes and figures from paint drips? Today you will get your ideas from squiggles! Can you show us a squiggle? (Have child put a squiggle on paper.) Does this squiggle look like or remind you of anything? What would you add to make it more alive? An eye or a tail? Today you use the squiggle to tie together your Surrealist picture. Let’s get organized so we can begin. ORGANIZE YOUR WORK AREA 1. Place your newsprint, cotton ball, and artist profile slip at the top of your work area. 2. Put your white paper horizontally (demonstrate) in the center of your work area and write your name on the back of it. 3. Put your Learning Packets, colored paper, marker and a pencil to one side. 4. Put everything else away – except your imagination! DEMONSTRATION AND ACTIVITY THE FLOATING LINE OR SQUIGGLE [ 3 to 5 minutes ] Use the marker to draw one enormous floating line on your 12” x 18” white paper. Draw it slowly, without stopping. Let it fill the page evenly. Make it curve gently. Have the marker travel across the page ONLY 2 or 3 times. Make it seem to float. (While children are working, sprinkle a small amount of red or blue tempera powder on each newsprint -- three shakes only.) THE BACKGROUND [ 5 minutes ] In order to give a sense of depth to the background, blend red or blue powder paint into it. Watch how: 1. Dip the cotton ball into the red or blue powder (once or twice) and gently dab color in many places on the white paper, right over the floating line. 2. Rub the powder into the paper with the cotton ball, until there are no grains of powder left on the paper. 3. Fold the newsprint in half with the extra powder inside. Make this the scrap pile. 4. Add your used cotton ball to the scrap pile.



THE LARGE SHAPES [ 5 to 10 minutes ] Watch how to create some abstract shapes: 1. Use a pencil to draw another squiggle on your 9” x 12” blue paper. Make it fill the page. Let the pencil travel across the paper 5 or 6 times. 2. Look very carefully for 2 or 3 interesting shapes. The shapes may be made of many smaller shapes or only one. 3. Use your pencil to outline the shapes you found. 4. Cut them out. THE SMALL SHAPES [ 5 minutes ] To make many shapes at once: 1. Fold a yellow sheet of paper in half, then in half again. (Do this with children.) 2. Draw a shape on the folded paper and cut it out creating repeating shapes. 3. Save the scraps. To make small abstract shapes: 1. Draw a squiggle on the remaining yellow sheet as you did with the larger blue paper. 2. Cut the small abstract shapes you find. The red paper can be used to create repeating shapes (fold the paper and cut four thicknesses at once) or abstract shapes using the squiggle lines. PUT IT ALL TOGETHER [ 15 minutes ] Arrange all shapes and move them around the composition. 1. Glue the largest shapes first (put a dotted line of glue along the edges on the back). Make them touch, or overlap, or fit into the squiggle. 2. Add the small, repeating and abstract shapes next. 3. You may need to use a floating line to connect some shapes, as you did in your Learning Packets. The floating line can be continued




over the front of shapes to create depth. 4. Cut smaller shapes from your scraps. 5. Draw details with the marker (eyes, tails, lines, dots, star shapes). Refer to the chart in your Learning Packet to see some details used by Joan Miro. WHEN ARE YOU FINISHED? 1. When the composition seems balanced. 2. When it begins to look crowded. 3. When you have included most of your shapes. 4. When you have signed your name (artist’s signature) on the front. Put your scraps and cotton ball on your scrap pile. MOUNTING THE ARTIST PROFILE SLIP [ 2 minutes ] (Profile slips for each artist are provided. They give a brief description of the artist, the technique, and the media used in the art activity. They should be mounted on the back of each art project after it is completed.) 1. Write your name on the front of the artist profile slip. 2. Using glue, mount the profile slip on the back of your artwork. 3. Encourage children to discuss their artwork at home using this artist slip of information.

CONCLUSION Do you remember that special art word that describes Miro’s dreamlike way of painting? (Surrealism) Does your surrealistic artwork seem like something from a funny, mixed-up dream? Would you like to use your imagination even more and think of a title for your artwork? Would you like to share their artwork and title? Do you think your dreams tonight will look anything like your artwork today?

THIS CONCLUDES THE JOAN MIRO UNIT.

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J GES - MtmHomeSchool4Art.commtmhomeschool4art.com/uploaded_lessons/Track C/unit_3/track-c_unit... · Joan Miro had an art teacher who would blindfold him and put objects in his