Learning About Unity

Students in Art 1 and Art Appreciation learned first hand about Unity, which is a principle of art that artists employ to give their work a sense of togetherness, wholeness or completion. 

As a one-day exercise, each student at a table received a material/medium to work with that was different from the others at their table.  Some students received collage, some marker, some watercolors, some pencil, some colored pencils, and others ink. 

After discussing unity, each student had five minutes to work on a blank sheet of paper and make whatever they wanted to.  After five minutes, each student passed their work to the person to their right, and that person continued to work on the piece with their own medium. They added to it, but also tried to unify it at the same time.  The artwork was passed to at least 4 artists before it was complete.  The end goal was that the artwork would look like it was created by 1 artist instead of 4-5 people.  Each student needed to observe which elements and principles they might want to repeat or enhance that would tie the work together.  For example, color and shape were frequently used to create a sense of togetherness. 

 

This exercise is a lot of fun, and I believed the students enjoyed creating these collaborative works of art.