Transitioning from the Medieval Period to the Renaissance, we talked about the artist Giotto. Giotto was discovered working as a shepherd in Italy. His drawings impressed a master artist who took him to Florence as his apprentice. There Giotto built a reputation as a painter and architect. His paintings moved away from the stiff, unrealistic human figures of the Medieval period. He added shadows and emotions to his figures making them feel more realistic and amazing the viewers of his time.
While working as an apprentice, Giotto learned, like other artists, to mix his own paint. Often paint was made from finely ground pigments and egg yolks.
We ground our own "pigments" using sidewalk chalk, rolling pins, and muscle.
We tried to make the chalk as fine as possible by crushing lumps between spoons.
We mixed the ground chalk with white glue (our egg yolk substitute) to make our own paint.
Thinking about the emotions Giotto used in his paintings, we also looked at Edvard Munch's The Scream.
Students chose an emotion (something other than "happy" or "sad"). Then, using the homemade paint, they created an image that communicated the emotion they chose. They did not have to use a realistic image in their painting but could choose to use simple lines and shapes to communicate their idea.
Can you tell which emotion each student chose?
