Preschool Art Lessons (Seurat)

Continuing with Art History Month I present Georges-Pierre Seurat.

Georges-Pierre Seurat


Seurat believed that emotion could be conveyed best via color. In one of his most well known pieces A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte warm colors illuminate those who are jubilant, while in the foreground cold colors cast shadow on the faces of the somber upper class. Through balance of warm and cold, Seurat achieves a sense of harmony in his piece, a balance between not only the warmth of gold hues and cold dark shadows, but also between the classes depicted in his piece.

In addition to Seurat's use of color, his individual style stands out. Pointillism is best summed thanks to our friends at wikipedia "Pointillism is a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary and intermediate colors.

That being said creating art in the manner of Seurat is not the difficult task it appears to be, not even for a preschooler. One of my fellow teachers employs this technique and I must say the results are often spectacular!

Materials:
Box of q-tips
Washable tempera paint
Watercolor paper (or any paper that is firm like cardstock)

Activity:
After discussing and introducing Seurat to your children begin the activity.
You may want to demonstrate to them how to gently dab the q-tip in the paint and begin dotting their work.
Older children may prefer to first outline a picture with a pencil and then begin to fill in the picture with dots.

As always it's process over product!

Additional Sources:
Sunday with Seurat Julie Merberg
Find it in a library near you!