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Project GRAD Houston
3000 Richmond, Suite 400
Houston, Texas 77098
832-325-0325 (main)

Picasso’s Cubism – Angles Abound

Grade Level: 6
Classroom Time: Two 60-minute sessions

Materials Needed:

• Protractor
• Pencil
• Handout
• Blank Paper or cardstock
• Markers and/or map pencils
• Bending straws

Objectives:
TSW: Identify and create acute, obtuse and right angles
TSW: Examine and respond to works of cubism.
TSW: Identify and measure angles within selected art.
TSW: Create a piece of cubism incorporating 5 of each type of angle: right, obtuse and acute.

Session One

1. Informally check student understanding: Call out various angle measures. Students create an approximation of each angle using a “bendy straw.”

 

90°, 45°, 140°, 70°, 20°, 120°, 180°, 80°, 100°

 “Ninety degrees – Right Angle”

2. Examine the following two artworks:

• The Violin  (Picasso)
• Glass on a Table. (Braque)

“What do you see?”  “Why do you think the artist painted this subject this way?” Compare and contrast the two artworks. Ask students to evaluate the artists’ styles and tell why they do or do not like it.

3. The above art is defined as cubism -  http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/c/cubism.html, definition. Share information about Pablo Picasso (see artlex.com). Examine and emphasize the main elements of cubism using the selected art: fracturing the subject, then reassembling in an abstracted form, often from multiple perspectives.

5. Display Picasso’s “Studio of the Milliner” - Locate and define the various types of angles  displayed in the work. Measure selected angles.

6. Distribute attached handouts – Math component – Have students complete the handout.

Session 2

1. Brainstorm ideas for subjects to “fracture” to create new cubism artworks. The instructor might review “fractured perspective” by displaying the attached full-faced portrait and reviewing Picasso’s cubism examples displayed previously.
2. Students each create their art on an 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper or cardstock incorporating at least 5 of each type of angle. Each angle must have a different measure; acute, obtuse and right. Use map colors and/or markers to complete the art.  
3. Problem Solving: If the class art pieces are connected to create one large rectangular artwork, what would the dimensions of the large picture be? Find all the possibilities for area and perimeter (perimeter may change, while area will stay the same).
4. Is it possible to create a square by connecting all the pieces of art? If so, what would the dimensions of the large work be? Find the perimeter and area of the square.
5. Create a title for the class-combined artwork. Examine the use of the art elements within the combined work.

National Math Standards

1. Geometry Standard: understand relationships among the angles, side lengths, perimeters, areas, and volumes of similar objects
2. Measurement Standard: understand, select, and use units of appropriate size and type to measure angles, perimeter, area, surface area, and volume

TEKS:

6(8)  Measurement. The student solves application problems involving estimation and measurement of length, area, time, temperature, volume, weight, and angles.

(B)   select and use appropriate units, tools, or formulas to measure and to solve problems involving length (including perimeter), area, time, temperature, volume, and weight;
(C)   measure angles;

(6.6)  Geometry and spatial reasoning. The student uses geometric vocabulary to describe angles, polygons, and circles.

(A)  use angle measurements to classify angles as acute, obtuse, or right;

(6.11)  Underlying processes and mathematical tools. The student applies Grade 6 mathematics to solve problems connected to everyday experiences, investigations in other disciplines, and activities in and outside of school.

(A)  identify and apply mathematics to everyday experiences, to activities in and outside of school, with other disciplines, and with other mathematical topics;
(B)  use a problem-solving model that incorporates understanding the problem, making a plan, carrying out the plan, and evaluating the solution for reasonableness;
(C)  select or develop an appropriate problem-solving strategy from a variety of different types, including drawing a picture, looking for a pattern, systematic guessing and checking, acting it out, making a table, working a simpler problem, or working backwards to solve a problem; and
(D)  select tools such as real objects, manipulatives, paper/pencil, and technology or techniques such as mental math, estimation, and number sense to solve problems

HISD CLEAR Mathematics Objectives:

MATH.6.6A :  Use angle measurements and estimates to define and classify angles as acute, obtuse, or right.
MATH.6.8C:  Measure angles using a protractor or a pictorial representation of a protractor and estimate the measure of given angles.
MATH.6.11A:  Identify and apply mathematics to everyday experiences, to activities in and outside of school, with other disciplines, and with other mathematical topics.
MATH.6.11D:  Select tools such as real objects, manipulatives, paper/pencil, and technology or techniques such as mental math, estimation, and number sense to solve problems.
MATH.6.12A:  Communicate mathematical ideas using language, efficient tools, appropriate units, and graphical, numerical, physical, or algebraic mathematical models.

National Visual Arts Standards

• Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines. - Students describe ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with the visual arts
• Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas - Students integrate visual, spatial, and temporal concepts with content to communicate intended meaning in their artworks
• Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures - Students know and compare the characteristics of artworks in various eras and cultures

TEKS – §117.32. Art, Grade 6.
 (2)  Creative expression/performance. The student expresses ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appropriate skill. The student is expected to:

(A)  express a variety of ideas based on personal experience and direct observations;
(C)  demonstrate technical skills effectively, using a variety of art media and materials to produce designs, drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, fiberart, photographic imagery, and electronic media-generated art.

(4)  Response/evaluation. The student makes informed judgments about personal artworks and the artworks of others. The student is expected to:

(B)  analyze original artworks, portfolios, and exhibitions of peers to form conclusions about formal properties and historical and cultural contexts.

HISD CLEAR Objectives:

ART.6.1.02:  Manipulate two different media to effectively express ideas in a variety of art forms.
ART.6.1.04:  Explore different and unusual ways of approaching two particular subjects.
ART.6.1.13:  Recognize two artists who use different art forms and media to create artworks.
ART.6.2.02:  Critically evaluate his/her work and the work of others for two artworks.
ART.6.3.01:  Develop an understanding of each of the types of visual expression in two, two- and three-dimensional visual artworks.
ART.6.3.15:  Analyze two unfamiliar artworks.
ART.6.6.01:  Develop perception skills necessary for generating and organizing two original art creations.

Picasso’s Cubism
Small portion of “Studio of the Milliner”
 Angles Abound

1. Label 3 acute angles (ABC, DEF, GHJ) in red pencil. 
2. Label 3 obtuse angles (KLM, NOP, QRS) in green pencil.
3. Label 3 right angles (TUV, WXY, ZAB in blue pencil.  

4. Find the measures of each of the above angles.

5. If Picasso painted “Studio of the Milliner” on the classroom wall with sides 7 ¼ feet by 9 feet, what would be the perimeter of the artwork? ___________________

6. What would be the area of the artwork? _______________________

Angle Measures:

ABC =                           DEF =                           GHJ =

KLM =                           NOP =                          QRS =

TUV =                           WXY =                          ZAB =

Cubism Example
Full-Face Portrait – Student work

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Scholarship Office Contact Information

Project GRAD Houston Scholarship Program
3000 Richmond, Suite 400
Houston, Texas 77098
If you have questions, please call the Project GRAD Houston Scholarship Department at 832.325.0344
Email: scholarship@projectgradhouston.org

The mission of Project GRAD is to ensure a quality public education for all students in economically disadvantaged communities so that high school and college graduation rates increase.