Virtual Refrigerator - Piet Mondrian

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Welcome to another edition of the Virtual Refrigerator! This weekly blog hop is co-hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life, Homeschool Coffee Break, and Every Bed of Roses. We all cordially invite you to add your link sharing the art that's on your Virtual Refrigerator and then hop over to the other blogs and admire what's on their Fridges!

  

August's Art Challenge: Modern Art
During the month of August, I am sharing some short studies of a few modern artists and our projects inspired by their work. We'd be especially interested in seeing your modern art themed projects as well, so be sure to link them at the bottom of this post!

This week is a favorite of Kennady's, Piet Mondrian. Still to come: Gustav Klimt, Alexander Calder, and M.C. Escher. We think. Unless we change our minds along the way! Coming up in September and October, our other Virtual Fridge hostesses will be bringing us their artist studies, so keep an eye out for more info about what they'll be sharing!

Here we go, with Piet Mondrian! You can kind of get an idea of how much Kennady likes his work:

Dutch artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) lived and worked in Netherlands, and in Paris for some years both before and after World War I. Because of World War II he was forced to move to London and then to New York City. At the beginning of his career, Mondrian painted landscapes and still life. In 1911, after being introduced to cubism in works by Picasso and Braque, Mondrian's style changed to reflect this new design. He then developed his own style which was even more abstract and different from other artists. Abstract art doesn't portray anything in nature, but focuses on colors, shapes, and designs. Mondrian's ideas of abstract art were even simpler - he gradually refined his art to grids of lines and primary colors, which he called 'Neo-Plasticism'. He and a small group of like-minded artists founded an art movement known as De Stijl (Dutch for "The Style") and applied their ideas to architecture and industrial design as well as painting and sculpture. Mondrian actually left this group in 1925 because one of the members added diagonal lines to his work! Mondrian's view of his artwork was that it was a universal visual language, with the vertical lines representing the direction and energy of the sun's rays, and the horizontal lines representing the earth's movement around the sun. The primary colors represented the sun's energy (yellow), and infinite space (blue), and red materializing when blue and yellow met.

I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by other direct lines or curves, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true. ~Piet Mondrian

Even if you didn't know his name, Mondrian's later style and works are probably familiar to you because the designs are so simple and striking, and have been very influential in modern art and design. Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow is probably the best known example. You can view a large collection of his art at Olga's Gallery and on our Piet Mondrian Pinterest board, where we've also pinned ideas for art projects inspired by Mondrian's signature style.

Composition V by Piet Mondrian, 1927.
Baltimore Museum of Art

The Mondrian inspired project that Kennady decided on is a very simple one that we think can be done by artists of all ages and abilities. (Very young artists should have an adult help them, though!)

We opened up a cardboard cereal box and trimmed the edges, then Kennady used a straight edge to draw vertical and horizontal lines on the back of the box. She then cut strips of corrugated cardboard and glued them onto the patterns.  Thick yarn could be used for this step instead, but since we wanted the lines to be as straight as possible, we chose cardboard.

Then we covered the cardboard with heavy duty aluminum foil. Use a glue stick or brush white glue all over the dull side of the foil and then smooth it down over the cardboard. Use a felt square or a washcloth to rub and smooth the foil down so the grid pattern is in relief. Be especially careful not to slice the foil as you press against the cardboard strips though - we had one or two small tears in ours.

Use a black permanent marker to color the grid.

Then use red, blue, and yellow permanent marker to color in a few of the squares. We used Sharpie markers for all except the yellow - we didn't have a yellow Sharpie, and unfortunately we could tell the difference, as our yellow squares were very faded. (Use permanent marker, like Sharpie, so that the color doesn't rub off the foil. Even with the Sharpie, be careful where you place your hand, and we recommend giving each color a few minutes to 'set' before doing the next, or touching it.)

Here is Kennady's Composition in Foil and Marker.

Composition in Foil and Marker by Kat, August 2015

Art is not made for anybody and is, at the same time, for everybody. ~Piet Mondrian

We have the materials (I think) to do a Mondrian inspired Mason Jar like this one, so hopefully we'll have that to share on the Virtual Fridge sometime soon!

One resource we used for learning about Mondrian was the Everyday Easels lesson at SchoolhouseTeachers.com - there are LOTS of art lessons for all ages at SchoolhouseTeachers.com, including art techniques and art appreciation studies.

You can also see an Art Timeline and other information at ArtyFactory.

What's on your Virtual Fridge this week? Leave a comment, share a link, and let us know!

You can grab the button above and add it to your post. Add your link here to share your child's art or your arts and crafts how-to posts. Please visit the other blogs and admire what's on their Virtual Refrigerators!

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