Chagall, "I and the Village"

This week, in Kinderhaus and lower and upper elementary, we looked at the compositional elements of Chagall's "I and the Village."

One way we explored this was to project the image onto the whiteboard. Students were eager to take turns drawing the details and elements of design they were seeing.

We also used a laminated copy of the image that we could write on with dry-erase markers. This worked especially well for Kinderhaus.

Here is what the board looked like at one point when we turned on the lights.

Here are some fabulous student examples for unique responses to "I and the Village."

Kinderhaus students found it helpful to draw an X on the paper to show the different sections. They broke their sections into: self, animal, neighborhood, and nature.

*One thing I learned is to suggest a color other than black for their X. White works well, as do other bright colors. Some students forget that lines don't have to be black, and black oil pastel smudges easily.*

These 2nd year students wanted to show the compositional lines connecting their dream-like ideas.

This is a bulletin board I have started to design. I included a bio of Chagall, a map of where he has been, a "job application." The strings you see hanging are elements of the painting I cut out of a second copy that students can pick up to locate it in the painting. Because Chagall sometimes painted people and objects upside-down, students will discover some fun surprises about the painting. This is a way to physically engage with the elements of the painting.

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