Using Your Senses with Art When we see art, we look at it with our eyes. Careful looking helps us come up with words to describe it. Maybe a work of art is beautiful. Bright. Funny. Or just plain big! If we use our imaginations when looking at a piece of art, we can also describe it using all five senses. What are your five senses? What kinds of words do you use to describe a smell? What is the softest thing you ever touched? What is your favorite taste? What if a color could taste sweet like a fruit? In your imagination, what color would that be? Or what if a color could stink like garbage? What color do you imagine that would be? Let's look at some artworks to see what we discover by using all five senses. What shapes do you see in this painting? What words would you use to describe those shapes? Is there only one shape or can you find more than one? More than two? Using your imagination and using only your eyes, pretend you could touch the black shape. Do you imagine it would be hot or cold? Soft or hard? What about the white shapes? Do those have a different temperature or texture? Do they make you feel as though they are moving?
Take a moment to imagine you are feeling these temperatures and textures with your skin. Can you imagine a painting so cold that it feels like a blustery winter day? Or so hot that it's like pretending you're by a fire? What touch words would you use to describe this painting? Hearing the Sounds Around Us Before we look at another painting, take a moment to stop and listen. Right where you are, what sounds do you hear when everyone is as quiet as they can be? Do you hear any sounds from the room next door or down the hall? Can you hear sounds from outdoors, such as cars, birds, rain, or people? What are the loudest sounds? The quietest? Are the sounds changing or do you hear the same thing again and again? Take a moment to think about the sounds and how it feels to hear them. Are your ears ready for this? Transverse Line, 1923, Wassily Kandinsky Using your imagination, pretend this painting could make sounds you could hear with your ears. Do you think those sounds would be loud or quiet? Would they be calm or energetic? What do you see that makes you say that? Take a moment to pretend you are listening carefully to this painting.
Do the sounds make you want to tap your foot or sway your head? Does the noise make you want to cover your ears? Would you describe these sounds as music or are they more like sounds from the everyday world around you? Zoom in to find a detail. Then use your pretending powers to hear the sounds made by just that small area. Does it sound different than the whole? Explore the painting from side to side and up and down. Are there parts that clang or swoosh or chatter? Take a moment to take in these pretend sounds. What would this painting smell like? Oriental Poppies, 1928, Georgia O Keeffe What do you see in this picture? What does it remind you of? Imagine you could smell these flowers. What would they smell like? Pretend you are a little bug living on one of the flowers in the painting. Take a moment to imagine yourself as a bug going on an adventure, crawling across the objects in this picture. Tell a short story about your bug adventure. Maybe, as a bug, you would slide down the petal of the flower. What did that feel like? Or maybe you pretended to crawl in between the flowers. Thinking like a bug, do you like to hang out in the in the center for the pollen or rest on the petals? Why do you say that?
Take a moment to imagine the smells, tastes, and touch of this image. Hamburger, 1987, Tjalf Sparnaay Using only your eyes and your imagination, pretend you could touch the hamburger. What would it feel like? Would you want to eat it? Does this seem different from a real hamburger? How would the salt and pepper shakers feel? What smells would be in the air? Even though it looks so much like food you can taste, touch, and smell, this is not real. The artwork is actually a painting. He calls this style Megarealism.
Pretend this is a photo of your hands. What does the window feel like? What would it feel like if it were a sunny summer day? What if it were a wintery day? What noises do you hear inside the room? What noises would you hear if you were on the outside of the window? Now you've learned to use your imagination when looking at art. Thinking about how a piece of art would feel, sound, smell, or even taste can help you understand the artist and his or her art. And it's fun! Your pretending powers are now part of your art detective skills. As you use your eyes to look at art, think about your five senses when talking about the art! http://valleyridgeacademypto.com/art/artsmart.html