History Lab: 20th Century Splatter Painting

When we studied the 20th Century, we two history labs each week so we could enjoy hands-on fun to make the past come alive.

When we studied art movements of the 20th Century, we enjoyed splatter painting to learn more about Abstract-Expressionistic Art.

Before I tell you what we did, let me tell you a little bit about Abstract-Expressionistic Art.

In Abstract-Expressionistic art, the act of creating the work is more important than the final product.
One famous artist, Jackson Pollack, would place a large white canvas in the middle of the floor and throw paint in different methods onto the canvas.

He also dripped the paint or dip yarn in paint and pulled the yarn across the canvas. Pollack is remembered for his drip paintings.

Do you remember the movie Princess Diaries? The mother is an artist and she pops balloons that are filled with paint. When the paint bursts, it splatters onto a canvas. She is painting in the Abstract-Expressionist style. 

We did not fill balloons with paint and pop them, as fun as that sounds. That's way too much mess for me! Here's what we did. 

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Directions for Splatter Painting

This is a very messy lab so we did it outside on a picnic table covered with newspapers.
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If you do it inside, cover everything in the room that would be ruined by paint.
 
You will need:
     Tempura Paint in Different Colors (you can use Acrylic too, but mix it with water)
     Big Chunky Paintbrushes
     Small Spoons
     Art Canvas in preferred size or Watercolor Paper in preferred size.
 
Directions
     Place canvas, or paper on top of newspapers (or directly on the ground outside)
     Dip paintbrush in one color of paint and flick wrist to splatter paint on canvas
     Use small spoons to drop paint on canvas
     Continue splattering with as different colors as desired
     Try splattering close to canvas and from far away
     Try using circular motions or up/down motions
     Experiment with different types of wrist flicking
     Let paint dry
 
Now you have a masterpiece. We enjoyed our masterpieces and had fun learning about Abstract-Expressionistic Art. 

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Johnson Pollack, "Splatter Painting"

HIS Story of the 20th Century Homeschool Co-op Splatter Paintings

Maerissa's Splatter Painting

We studied the 20th Century with a one-credit high school world history course,  HIS Story of the 20 Century. You can purchase HIS Story of the 20th Century on Amazon and the E-book at PayHip. The accompanying workbook, HIS Story of the 20th Century High School Workbook is available at Amazon and the E-book at PayHip. 

​We hope you appetite is whetted for learning more about the 20th Century. It is an exciting time in history to delve into.

​For the glory of the Author of History,
​Meredith Curtis

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