Abstract Energy Landscapes

By now you have learned that we keep our world running with a combination of renewable and non-renewable resources. Our main sources of energy today are fossil fuels which formed millions of years ago from dead plants and animals. Fossils fuels are our primary source of fuel because they are relatively inexpensive, and historically they have been readily available. It is possible that we could run out of fossil fuels in the future so it is a good idea to think about alternatives. Some of the alternatives we have are things like solar power and wind power, which we call renewable resources. For this art project, you will be creating an abstract landscape mural which shows several different types of both renewable and non-renewable resources.

If you’ve never heard of a landscape, a landscape is just what it sounds like, a picture of land. Artists have been creating landscapes from the very beginning, because artists initially painted what they saw, and what they saw was the land around them. Artists were able to share what strange, far away lands looked like long before the camera was invented.

One famous landscape artist was Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). Now, when most people think of Kandinsky, they think of abstract artwork that doesn’t really represent anything at all. However, before Kandinsky was the king of abstract art, he painted landscapes in his very own style. To learn more about Kandinsky, check out this video.

For this art project, you are going to create a mural full of renewable and non-renewable resources in the style of Kandinsky. Take a look at these images to become more familiar with Kandinsky’s landscape style. For your mural, you will need to include a minimum of 4 each of our renewable resources. You will differentiate between the two by the color choices you make. You will use cool colors on the non-renewable resources and warm colors on the renewable resources (warm and cool colors). Everything else on your piece should only be black, white, or gray.

Steps:

Watch the instructional video on creating your landscape.
Find a large piece of paper to create your mural on. A brown paper grocery bag would be great! Plus, you’d be doing your part to reduce, reuse and recycle!! If you don’t have a brown paper bag, you could use the side of a box, a shoebox lid or any other piece of paper you can find.
Spend some time brainstorming and making a list of the renewable and non-renewable resources you want to include. Practice drawing the different pieces in an abstract manner by breaking down the shapes that make them up. Remember, this piece is abstract, therefore a windmill might just be a circle with lines coming out of it. Ocean waves might just be a series of triangles.
Design your mural using the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design. For this project, consider focusing on the elements of color and space and the principle of pattern (repetition). There is more information on these design concepts in the instructional video.
Be sure to add a background, a middleground and a foreground as you work. After you have designed everything and drawn in the pieces, Add color to your work. Remember, the non-renewable resources need to be colored with cool colors and the renewable resources should be colored with warm colors. You can color this mural with paint, markers, crayons, colored pencils or anything you have on hand.
When you are finished, show your completed mural to a friend or a family member. Point out the important design elements you used and the rationale behind your choices. Explain the difference between the types of resources and warm vs. cool colors. Seek input from your audience and ask for detailed feedback.
Last, complete your Artist’s Statement. You can use this form, you can write about your work on your own or you can just tell someone. Be sure to discuss the process of your artwork, how you created it, explain the artistic choices you made, share one thing you love about your piece and one thing you would change if you could.

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