DESCRIPTION: Through the use of their bodies, students learn what lines "feel" like.

OBJECTIVES: In addition to identifying different types of lines, this activity is also intended to help students focus on individual works of art and experience the museum.

PROCEDURE: Who can show me a line that is in this room? What kind of a line is it (straight, curvy, etc.)? Let's see if we can use our bodies to make different kinds of lines. Make sure to include every part of your body--arms, legs and head.

Can you show me what a straight line looks like using your body?
Now become a curved line.
Try being a zig-zag line.
Now become a smooth line.
Now try a jagged line.

O.K. let's try a couple of harder lines.
Try being a thick line.
Then a thin line.

Now that we've learned how to be a line, let's find some artworks that show us different kinds of lines. Who sees a line in this artwork? What kind of line is it? Does it look like the line we made with our bodies? How is it the same? How is it different? Are there a lot of lines in the artwork or just a few? (See if the students can imitate with their bodies the different lines in the artwork.) What do the lines do to the artwork (i.e. make the artwork appear to be very active, organized, loose, quiet, etc.)? What are some words you would use to describe the line?

MINNESOTA GRADUATION STANDARDS:
(1) Read, View, Listen
(2) Write and Speak
(3) Literature and the Arts

Age level: Appropriate for the youngest visitors (Pre K-2).
Artworks used: Paintings or sculptures that make bold use of lines.
Props needed: No props needed.
Related to Minneapolis Sculpture Garden: Yes


© 1998 WALKER ART CENTER