WHAT DO THESE PICTURES HAVE IN COMMON? Islamic tiling, date unknown Nazca Symmetry, date unknown Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum Chrysler Building, 1930 William Van Alen

Islamic tiling, date unknown Nazca Symmetry, date unknown Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum Chrysler Building, 1930 William Van Alen SYMMETRY IN ART TERMS, A FIGURE HAS SYMMETRY IF IT HAS BALANCE – MEANING IT IS THE “SAME” ON BOTH SIDES

Islamic tiling, date unknown Nazca Symmetry, date unknown Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum Chrysler Building, 1930 William Van Alen SYMMETRY IN MATH TERMS, A FIGURE HAS SYMMETRY IF YOU CAN DRAW A LINE THROUGH THE PICTURE AND ONE SIDE IS A MIRROR IMAGE OF THE OTHER

Islamic tiling, date unknown Nazca Symmetry, date unknown Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum Chrysler Building, 1930 William Van Alen SYMMETRY TODAY WE ARE LOOKING AT THE SCIENCE OF SYMMETRY AND HOW IT IS USED IN PSYCHOLOGY AND THEN MAKING OUR OWN SYMMETRICAL ARTWORK

SYMMETRY  First we are going to create symmetrical pieces of artwork – we will start by printing and finish with painting! Watch while I demonstrate -  Our first step is to put on our art smocks and write our name on our papers  Fold your paper in half – doesn’t matter which way – you choose!  Next, take your brush and dip it into the white paint – keep your brush thin or thick (but not like a porcupine)and do a quick line on only HALF of your paper  Now fold your paper back together and press - which is printing your paint onto the other side  Open your paper back up and do another thin or thick (choose differently than the first time), white line on the same side you were just painting on!  Now fold it back and press to print your paint  You will do this about 3-4 times and then stop, come back up to the front and sit down  Let’s head back to our seats now and pick out a colored piece of paper for our project…

SYMMETRY Okay! Let’s head back up front now… ****Make sure your paper is open before coming back to see the power point- if you keep it folded, the paint will dry and glue it shut!!!*****

SYMMETRY  What does this look like to you?  This is a Rorschach ink blot that was created by painting half of a piece of paper and then folding and printing the ink to the opposite side  Printing is using a tool dipped into ink or paint and touched to the paper to leave a "print". Kind of like leaving your finger prints on the windows, or footprints in the wet sand  In our case, we used one half of our paper as our tool and painted our ink onto the paper to then touch it to the opposite side

SYMMETRY  What does this look like to you?  This is another Rorschach ink blot  These ink blots are sometimes used by psychologists (doctors of the mind) to determine a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning – basically the way a person feels and why they act the way that they do  When we get back to our seats, we will look at our own “ink blots” and try to find a picture in them!  Let’s brainstorm some symmetrical objects that we know of from nature…

SYMMETRY Let’s see how we can paint this picture to look like a funny object - If I paint this on the right side, I need to paint it on the left side too to make it symmetric! Notice how this one shape is still symmetric even though it is in the middle!

SYMMETRY So now we are going to paint our pictures to create a fun symmetric piece! Watch while I demonstrate how to go through the following steps… First, we will go back to our paintings and find what they look like to you…maybe you will see an animal, an item in nature, a face, or maybe just an abstract design Second, you will use the colors of paint on your table to create those designs Things to keep in mind when using and mixing paint: When mixing colors, always dip into light colors like yellow and white with a clean brush Scoop some paint to your mixing spot on the paint plate, then rinse, dry and dip into other color and mix in that spot After each color, rinse in water, blot on paper towel and dip into new color Mix colors in a clean spots of your palette and be respectful of your painting partners so they have all colors available Keep symmetry in mind and have fun! Can’t wait to see what fun pictures you come up with!

SYMMETRY Let’s review what we learned today: Symmetry in art is when a piece has balance – meaning it is the “same” on both sides Symmetry in math is when you can draw a line through the picture and one side is a mirror image of the other Printing is using a tool dipped into ink or paint and touched to the paper to leave a “print”  Rorschach ink blots are sometimes used by psychologists (doctors of the mind) to determine a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning – basically the way a person feels and why they act the way that they do

SYMMETRY Discussion questions:  What does symmetry mean?  What is printmaking?  Who sometimes uses Rorschach ink blots?  Did you like this method of creating art?  What picture did you see in your print?  What did you decide to paint to help us understand your picture?  What would you call your picture?  Can you think of things in nature that have symmetry?