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Photograph of Artwork

Details of Selected Title of artwork: ORANGE BOX, BLUE BOX

Artwork Artist: KAWS (Brian Donnelly)
Year: 2023
Artistic style: Pop Art

Description of artwork: This design was created for the packaging of the
cereal Reese’s Puffs as a collaboration with General Mills and KAWS in 2021.
KAWS redid this design on canvas with acrylic paint and released it in 2023.
One piece uses the iconic orange Reese’s Puffs colours, while the other uses a
complementary blue. Both designs are the same with only the main focal point
of the COMPANION character in a bowl of Reese’s Puffs changing. In the
orange, the figure seems to be relaxing in the cereal, while in the orange it is
submerged. This represented KAWS’s new game, KAWSPUFFS where the
player would try to save COMPANION from falling into a bowl of cereal.
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Activity Plan

Focus of Inspiration The artwork inspired my activity because I really enjoyed how the two
Example of activity pieces were identical with slight changes in colour and the bowl of cereal. It
without the collaging: is simple and looks good together as a whole overarching picture. This
https://drive.google.co
inspired me to create a collage activity that has a pair of complementary
m/file/d/10zlw-E3smcp
KPqGX7kEDaztv8nyR colours alternating between the negative and positive space depending if it
FEl8/view?usp=sharing is on the left or right side of the page. There is also supposed to be an
identical shape on each side of the page. The focus of this activity is for the
child to explore the process of collaging multiple materials and to be able to
make a distinguished shape within their collage using two different colours
that complement each other. The child should learn elements of art such as
colour and balance, and depending on the materials they use it could lead to
other elements such as texture, lines, shape, and more (Fox & Schirrmacher,
2014).
Age and Grade of Age seven to eight, third-grade students/children.
Learners
Name of Activity: Complementary Colours Collage.
Materials Students will be given a pencil and eraser, one 16 x 22 white construction
Note: when I use the paper to create their collage on, a white glue stick and liquid glue, and
word colour I am only regular scissors. Other materials that will be available and shared with other
considering red, yellow,
children are placed at an art table that children can walk up to and grab
blue, green, orange, and
purple. materials from. This includes a variety of different decorative edge scissors
to create different types of lines/cuts, letter-size construction paper, tissue
paper, and craft foam of every colour, as well as a variety of magazines,
newspapers and grocery store flyers. In addition, multiple rolls of washi
tape and multiple sticker sheets that have themes of every colour so there is
some variety and not just one shade of a certain colour will be provided.
Set up This activity is planned for a regular-sized class of third-grade students who
will all participate at once, around 20-25 students. All discussions will be
Please refer to this done on a rectangular carpet where children will be sitting on the floor. I
image of the classroom
will either be sitting down on a chair in front of the carpet and the children
layout and setup:
https://drive.google.co or using the smartboard behind me. The discussions will be the
m/file/d/17rvQyKBK8I introduction, instruction, and extension of the activity. When doing the
6AOpXZeyT9kPikQlB collage activity, the children will sit in table groups of five, equaling five
2h4mn/view?usp=shari table groups in total that they sit in every day for their other classes. The
ng assigned table children will sit at will be chosen by myself and I will move
children around throughout the school year. This is to promote children
talking with one another and creating genuine friendships so that they grow
a sense of belonging and well-being with all their classmates and become
comfortable in this environment. I will have the shared materials on the art
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table and the individual materials on each child’s desk before the children
enter the room for the art activity. The art table is next to my desk to
promote interactions between the children and myself (Ontario Ministry of
Education, 2014).
Instructions I will introduce this collage activity by sitting with the children at the carpet
with the image of KAWS’ ORANGE BOX, BLUE BOX on the smartboard. I
will be at the front of the class next to the smartboard and ask prompting
questions to get the children thinking of the piece, the story behind it, as
well as other elements they think stand out or would like to talk about. I will
encourage children to think for a few minutes in their heads before
answering and co-learn new perspectives with them. During our discussion,
I will point out the complementary colours and discuss this element of
colour while showing a colour wheel with only six sections. After this
discussion, I will transition into the explanation of the art activity and define
what a collage is. One teaching strategy I will use is to model and
demonstrate how to make a collage. After I explain the activity I will
transition to using the overhead projector that shows what I am doing on the
smartboard. I will show the children how to use different types of glue and
examples of using each material and the different placements while talking
through each step. I then will ask if there are any questions and have the
children return to their desks to start the art project. The second teaching
strategy I will use is being a troubleshooter for children during the process
of making the collage. I can do this by using specific language and asking
children questions to help guide them in their artistic exploration. For
example, if a child asks me what materials they should use in the collage,
instead of randomly picking and saying a material and hurrying them along,
I will pause and talk to them by asking them what materials they think they
should use and give suggestions as to how they can come to this conclusion,
such as touching the different materials and experimenting with them on a
separate paper before putting it on their final copy to determine if they
would like to use it (Fox & Schirrmacher, 2014; KAWS, 2023).
Learning Outcomes The main learning outcome I am using is from The Arts (2009) document,
third grade, visual arts: D1.3 use elements of design in artworks to
communicate ideas, messages, and understandings. This will support
children’s artistic development because the goal is for them to understand
and learn more about the elements of colour, the colour wheel, and
specifically complementary colours. Children will be able to communicate
their personal understanding of complementary colours by correctly using a
pair of complementary colours in their collage. This activity also considers
different elements of art as stated in other sections. This activity also
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supports children’s free thinking and expression of ideas and feelings as it is

open-minded and child-led as they decide what pieces they want to use in
their collage, the shape they will create, and the stories they want to tell
(Ontario Ministry of Education and Training, 2009).
According to Piaget’s stage of cognitive development, children in third
grade are in the concrete operational stage which is when they develop
logical thought. This is significant because they can begin to understand the
relationship between colours better and can classify them, for example,
complementary colours. Egocentrism is also reduced which allows children
to better think about a piece of art and the different perspectives and views
others may have on it. Lowenfeld and Brittain’s artistic development theory
also states that children aged seven to nine are in the schematic stage. At
this stage, children are still more interested in the process than the product
which creating a collage supports as there are multiple different materials
children can use and experiment with. In Schirrmacher’s realistic stage (age
five to eight), children begin to work on a variety of techniques such as
placement, proportion, shape, colour, and perspective which this collage
activity all supports. Another aspect of this stage is that children generally
are dissatisfied with making abstract or nonrepresentational art as they are
concerned with photographic realism and want things to appear as they do
in reality. To overcome this challenge in collage-making, I created a
representational aspect by ensuring that they picked a shape to represent in
their artwork and to make sure it is identifiable (Fox & Schirrmacher, 2014).
Assessment One approach I plan to use to assess the artwork is using the holistic model
for artistic assessment. Specifically, I will be looking at the final product
and considering the cognitive and physical aspects using a broad, yet formal
checklist. The physical aspect is in creating a finished product, the children
will show me that they are physically capable of using certain tools, and
they have to make sure that everything on the collage is stuck to the paper
and stays on the paper when moved and displayed. For the cognitive aspect,
I want to see that children understand the element of complementary
colours by following the instructions and having, for example, blue as the
background on the left side of the paper and then blue as the shape on the
right side, and vice versa with orange. I also want to see that they have
created a distinguished shape that is close to identical on either side of the
paper and that there is a sense of balance. If they are able to show these
things in their work then I will assess the student as understanding the focus
of the activity.
Secondly, I plan to assess the artwork considering the personal and
emotional aspects of the holistic model. I will be using an informal verbal
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assessment by talking to each child individually about their finished

product. I will ask the child to explain their artwork to me and tell me what
complementary colours and shape they chose and why. In the process of
them telling me the colours and shape, I will be ensuring that it matches
what they created. I will also ask about the story behind the piece, the ideas
and their feelings during the process of collaging, and their thoughts on the
product. Through the informal conversation, I will be able to see how
children were able to overcome challenges and express their emotions and
feelings in their artwork which is one of the learning outcomes (Fox &
Schirrmacher, 2014).
Extension of Activity I plan on extending my activity by creating another collage art activity
revolving around the element of colour, however, this time the children will
be creating the materials that will be used in the collage using construction
paper and Eric Carle’s technique of painting. I will read The Very Hungry
Caterpillar by Eric Carle to the children and discuss the images in the story
and how they are all made by collaging. I then will show them a video of
Eric Carle and the process he takes to create his artworks and create a
discussion around this (Carle, 1969; PBS12, 2021).
Supporting Resources One practical resource I have for teachers is a YouTube video targeted
for Teachers towards children introducing and explaining what a collage is and simple
techniques they can use to create a collage. Teachers can either directly
show the children the video or take inspiration from it for their introduction
to collaging (Big Ideas Art Studio, 2021). Another resource is the book The
Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. This book has a good message and
all the images in the story are made by collaging which teachers can create a
discussion about with children and create collage activities using Eric
Carle’s general artistic technique (Carle, 1969). The third supporting
resource builds on the second. It is a video for children where Fred Rogers
meets Eric Carle and discusses and demonstrates how he creates the art
pieces for his collages and how he puts the collages together to make a
distinct image. He emphasizes that there are no mistakes (PBS12, 2021).
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References

Big Ideas Art Studio. (2021, September 26). 5 minute demo: intro to collage | choice-based art

education [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpgEu6PV7XQ

Carle, E. (1969). The very hungry caterpillar. World Publishing Company.

Fox, J. E., & Schirrmacher, R. (2014). Art and creative development for young children (8th ed.).

Delmar.

KAWS. (2023). ORANGE BOX, BLUE BOX [Painting]. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2014). How does learning happen? Ontario's pedagogy for the early

years. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

https://files.ontario.ca/edu-how-does-learning-happen-en-2021-03-23.pdf

Ontario Ministry of Education and Training (2009). The Ontario curriculum, grades 1-8: The arts.

Revised. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf

PBS12. (2021, June 3). It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood when Mister Rogers visits with the

beloved, late children's author and artist, Eric Carle. [Video]. Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/PBS12.CO/videos/its-a-beautiful-day-in-the-neighborhood-when-mis

ter-rogers-visits-with-the-belov/292275379297480/