Math and Art Lesson
Grade: 6th grade
Class size: up to 30 students
Time: 45 minutes-1 hour
Lesson Overview: Students use math and visual art vocabulary in analyzing
painting from the Barnes Foundation. Students discuss how artists use geometric
shapes in arranging figures to create a sense of three-dimensional space in twodimensions. Students do a print-making activity using scratchable foam and
printer’s ink and then share their work and ideas with other students.
Rationale: Analyzing art by breaking it down into its basic elements (color, light,
line, and space) helps increase student visual literacy and build art vocabulary. By
seeing the world through the lens of an artist, students heighten their skills in
interpreting what is around them. When students apply mathematical
terminology in analyzing artwork, they demonstrate how both math and art are
connected.
Objectives:
Students should be able to:
 Use the art vocabulary of color, light, line, and shape in analyzing a work of
art.
 Define the differences between geometric and organic shapes.
 Use the math vocabulary in analyzing artwork such as identifying different
triangles (equilateral, isoseles, right triangle)
Materials:
 Images of Paul Cezanne’s The Card Players and Horace Pippin’s Giving
Thanks
Math and Art Lesson 6th grade – The Art of Looking
The Barnes Foundation pg 1






30 brayers
Two colors of washable, printers ink
Newspaper or other table covering
30 pieces of 6x9 inch. (90 lb paper)
30 pieces of scratchboard foam
Wipes, sponges
Procedure:
 Ask students to compare Paul Cezanne’s The Card Players with Horace
Pippin’s Giving Thanks. What do you think is happening in these paintings?
What is the same in both works? How is the arrangement of the figures the
same? Does the arrangement of the figures contribute to the mood of the
paintings? Does the arrangement help to tell a story? What is different
between these two paintings? How does the arrangement of figures make
each artwork different?
 Artists use many techniques to create a sense of space in a painting. Since
a painting is two-dimensional, artists arrange figures in space to give a
sense of three-dimensions in a painting. Sometimes they use geometric
shapes to emphasize certain aspects or figures in a work. What geometric
shapes do you know? What are organic shapes?
 Do you see any geometric shapes in either of these artworks? Both artists
have used triangles to arrange figures in the composition. What kinds of
triangles do you see? (Isoeles, Equilateral, Scalene, Right Triangles?) In
Giving Thanks, the figures are arranged in a right triangle with the standing
figure at the top of the triangle. In The Card Players, the man in the seated
Math and Art Lesson 6th grade – The Art of Looking
The Barnes Foundation pg 2
in the middle is at the top of a triangle. In both cases, the main figure of
the painting is emphasized using a triangle.
 Pass out scratchable foam and pencils. Ask students to create their own
artwork using geometric shapes by drawing with pencil on the foam.
Option: ask students to draw a picture of their favorite place but arrange
the figures in a triangular composition.
 As students finish their drawing, ask students to come up to separate table
and do the printmaking activity. Use brayers, paper plates and printer’s ink
to create a print of the scratchable foam on a 6x9 inch piece of paper.
 As the prints dry, ask students to discuss their compositions and why they
chose to create them.
Math and Art Lesson 6th grade – The Art of Looking
The Barnes Foundation pg 3