Subject Guides: Teaching Art: Composition

Unity and Emphasis in Composition

What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know about Horses? by Richard Van Camp; George Littlechild (Illustrator)
Call Number: PZ 7 V26247 Wh 1998
"On January's coldest day of the year in a small community in the Northwest Territories, a stranger to horses searches among family and friends for answers to an important question."

Curriculum Fit:

Level 1: Component 8: Unity: create unity through density and rhythm.
Concepts:
A. Families of shapes, and shapes inside or beside shapes, create harmony.
B. Overlapping forms help to unify a composition.
C. Repetition of qualities such as colour, texture and tone produce rhythm and balance.

Level 3: Component 7 - Concept C: Rhythmic features can lead the eye to the dominant area in a composition.

Three Cheers for Catherine the Great! by Cari Best; Giselle Potter (Illustrator); Dorling Kindersley Publishing Staff
Call Number: PZ 7 B46579 Th 1999
"Best's folksy tale is freckled with offbeat imagery (an "alphabet moon" describes a C-shaped crescent) and appealing human and animal characters. Potter's delectably skewed watercolors extend the intimacy of Best's narrative and capture the tender bond between Sara and Grandma. Patterns of flowers and stripes, stars and polka dots run riot on dresses, rugs and even Grandma's underpants ("as big as tents and as loud as six firecrackers on the Fourth of July"). Such details as Russian nesting dolls, Grandma's "saving jars" and short Russian phrases followed by their English equivalents, contrasting with the contemporary lifestyles of the building residents, heighten the sense of two worlds harmoniously coexisting."

Curriculum Fit: Composition

Level 1: Component 7: Emphasis
B. The main part of the composition can be treated thoroughly before adding related parts.
(Suggested Methods or Strategies from Teachers Resource Manual:
Have students create compositions that show cross sections of buildings... or x-ray pictures to show the interior of what things look lie. Make the most prominent item the strongest to create a centre of interest.)

Level 1: Component 8: Unity
Concepts:
A. Families of shapes, and shapes inside or beside shapes, create harmony.
B. Overlapping forms help to unify a composition.
C. Repetition of qualities such as colour, texture and tone produce rhythm and balance.

Making a Compositional Statement

Picture This by Molly Bang
Call Number: NK 1510 B216 1991

Curriculum Fit:

Composition - organization of images and their qualities in the creation of unified statements.
Strength of this book: it answers the question "How does the structure of a picture affect our emotional response?" Award winning book artist Molly Bang investigates this question using cut paper to create abstract illustrations for "Little Red Riding Hood." Other books by Molly Bang: "Goose", "The paper crane" and "The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher"

What You Know First by Patricia MacLachlan; Barry Moser (Illustrator)
Call Number: PZ 7 M15637 Wh 1995
As a family prepares to move away from their farm, the daughter reflects on all the things she loves there so that when her baby brother is older she can tell him what it was like. Dramatic black line engravings by Barry Moser.

Curriculum Fit:

Composition (Level 2), Component 7: Concept B: Format can be adjusted and composition tightened by editing or cropping the unnecessary areas from the edges of a work, after it is completed.

What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know about Horses? by Richard Van Camp; George Littlechild (Illustrator)
Call Number: PZ 7 V26247 Wh 1998
"On January's coldest day of the year in a small community in the Northwest Territories, a stranger to horses searches among family and friends for answers to an important question."

Curriculum Fit:
Composition (Level 3) Component 7 - Concept C: Rhythmic features can lead the eye to the dominant area in a composition.