Submitted by: Carolyn Roberts, (retired) Kinston High School Kinston, NC
Unit: Drawing or Painting
Lesson: Composition with Red Hat
Grade Level: High School (may be adapted for elementary and middle school)

PREPARATION:

1. Make a PowerPoint of works with Red Hats. Include in PowerPoint of Hats through the ages - show how hat styles have changed. What do hats tell us about the culture? What kind of hats are worn for work? for play?

2. Get a collection of hats from a local theater company (or maybe thrift shop or Goodwill). Have student imagine them to be red. Younger students will want to try the hats on so have some disinfectant spray. I can see some of you going from garage sale to garage sale buying outrageous hats and spray painting them all red!

Inspired by Modigliani - this could be about art styles     This could be about fashion design.

PROCEDURES:

Summary: Students had to create a work of art that included a "red hat", either as a focal point or as an accent in the picture.  The picture could be in color or black and white with the hat in red and they could choose the medium that they wanted to use.  Preliminary drawings in their sketchbooks were required prior to beginning the final work.

1. Research hat styles. What style of hat will work best for your idea?

2. Make sketches of the hat - try different arrangements/placements. If the hat is to be worn in a portrait - make sure it fits head properly and is in correct proportion to the head.

3. Make some thumbnail sketches of composition - select best one for composition.

4. Draw compositions on 12 x 18 newsprint (or whatever size works for composition)

5. Transfer to quality drawing paper (watercolor paper, canvas board - whatever you happen to be using). Seral transfer paper is available in graphite or white for dark paper.

6. Render in chosen medium - mixed media is good, too.

7. Have a class critique. Give fun awards "Best of Show", "Most Outrageous Hat", "Most Meaningful"

OBJECTIVE:

To create a two-dimensional work of art that includes a red hat

GRADES BASED ON:

Composition

Illusion of depth by using:

• Overlapping, size variation, position on page, value (lighter colors in distance/darker colors up close, intensity (bright colors up close/dull colors in distance)
• Rules of perspective one or two point. Middle School teachers - think how it might add a spark of interest to your perspective lessons, too (see example) . So many possibilities.
• Texture
• Emphasis – focal point, center of interest
• Repetition
  • Color, shape, pattern, etc.
• Contrast
  • Color, value (light against dark), texture (smooth against rough), line (thick/thin, curve/straight, light/dark, etc.)
• Pattern

IDEAS:

• Person wearing a “red hat” - show mood, age,  show culture, fashion design - "in the style of" (isms)

• Art Parody "Red Hat" - show painting "in the style of" - ex: Mona with a red hat - Change century

• “Red hat” included in a still life setup - a different kind of portrait - What accessories to add?

• Humorous -  Monkey swinging through the trees with a “red hat” in his hand

• “Red hat” for sale in a shop window

• Clown with “red hat” - worker with "red hat"

• Santa Claus wears a “red hat”

• etc.

EXAMPLES OF ARTISTS WORKS:

• Jacob Lawrence “Parade” 1960*
• Marc Chagall- “Peasant Life” 1925
• People at work: Thomas Pollock Anshutz: The Farmer and His Son at Harvesting
• Miyuki Tanobe "Inside the Sugar-Shack" (no. 1.20 Art Image Publication)
• Milliner's Shop Art Poster by August Macke
• Hats through through the ages: Jacob Jordaens "As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe" (no. 4.14) 
• Fra Filippo Lippo "Portrait of a Man and a Woman" (no. 4.15 Art Image Publication)*
• Domenico Ghirlandaio "The Death of St. Francis" and Portrait of Dante by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Also see Domenico Ghirlandaio: Old Man and His Grandson
• Masaccio: Portrait of a youth in profile. See also *Masaccio: Prince of Antioch, detail: head of a courtie
• Judith Leyster "The Jester"
• People at Play or Music: The Dancers by Fernando Botero
  Augusts Renoir "Dance at Bougival"
  Faith Ringgold "Church Picnic"
  George Seurat "Bathing at Asnieres"
  Ernst Kirchner "Hockey Players"
  Pablo Picasso "Woman with Tambourine"
• Portraits: Pablo Picasso "Portrait de Marie-Therese"
  Pablo Picasso "Weeping Woman" *
  Mary Cassatt "Child with Red Hat" * 
  Alexi Jawlensky "Woman with a Fan"
• Drama: Edvard Munch "Girl on a Bridge"
  Pablo Picasso "Saltimbanques" circus performers (Shorewood 1217)
• Other works with hats (not red): Mary Cassatt "Margot In a Dark Red Costume"
  Mary Cassatt "Woman with Dog"
  Romare Bearden "She-Ba" hat may be red and black (Shorewood 1704)
• Jan Vermeer : Girl with a Red Hat  C. 1665

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Images from Internet (try a Google image search for red hat painting -  redhat painting -red hat drawing -redhat drawing - red hat art - red hat will give some some great hats)
• Red Hat Society (some great hats!)
• Poem "Warning" by Jenny Joseph (read this for inspiration). Ladies should be wearing purple and a red hat as they read the poem - A little drama is even good for high school.
• Hold onto Your Hats An exhibition about the history and meaning of hats and other headwear in Canada. Canadian Museum of Civilizations.
• Brief History of Men's Hats  Brief History of 20th Century hats  History of Hats links
• Picture History Hairstyles and Hats (USA)
• Hats and Millinery Links  Women's Hats Images 1890 - 1914
• Book: A Fashionable History of: Hats and Hairstyles by Helen Reynolds (grade 6 - 8)
• Book: Hats: A History of Fashion in Headwear by Hilda Amphlett.

MEDIA:

• Your choice (Pencils/Colored Pencils, Pastels, Oil Pastels, Tempera Paint, etc.)

•  AS LONG AS YOU HAVE INCLUDED A RED HAT IN YOUR PICTURE!

• Sketchbooks/journals, 12 x 18 (30.5 x 46 cm) Newsprint, Saral Transfer Paper, Drawing Paper (etc).

Note: For younger students, you may want to limit choices of media.

LESSON EXTENSIONS:

Expand the unit to 3-D works.... This could become a fashion design lesson as well.
See Red Hat Pin (made from recycled jewelry parts and Sculpey)

* These are best prints