Washington Street School second graders recently created murals inspired by 20th century artist Jackson Pollock using 21st century skills. The project was completed under the guidance of art teacher Lauren Privitera and district coding teacher Jennifer Horton.

After watching a video about abstract expressionism and Pollock, students made connections between the artist and coding, including how he utilized a variety of tools to create murals. They discussed the difference between “drawing” and driving the Sphero SPRK+ robot, and when each function was most useful. “Drawing” with the Sphero involves a programming “canvas” on the iPad. Students create a line or shape on the iPad canvas, then press “play” and the Sphero will recreate that line or shape on the floor. “Driving” with the Sphero is more instantaneous, as students utilize the iPad like a joystick while the robot is in drive mode.

Students then began the hands-on portion of the project, dripping paint on a large mural on the floor in the same way as Pollock did. Next, the students took turns controlling the Sphero by driving it through primary colored paint, creating secondary colors on a large canvas painting. While navigating on the canvas, students listened to jazz music for inspiration, which was provided by band teacher Mr. O'Connor, affording them the opportunity to make the Sphero dance on paper.

Date Added: 4/13/2022