ColorSpeak: What Does Color Mean?

A WebQuest for 9th through 12th Grade (Fine Art)

Designed by

Joy E. McManus
jemcmanus@earthlink.net

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page

INTRODUCTION

Understanding what color means is of primary benefit to all artists and art history students. Beyond the technical processes involved in learning how to mix paint in order to apply it to a surface, beginning painters must have a fundamental understanding of the significance of color in their work. Art Appreciation and Art History students possessing a firm comprehension of color symbolization and association will find it easier to analyze painted works throughout history. Color evokes a wide spectrum of physiological and psychological responses and emotions in the viewer’s eye, and often symbolizes specific meanings and associations to a wide group of viewers. Due to the fact that different cultures attach varied meanings to color as a symbol, color associations should not be thought of as “universal” associations; however, many aspects of color symbolism are considered to be widely accepted and agreed upon throughout history. The beginning painter must possess at least a preliminary comprehension of what color “means” to the “many” as well as be primed to “teach” his or her audience about color when its meaning is not easily recognized.

How much do you know about color symbolism? For instance, did you know that viewing the color red could actually increase individuals’ blood pressure and respiration levels? In Western cultures, red is often associated with authority. For example, a stop sign is red with white lettering, and is automatically associated with law compliance in the United States. In India, red is associated with purity, and often found as the primary color of choice in the wedding gown for a bride-to-be. In various Western cultures, white is the color of choice for a bridal gown, because white is associated with purity. Sometimes color can have a specific, associative meaning that produces additional, related meanings, or sub-associations. For example, red is associated with blood because we generally perceive blood to be red when we bleed. Have you ever noticed that red blood is often used in horror movies to inspire a sense of fear, or in war movies to depict violence and death? With only a few statements about color’s impact on and meaning to a viewing audience, can you see why it is important to learn as much as you can about the meaning of color?

This ColorSpeak lesson will allow you, as a beginning painter or art history student, to kick off your academic art career in an informed fashion by expanding on your knowledge of color theory, visual communication techniques, and most significantly, your potential viewing audience. By grasping a firm understanding of the meaning of color and how it influences others, you will help yourself build a strong foundation for all of your color based artistic endeavors and intellectual pursuits.

YOUR TASK

Your task is to develop the materials for a class resource manual for your pending studio work and art appreciation / history courses by utilizing web site resources on color meaning and symbolization. To accomplish this, you must locate and record, as part of a three-person team, no less than 30 ways that color is used to symbolize meaning, based on ten results per color. This means you are responsible for three colors and thirty total color associations, and that your three-student team is responsible for 90 associations total (30 associations per student x 3 team members = 90 color associations).

 You will use a color palette consisting of three traditional primary colors –red, blue, and yellow, as well as three secondary colors –orange, green, and purple, and three neutral colors –black, white, and gray, to categorize your results. To clarify, you will take nine colors and determine ten ways in which each are used as symbols in visual art, for a total of 90 findings per group. In addition, each of you will research and access at least three recognized paintings from a supplied, online resource that confirms one of the color associations you discovered --one painting per each color you are responsible for.

When you have completed your group project, you will present your findings to the rest of your class. After all presentations are complete, a class discussion will take place in order to arrive at a general conclusion as to what is commonly accepted about color’s meaning to you and your classmates, and what unique meaning in color might require further study or explanation. Your submitted results and decisions will be documented and distributed as a class resource guide to further your studies and those of your classmates in studio applications involving color, as well as art appreciation and art history.

THE PROCESS

1. In order to acquire the results necessary to create the materials for your portion of the class resource guide on color meaning, you will be assigned to work in a team of three students.
2. Your teacher will present you and your two team members with three cards. Each of you will select a card to determine which color group --primary, secondary, or neutral --that you are responsible for.
3. You will be assigned the following daily projects for eight class days:

1. DAY ONE: GETTING TO KNOW COLOR AND WHAT IT MEANS

Your first task is to immerse yourself in color and think about what color means to you by asking yourself various questions, such as:

What is your favorite color and why?
How does a particular color make you feel?
When you view an image, do you associate the color scheme you see with anything in particular?

While reflecting on these questions, you will go to the following two web sites to do some color experimentation with the assistance of your teacher:

Color Cube Scrambles Intro
http://www.colorcube.com/play/scramble/sort.htm
Using the Java Applet based color cube scrambler, re-arrange the color puzzles into their proper order, trying to score as few points as possible on each puzzle. There are eight categories to choose from, featuring an easy, medium, and hard version. Try a few on the easy level first, and see how far you can get with the fewest points!

Wet Canvas' Psychology of Color
http://wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Color/ColorTheory/Lesson8/index.html

Read this insightful primer on color psychology, and make notes about the distinctions made between color and art, color and environment, and how to judge the use of color in general.

Color Cube Color Assistant
http://www.colorcube.com/play/assist/assist.htm
Using the Java Applet based Color Cube Scrambler, perform color experiments on each of the nine images available. Remember that you are preparing to study color meaning and associations while performing these experiments. Try to apply color schemes that set a mood. For example, using the house image on this exercise (image 4), attempt to create a nighttime based, haunted house color scheme, and then a sunny afternoon color scheme.

For homework, write a short journal about what you learned from your reading on the Wet Canvas web site, as well as your experimentation with the Color Cube Color Assistant and submit it to your teacher via e-mail. Print a copy of your response for your records.

2. DAYS TWO, THREE, AND FOUR: RESEARCH ONE ASSIGNED COLOR PER DAY

Using the Color Symbolization and Association links below as a starting point for your research, you will select one of your assigned colors per day to study and acquire color associations on. Please do not limit yourself to the provided links. Independent Web research is encouraged, and will result in a higher grade!

A statement was made in the introduction regarding color associations possessing sub-associations. If you choose to use a primary association, such as red being associated with blood, you must include the sub-associations with blood, ie, death, war, horror, etc. with the primary association. In other words, death, war, and horror being associated with red because imagery of blood is used points to one association and a set of sub-associations, and will be counted as such. To view an example of how to compile and record your associations as separate items, or as items with sub-associations, click here. 

As you progress with your research, you will record your findings each day by submitting the results to your instructor via e-mail. Your color association descriptions should be accompanied by an explanation of why a certain color has a particular visual association, and where you acquired the information. Upon submitting your daily observations, you must print a copy for your own records, as you will be using them later in this lesson.

While you are working through this project, you will undoubtedly come across unique facts about color use and meaning! Be sure to add any novel facts about color you uncover to your project list results under a separate heading labeled Unique Meaning for extra credit (see rubric)!

During this three day research period, the last ten minutes of each class day will be made available to you to discuss your results with your teammates, or provide support to a team member who is experiencing difficulty on acquiring information on one the assigned colors. As you go through the research process, you will probably find references to your team members colors as well as your own. Remember that you are going to do a presentation at the end of this project, so be helpful to your team members and work together!

3. DAYS FIVE AND SIX: MATCHING RECOGNIZED WORKS OF ART TO YOUR COLOR ASSOCIATION OBSERVATIONS

On days five and six, you will take all of your printed observations and put them to work! Using the Web resources below, browse and study recognized works of art to determine whether a painting or other type of artwork matches one of the color meanings you discovered. You must locate at least one work of art per assigned color, or three paintings total per team member for a total of nine paintings to talk about during your presentation.

As you progress with this matching assignment, you must record your findings each day and e-mail the results to your instructor. Your art work title selection should be accompanied by the artist, the color association chosen, and a short explanation as to why the artwork matches the color meaning you chose. You must also include the Web site title and URL where you located the work of art. Click here to view the format you will use to compose your research information. Upon submitting your daily observations, you must print a copy for yourself. You will be using them for your ColorSpeak presentation.

 

WORKS OF ART RESEARCH LINKS

ArtCyclopedia Fine Art Search Engine http://artcyclopedia.com/index.html

Wet Canvas' History of Color http://wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Color/ColorTheory/Lesson4/index.html

Loggia: Explore the Arts and Humanities http://www.loggia.com/index.html

Art Institute of Chicago http://www.artic.edu/aic/index.html

4. DAY SEVEN: TEAM DISCUSSION AND PRESENTATION PREPARATION

Using your print-outs for reference, get together with your teammates and discuss all of your findings. Your pending presentation will consist of your team showing the class the nine paintings you and your teammates found, and describing why you selected them, based on the results you discovered about a particular color's meaning. Decide the order in which you and your teammates will present. Record your team's choices on the ColorSpeak Presentation form and submit them to your instructor. Print three copies of your form results --one for each team member.

5. DAYS EIGHT & NINE: CLASS PRESENTATIONS & CLOSING DISCUSSION

Your team will give a ten minute presentation on your nine selected works of art, including a statement about why each was selected. You will have access to the Web and a multimedia projector in order to appropriately illustrate your selected works. Have all of your printed reference materials on hand, and deliver your presentation in the exact order you decided upon on DAY SEVEN.

Evaluation

Conclusion

Now that you have completed this lesson, you should be able to see that color makes a significant impact on the way we view art and the environment around us. Your distributed resource guide should be a starting point that you can build on over time.

CREDITS AND REFERENCES

All graphics supplied on this page were created by the author.

The template used to create this Teacher WebQuest page was made available from The WebQuest Page at San Diego University. Site last accessed on November 15, 2002. http://webquest.sdsu.edu/

Gude, Olivia. Drawing Color Lines. UIC Spiral Art Education. Retrieved October 30, 2002 from University of Illinois Web Site: http://www.uic.edu/classes/ad/ad382/sites/AEA/AEA_03/AAEA03b.html

Morton, Jill. (April 2001) Color Voodoo: A Guide to Color Symbolism [CD-Rom].  Colorcom
(Available through http://www.colorcom.com)