Artie’s Art Class — Juxtaposition in Art

Shapes are among the foundations of art, just as programming begins with coding. Lines of code become lines on a page using Artie 3000^™. From simple lines and angles to intricate circular shapes, Artie can create anything you program it to draw.

Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:

Understand the purpose of juxtaposition in art

Materials

Juxtaposition means to put pictures or ideas side by side. In art, juxtaposition is often used to create an effect by placing contrasting elements together. This adds visual interest, creating excitement and drama in the artwork. Here’s an example of juxtaposition using both color and texture:

M&Ms falling into an ice cream cone — When elements of art like the candy and waffle cone are juxtaposed like they appear above, it’s left up to the viewer to establish connections or infer meaning from the composition.

Okay, let’s use Artie to create our own examples of juxtaposition.

Using the four colorful markers, find the preprogrammed shapes in Artie’s user interface and get coding on one single sheet of paper. Let the designs overlap and build a colorful masterpiece designed by you and drawn by Artie.

Open Artie’s Quick Start Guide to learn how to power up and connect to Artie.
Open your web browser and navigate to local.codewithartie.com to access Artie’s user interface (Artie UI)
Use Artie UI to plot out different shapes. Use the concept of juxtaposition to draw contrast between the shapes’ form, color, and size.

As you begin to design and draw different patterns, think about this: What are some contrasts you can demonstrate with Artie?

Shape

You can draw all of one shape and then add a different shape. What does the juxtaposition of the shapes mean to you? (It’s entirely possible that the proximity and orientation are meaningless.)

Color

You can use one color marker to draw a few shapes over and over, and then change to a different color marker. Don’t forget to use your marker parker to set the new color marker at the right level so the marker doesn’t leak on your paper before you are ready to draw.

The five interlocking Olympic rings, one of each color, were designed in 1913 by Pierre de Coubertin. Each ring represents one of Earth’s five continents, and their juxtaposition represents one planet united through sport.

Size

You can draw multiple shapes and then create another in a different size. What does the juxtaposition of each shapes’ size mean to you?

Now, compare and contrast the examples of juxtaposition above. Does the juxtaposition in any of those compositions seem random? Or intentional? Do you think any of them are intended to evoke a specific emotion?

Don’t forget, you can can combine any of the above techniques — color, size, and shape — to create something entirely new!

Artie tip example — **Tip:** If you’re changing the size of a shape, you just need to change the length of the “move” command.

More Tips And Tricks

Is this your first time working with Artie? Maybe you’re just looking for some guidance. Either way, we can help! Check out this “How To Code” video from our friends at Educational Insights.

Educational Insights is honored to partner with Mensa for Kids to develop cool coding activities for inside and out of the classroom that make learning fun with Artie 3000^™. This lesson was designed to meet the needs of gifted children for extension beyond the standard curriculum. Lessons may be given to the students for individual self-guided work, or they may be taught in a classroom or a home-school setting. This lesson does not include a rubric.