Family audio: Jackson Pollock

Dallas Museum of Art, family tour (ages 4–8)
Cathedral, Jackson Pollock (1950.87)

NARRATOR—What colors do you see in this picture?

Black…white…gray…gold…any more? Pick a line in any color. Trace your line in the air with your finger.

[SOUND—VIOLIN OR OTHER INSTRUMENT (SOMETHING LIKE A THEREMIN?) DESCRIBES LONG LINES, ARCS OF COLOR.]

NARRATOR—Follow the line as it climbs… …and twists… …and spatters.

[SOUND—STACCATO EFFECT. SOUND OUT.]

NARRATOR—The artist’s name was Jackson Pollock. He invented a new way to paint. Let’s try it! Imagine you have a piece of canvas—the white cloth that artists paint on. Spread your canvas out on the floor. Now open a can of imaginary paint. Use the tip of your finger as a paintbrush. Dip it in the paint. Now hold the brush over your imaginary canvas on the floor. See how paint drips down from the brush, in a stream?

[SOUND—LONG, QUAVERING TONES.]

NARRATOR—Keep holding your brush over the canvas. Walk around and watch the paint drip down in long, squiggly lines.

[SOUND—AS AT THE BEGINNING: BIG ARCS TO GET LISTENER MOVING.]

NARRATOR—Shake your hand to spatter the paint.

[SOUND—STACCATO.]

NARRATOR—You’re painting the same way Jackson Pollock painted.

[SOUND—CONTINUE, TO A HARMONIOUS CONCLUSION.]

NARRATOR—Look at his painting again. This isn’t a picture of something Jackson Pollock saw. It’s a picture of what he did. And how he did it! It’s full of energy!

[SOUND OUT.]

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