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Color Study

K–12 Introductory Activities

The Power of Color

Before beginning specific grade-band lesson plans, consider exploring the power of color in Gibson’s work with your class.

Jeffrey Gibson’s vibrant artwork offers a rich foundation for exploring color through art activities. A deep understanding of the power of color is at the heart of all Gibson’s work. He is interested in the impact of color, including how colors communicate, how color can impact how people feel, and how colors interact with each other when layered or put side by side. 

While most of us can see colors, our unique backgrounds and experiences inform how we interpret the meaning and emotions connected to different colors. For example, while shades of blue might evoke sadness for one viewer, they might evoke a sense of calm and peace for another.   

Introduce Playing with Color in Your Classroom

Use this close-looking and discussion activity to begin thinking about the power of color and Gibson's work. 

For an example of how Gibson explores color, view Spirit and Matter, 2023.

Suggested Materials: colored pencils and paper.

  1. Introduce your students to Jeffrey Gibson by reading his Artist Statement and/or showing his Video Interview.  
  2. To begin thinking about the power of color, share works by Gibson from his Gallery of Work and ask the following discussion questions: 
  • An artist’s palette is a board or tray that holds the different colors used in the artist’s work. The word palette can also mean just the range of colors the artist uses. Can you sketch an artist’s palette with the names of the colors you see in Gibson’s paintings? What colors are on your sketch? 
  • What do you notice about the colors that Gibson uses? How do they make you feel? Why do you think certain colors make you feel a certain way? As a class, think of examples of how certain colors make students feel.  

Teacher Tip

Create a visual chart or map to track student responses. Can students explain why certain colors evoke certain emotions?

  1. The brightness of a color is called that color’s intensity. A color has full intensity when the artist does not mix it with white or black. How would you describe the colors that Gibson uses? 
  2. One way to change the intensity of a color is by placing it next to its complement. A complement is the color found directly opposite another color on the color wheel. Examples of complementary colors are red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple. When complementary colors are placed side by side, they appear brighter. Can you find a painting where Gibson put complementary colors next to each other? Why do you think he did this?
  3. What do you notice about Gibson’s layers of color? Can you pick one of his works and try to count the number of layers you see? What is the impact of this layering of color in his work? 

Playing with Color Exercise 1: Color to Color

Gibson often begins his own projects in the studio by mixing colors to create a color palette. Use this exercise to explore the relationships between colors.

For an example of how Gibson explores color spectrums in his work, view TIMEWARP, 2020.

Suggested Materials: paint, brushes, paper, and spectrum table.

  1. To begin, ask students to choose two colors of paint.  
  2. Ask students to create five different shades in their spectrums that take the viewer from color A to color B.  

Sample Spectrum Table

Teacher Tip

  • For students who want an additional challenge, ask them to create a spectrum with nine squares where they have seven steps to go from Color A to Color B. 
  • Gibson suggests not offering black and white as paint options and encourages high school students to experiment with up to twenty-one colors.   
  1. Finally, lead a discussion and ask students to reflect on the process of making their own two-color spectrum. Consider the following questions: 
  • What did you learn from this exercise?
  • What emotions do you associate with the two colors you chose? Why? 
  • Did anything surprise you while working to create your own two-color spectrum? 

Playing with Color Exercise 2: Color and Language

Use this exercise to explore the impact of color on emotion and the meaning of text. 

For an example of how Gibson explores color and text, view I DON’T BELONG TO YOU – YOU DON’T BELONG TO ME, 2016.

Suggested Materials: paint, brushes, and paper.

  1. As a class, choose two paint colors.
  2. Next choose one word (or short phrase) that is meaningful to your students.  

Teacher Tip

This can be done virtually on a smartboard as well. 

  1. Using the selected paint colors, take the first color and paint the background of a large piece of paper. Then take the second color and write the word on the paper. 
  2. Now, reverse the colors. Use the background color for the text and the text color for the background. 
  1. Ask the students the following questions: 
  • How do the colors we chose make you feel? Why? 
  • Does the meaning of the word change for you when the color changes?  
  • Does the “power” of or emphasis on the word change when the color changes? 
  • Did anything surprise you about this simple activity? If so, what? 

Playing with Color Exercise 3: Color and Space

Gibson uses color on a large scale to alter spaces and create visual impact. For example, at the 2024 Venice Biennale, an international art exhibit held every two years in Venice, Italy, he wrapped the typically brick façade of the U.S. Pavilion in bold colors and bright murals. Visitors at the Biennale described the joy they felt while walking through his brightly colored exhibit. Gibson harnesses the power of color and pattern in his exhibition spaces to create large murals that feel welcoming and inspire hope.  

For an example of how Gibson explores the power of color to change space, view the space in which to place me, 2024.

Suggested Materials: large paper and colored pencils.

  1. To begin this exercise, share images of the space in which to place me as well as THE LAND IS SPEAKING ARE YOU LISTENING, 2022. Ask students to answer the following questions: 
  • What colors does Gibson use to transform spaces in these images? How would you describe these colors? For example, are they bright, light, dark, or dull? 
  • What do you feel as you look at these murals? How do the colors Gibson uses make you feel? 
  1. Next, ask students to name the color of their classroom walls and write down keywords about how that color makes them feel.  
  2. Now, ask them to imagine that as a class, they are tasked with creating a mural on one wall of their classroom. The colors they choose should spark joy and feel welcoming to students. Lead a class discussion about what colors they would choose and why. Create a list of their chosen colors. 
  3. Ask students to work together in small groups or as a full class to design the mural on paper using the colors chosen by the class.  
  4. Then, photograph the mural(s), and project the mural on the wall large enough that it fills most of one wall.  
  5. As a class, reflect on the power of color to change a space. Does the mural they created and colors they chose impart the desired emotions they hoped for in their classroom? What might they do differently next time? 
  6. For more on the power of color, follow the theme of color through the vast collections of the Smithsonian Libraries , and make a few unexpected connections and discoveries.