How to pronounce the artist’s name:

1936–Present

Frank Phillip Stella was born in Malden, MA, on May 12, 1936. He studied painting at the Phillips Academy and at Princeton. He was influenced by the Abstract Expressionist style of Jackson Pollock, but in the late 1950s, he reacted against the expressive use of paint and was drawn toward the “flatter” work of Barnett Newman and Jasper Johns. In an early style, Stella painted simple bands of black paint separated by very thin, white pinstripes of unpainted canvas. In the 1960s, Stella began to use a wider range of colors, arranged in straight or curved lines.

The Protractor series of paintings is based on arcs, sometimes overlapping, within square borders arranged side-by-side to produce full and half circles painted in rings of concentric color. By rotating and repeating the protractor module, Stella created 31 variations on the protractor form. He covered the forms with interlacing bands, rainbow curves, or wedgelike fans of color. He produced 3 versions of each permutation as large-scale, shaped canvases. These paintings are named after circular cities he visited while in the Middle East in the 1960s.

In the 1970s, Stella’s style changed dramatically once again, in the Eccentric Polygon series. His carefully constructed geometric designs executed in flat planes of color were replaced by a “looser” style, with tangled, layered, and looping shapes and large, Expressionistic brushstrokes, almost like graffiti. Painted on shaped canvases, plywood, or metal surfaces, the paintings were assembled like collages, blurring the border between painting and sculpture.

Stella continues to produce large works for public spaces, and the 3-D aspect of his work has brought him commissions to create architecture, such as a band shell in Miami, FL. Frank Stella lives in New York City. He plays squash religiously, loves auto racing, and owns a horse farm in New York.

• The Modern Art Notes Podcast – Stella
• Frank Stella Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works | The Art Story
• Color Meanings – Learn about Colors and Symbolism
• Frank Stella describes “art worth making” · SFMOMA (video)
• Frank Stella and the Art of the Protractor · SFMOMA (video)

Gaff, Jackie, 20th Century Art Surveys the major trends and movements of twentieth century art and highlights leading artists and works.

Glubok, Shirley, The Art of America Since World War II A survey of American art from 1940 to the present which includes “white writing,” action painting, abstract expressionism, op art, pop art, stabiles, and kinetic sculpture.

Greenberg, Jan, The Painter’s Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art Introduces ways of seeing, experiencing, and appreciating art through the examination of contemporary American works.

Hodge, Anthony, Painting Introduces portraiture, still life, landscape painting, abstract painting, and surrealism; demonstrates painting techniques; and includes examples of famous paintings.

Stella, Frank, Frank Stella, 1970–1987 Discusses Frank Stella, regarded as one of the most important living American artists to have succeeded the Abstract Expressionists of the 1950s.

• Introduce the digital drawing app you will be using for any digital lessons, well before you begin teaching these lessons. Then the technology is a tool (like pencil and paper) and not a hinderance to the goal: learning basic art concepts and principals.
• See Downloads and Resources “App Tutorials” for Power Point slides of the following apps:
  • Adobe Draw
  • Brushes Redux
  • Paper 53
  • Sketch Pad
  • Sketchbook Edu

• Art: Group artwork that shows growth during the year and describe the process and progress.
• Art: Design a series of colors in color families and name them using names that represent feelings or associations with a particular family. For example, create a color series to describe the depths of the ocean, with names like “upper indigo” or “deepest violet,” or name colors that represent famous people, such as “Stella red,” “Diebenkorn gray,” or “van Gogh yellow.”
• Art: Find out about Stella and his sculpture Prinz Friedrich von Homburg: Schauspeil, which is over 30 feet high and weighs 20,000 pounds, located at the National Gallery of Art. Visit the NGA Website, at www.nga.gov/kids/stella/stella1.htm, to learn more.
• Art: Learn more about color and color theory. Visit the Color Matters Website, at www.colormatters.com/sym2.html, to discover the importance of color choices.
• Art/Computer: Use the National Gallery of Art Interactive Website, at www.nga.gov/kids/stella/stella1.htm, to learn more about Stella and his use of the elements of art in his painting Jarama II.
• Language Arts: Frank Stella wrote “What you see is what you see.” What did Stella mean by this? Go to the Brainy Quote Website, at www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/frank_stella.html, and choose a quote by Stella. Have students write their interpretations of Stella’s quote and give opinions about it. Have students share their findings with the class.
• Math: Find out about the original use of the protractor and who invented it. Discover other uses for it.
• Science: Find examples of radial symmetry in both man-made and natural objects

• Preload digital devices with the desired digital paint app.
• Familiarize yourself with the user interface of the digital paint app.
• Consider having a separate short class session to learn about the digital paint app, before teaching a digital art lesson.