Pass It On: How Do Artists Inspire Each Other?
A Moonshot@Home Digital Activity
Pass It On: How Do Artists Inspire Each Other?
A Moonshot@Home Digital Activity
Lesson Content
Can a dancer inspire a musician? And a musician inspire a visual artist? And a visual artist inspire a dancer? Explore how the artistic process can work through inspiration, creativity, and execution. Then watch and listen as a dancer, musician, and visual artist show you how their art forms share elements like big and small, fast and slow, and how you can take inspiration from and inspire other artists.
Now Playing Video
Now Playing Video
How do artists inspire each other?
In this activity, we are going to:
- learn about the shared elements of dance, music, and visual arts
- see examples of how dance, music, and visual artists take inspiration from each other
- show how you can try something similar with your friends
The Artistic Process
A process is how you take the steps to do something. The artistic process we will be following for this activity is:
- Inspiration: how you get ideas, for example, from watching a dancer move, listening to music, or looking at a painting
- Creativity: how you develop those ideas in your mind to create your own art
- Expression: how you turn those ideas into actions, like what art form you choose and the type of art you create
The Elements of Art
Dance, music, and visual arts all have elements that define each art form and make them unique.
Two elements shared by dance, music, and visual arts are:
- Speed: Something can be really fast or really slow.
- Dancers can move their bodies slowly or move really fast.
- Musicians can play or sing notes that are fast or really slow.
- Visual artists can create images slowly and carefully, or quickly and with lots of energy.
- Size: Something can be really big or really small.
- Dancers can move their bodies in big ways and take up lots of space, or their movements can be very small and take up very little space.
- Musicians can play or sing big notes that are loud, or smaller notes that are very quiet.
- Visual artists can create art that is very small or very big.
Get Inspired!
Carousel Controls
¿Podría un/a/x bailarín/a/x inspirar a un/a/x músico? ¿Podría un/a/x músico inspirar a un/a/x artista visual? Y, ¿ podría un/a/x artista visual inspirar a un/a/x bailarín/a/x? Explora como el proceso artístico funciona a través de la inspiración, creatividad y ejecución. Luego, mira y escucha como un bailarín, una músico y una artista visual nos demuestran como sus medios de arte comparten elementos tales como grande y pequeño, rápido y lento, y como tú puedes tomar inspiración e inspirar a otros artistas.
Now Playing Video
Now Playing Video
¿Cómo los artistas se inspiran los unos a los otros?
En esta actividad vamos a:
- aprender sobre los elementos que el baile, la música y las artes visuales comparten entre si.
- ver ejemplos de como artistas del baile, la música y las artes visuales toman inspiración el uno del otro.
- ser demostrado/a/x como podemos intentar un ejercicio similar con nuestros amigos/as/xs.
El proceso Artístico
Un proceso son los pasos que tomas para realizar algo. El proceso artístico que seguiremos para esta actividad será el siguiente:
- Inspiración – Cómo obtienes ideas. Por ejemplo, el ver aun/a/x bailarín/a/x moverse, el escuchar música o el mirar una pintura.
- Creatividad – Cómo desarrollas esas ideas en tu mente para crear tu propia pieza de arte.
- Expresión – Cómo conviertes esas ideas en acciones: que tipo de medio artístico elijes y que tipo de arte creas.
Los Elementos del Arte
La danza, la música y el arte visual tienen elementos que los definen como medios artísticos y los hacen únicos.
Dos elementos compartidos en la danza, la música y las artes visuales son:
- Velocidad – Algo puede ser bien rápido o bien lento.
- Los/as/xs bailarines pueden mover sus cuerpos de manera lenta o rápida.
- Los/as/xs músicos pueden tocar o cantar notas que van rápido o lento.
- Los/as/xs artistas visuales puede crear imágenes lenta y cuidadosamente o rápidamente y con mucha energía.
- Tamaño – Algo puede ser bien grande o bien pequeño. o Los/as/xs bailarines pueden mover sus cuerpos de gran forma y tomar mucho espacio o sus movimientos pueden ser bien pequeños y tomar muy poco espacio.
- Los/as/xs músicos pueden tocar o cantar grandes notas que suenen bastante fuerte/ruidosas o pequeñas notas que suenen bien calladas.o Los/as/xs artistas visuales pueden crear arte que sea bien grande o bien pequeño.
¡Inspírate!
Carousel Controls
Related Resources
Media Do You Wanna Dance?
Want to understand how dance works? Learn the five elements that make up the foundation of this art form: body, action, time, space, and energy.
Media Your Brain on Music: The Sound System Between Your Ears
The amazing sound system in the human brain helps explain why people everywhere fill their lives with music.
Article Formal Visual Analysis: The Elements & Principles of Composition
Help students build techniques to interpret what they see into written words using art.
Media The Yo-Yo Mo Show: An Evening of Musical Doodling
Yo-Yo Ma and Mo Willems offer a series of playful experiments that show how art and music inspire each other. Watch, listen or even join in from home with paper and doodling implements!
Inspire through the arts!
We are so excited that the Kennedy Center is beginning once again to be able to invite you to join us for on-site performances and education activities. We still need your support to develop new in-person and virtual programs.
Your gift today will allow us to use the arts to inspire others and grow stronger during this time of rebuilding and well into the future, together.
Kennedy Center Education
The Vice President of Education is generously endowed by the
Generous support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.
Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;
Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Volkswagen Group of America; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; Wells Fargo; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..
The content of these programs may have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education but does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the federal government.