This is an engagement we have used with students. The work is based on Molly Bang's work, Picture This -- a text well worth your time to read. Bang asks, “How does the structure of a picture affect our emotional response?" Students engage in the process outlined in this slidedeck in order to grapple with that question.

1. Picture This
Based on the work of
Molly Bang
Reilly & Cohen

2. Molly Bang began with the
question:
“How does the structure of a picture
affect our emotional response?"

3. • These are 10 (though by no means all) of Bang's
insights (all are direct quotations from Bang):
1. Smooth, flat, horizontal shapes give us a sense of
stability and calm. See Bang, pp. 42-43.

4. 2. Vertical shapes are more
exciting and more active.
Vertical shapes rebel
against the earth's
gravity. They imply
energy and a reaching
toward heights or the
heavens. See Bang, pp.
44-46

5. 3. Diagonal shapes are
dynamic because they
imply motion or tension.
See Bang, pp. 46-54.

6. 4. The upper half of a
picture is a place of
freedom, happiness and
triumph; objects placed in
the top half often feel
more "spiritual." The
bottom half of a picture
feels more threatened,
heavier, sadder, or more
constrained; objects
placed in the bottom half
also feel more
"grounded." An object
placed higher up on the
page has "greater
pictorial weight." See
Bang, pp. 54-62.

7. 5. The center of the page is the most effective "center of
attention." It is the point of greatest attraction. The
edges and corners of the picture are the edges and
corners of the picture world.

8. 6. Light backgrounds feel safer to us than dark
backgrounds because we can see well during the day
and only poorly at night. See Bang, pp. 68-69.

9. 7. We feel more
scared looking at
pointed shapes;
we feel more
secure or
comforted
looking at
rounded shapes
or curves. See
Bang, pp. 70-71.

10. 8. The larger an object is in a picture, the stronger it feels.
See Bang, pp. 72-76.

11. 9. We associate the same or similar colors much more
strongly than we associate the same or similar
shapes. See Bang, pp. 76-80.

12. 10. We notice contrasts; contrast
enables us to see. See Bang, p. 80.

13. Engagement
1. Create a picture illustrating the sentence, “Birds attack.”
1. Combine in some fashion up to, but no more than, four colors
(including background) and distinctive shapes in order to illustrate
some aspect of Bang's principles.
1. Strong emotions are easier to depict than weak ones. Don't be too
realistic. Use construction paper -- experiment with different sizes,
shapes, colors and arrangement. Tape it together.
1. Write a brief explanation of what you did and why.

14. Birds Attack

15. Sleeping Beauty
by Shannon Winter