The Thacher School is an independent, coeducational, residential, high school of 250 students nestled in the foothills of the Los Padres National Forest in Ojai, CA (about 90 miles north of Los Angeles). Our school recently made the commitment to move beyond the College Board’s AP curricula and towards a pedagogical model that incorporates into our capstone courses more authentic and intrinsically meaningful, curiosity-driven, project-oriented, group-based, mastery-level work, and we are in the midst of that transition now. To test one such project we offered a 4-day short-course last spring on the Chemical Synthesis of Color in Art. As part of the course, our students synthesized four pigments in the chemistry laboratory: Egyptian blue, Madder lake (red), yellow ochre (or Mars yellow), and cobalt green. These particular pigments were selected for several reasons: 1) they are historically significant in art and archeology, 2) they provide for a variety in the chemical reaction types explored and the chemical synthesis methods utilized, 3) they are relatively safe for students to handle, and 4) they afford a varied color palette upon mixing. Our students then combined their pigments with a gouache binder to make and mix paints and create a painting. Based on positive student feedback from our short-course and on preliminary research into similar curricular offerings at the college and university level we plan to expand and broaden the material into a new elective course for our upper-level high school students that describes the application of chemistry and materials science principles to enhance our understanding and appreciation of art and archaeology.

Chemical synthesis of color in art: Curricular innovation at The Thacher School

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.