6-8yrs. Week 1: Katharine

Frida Kahlo Self-Portraits vs. Van Gogh Self-Portraits:
White construction paper, oil pastels

Students will create two self-portraits, one in the style of Kahlo and the other in the style of Van Gogh. This exercise will help students to identify key characteristics to each artists’ work as they attempt to emulate them in their own.

Paul Klee Self-Portraits:
Colored tissue paper that can bleed, white construction paper, oil pastels, paint brush and water

Students will first draw themselves in simple geometric forms keeping Klee’s style in mind, then they will apply water to different colored tissue paper to create a geometric shaped background.

Alexander Calder Circus Mobiles:
Wire coat hangers (already have some), wire, solo cups in different colors (red—aaac basement already has a bunch, blue, yellow), pop bottles (preferably green), any other bright solid plastics that are easy to cut?, pipe cleaners

Learn about the artist who invented the mobile by focusing on one of his more popular subjects: the circus! Students will use their imagination to create different circus characters from recyclable plastics and wire and then string them up onto a mobile made from old coat hangers.

Jackson Pollock Splatter Paintings:
Old sheet(s), craft paper, large cardboard—box?, shoeboxes, marbles, golf balls, sponges, metal cans, tempera paints

Students learn to appreciate non-traditional forms of art by experimenting with different painting techniques. A group activity will introduce them to the novelty of this revolutionary practice and an individual project will allow students to take what they have learned and create with greater confidence and purpose.

Helen Frankenthaler Pour Paintings:
Tempera paints, water to dilute, sponges, newspaper/craft paper, white water color or other medium weight paper

Similar to the Jackson Pollock exercise, students will learn to appreciate non-traditional forms of art and experimental application by pouring their paint onto the surface and controlling its movement with sponges. This exercise will also include a brief discussion of abstract expressionism.

Andy Warhol Grid:
Watercolor or drawing paper (not construction), tempera or acrylic paints, artist tape (already purchased some), household objects for stamps—solo coffee lids (collecting them), soup or pop can lids, chip clips, band-aids, apples, etc. any other ideas?

Combine Andy Warhol’s famous grid pattern and bright palette while learning about consumer culture and mass production—the central theme of much of Warhol’s work—and create exciting prints. Students will choose a household object as a stamp or create their own stencil and repeat it in different color combinations.

Roy Lichtenstein:
Colored construction paper, poster board or heavyweight paper, spray paint (red, black, blue), stencils for letters, pencils and erasers, glue sticks,

With a focus on Lichtenstein’s airplane and explosion prints, students get a brief introduction to graphic design and plan out their own “big scene” in the style of the artist, including a speech balloon or exclamation.

Matisse Cutouts:
Colored construction paper, scissors, glue sticks

Students learn key terms like positive and negative shapes, pattern, repetition, and abstract as they create their own colorful cutout collage in the style of Matisse.

Picasso Portraits:
Colored construction paper, scissors, glue sticks, oil pastels

Students will be asked to draw two strikingly different faces on two separate sheets of paper (frontal/profile, human/animal, man/woman etc.); then they will cut out the different features and assemble them onto a new sheet of paper in order to compose a hybrid image in the style of cubism. We will also briefly discuss the idea of multiple-perspective.

Michelangelo
--Sistine Chapel:
Craft paper, masking tape, crayons or colored pencils, flashlights?

A fun project to simulate how Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel and to illustrate the difficulty of working upside down!

--Soap Sculptures
Soap, spoon, scrap paper, carbon paper, pencil, pointed tool for detailing

Another way to appreciate the many talents of Michelangelo! Students get a bit of 3-D experience by sculpting their own masterpiece from soap.

Louise Nevelson sculptures:
Found objects, popsicle sticks or shoe boxes, acrylic or tempera paint or spray paint, white glue or hot glue gun?

Students experiment with 3-D art by assembling and gluing different found objects onto a flat surface and then painting it in one color.

Monet lily painting:
Canvas boards (any size whatever is reasonable/affordable)—if not heavy poster board or watercolor paper, tempera paint or acrylics if possible, sponges and brushes, painting tape

An introduction to Impressionism allows students to explore another form of paint application as they try their hand at Monet-style nature paintings. Students also learn how using tape can create clean lines with minimal effort and take advantage of the natural color of the white canvas.

O’Keefe tissue paper flower images:
Colored tissue paper, large poster board, glitter/sequins, cotton balls, black tempera paint, heavy-duty needles, thread

Rather than painting, students use tissue paper to recreate Georgia O’Keefe’s large flower images with a particular focus on abstraction. Threading petals together may help to elevate them while creating interesting and dynamic movement.