First Day In Art Class- "Painted Papers"

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Hi everyone!  It has been a while since I have written a blog post.  Since my last post: -I've bought a house. -Graduated from grad school. -Had a baby.  and as we all are--- currently surviving a pandemic.  But I am excited for the new school year, nonetheless. With the start of another school year comes the dread of creating a fun and engaging lesson for the first visit. I don't know about you, but I always have a hard time coming up with something interesting. This year I stuck with something simple yet fun.  I teach upper elementary, so each grade level did the exact same lesson-- Kwik Stix "Painted papers" using Analogous colors.  I always start my first visit to art with my rules and expecations video. Back when Bitmojis were a hit in the classroom, I made a video explaining the rules of the art room. Its only 5 minutes, keeps the kids' attention, and I don't have to say the same thing one million times--at two schools.  Next, we reviewed analogous color
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NEW LESSON- Art Mashups! Modigliani and Picasso Portraits

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I am ALWAYS looking for a fresh idea! Unfortunately, at times that means I am looking for another person's wonderful idea. Let's be honest, creating your own lessons can be exhausting. BUT-- this year I am challenging myself to create my OWN lessons from scratch more often. Now, this isn't going to be something that I am able to do ALL the time but I am attempting to be CREATIVE more often. I've realized that being an art teacher doesn't mean that I am simply teaching, writing lesson plans, planning, and assessing. That can get boring. IT MEANS THAT I CAN BE CREATIVE---WHICH IS WHAT I ASK MY STUDENTS TO DO EVERYDAY. Surely, I can do it too.I'm the ART TEACHER.

SO- I went a little crazy with this lesson! I decided to call these lessons ART MASHUPS! Its where I take two artists and mash them together to create a lesson/project. I taught about the artists Picasso and Modigliani with my 4th grade students. We discussed how both artists abstracted their portraits to make them look unique and strange. We also discussed how Picasso's portraits were much more abstract while Modigliani's looked more "normal". We looked at several pieces from both artists and talked about the emotions and characteristics of each portrait. Then we dived into the drawing.

 We did a guided drawing. We used 12"x 18" paper to begin our portraits. I asked the students to remember the importance of FILLING YOUR PAGE. So, we needed to draw much bigger than we normally draw. Of course, we needed to start with the head (oval shaped- Modigliani). Then, we followed with the long slender neck (Modigliani), and slumped shoulders (Modigliani). Additionally, we divided the face in half (like Picasso is known for doing). One side of the face represents Picasso and the other represents Modigliani. On the Picasso side, I told the students we could go WILD. Which meant that the ears, eyes, and mouth could be "jumbled" like how Picasso sometimes worked. On the Modigliani side, we drew slanted eyes closer to the top of the head, and thin lips. My kiddos had fun figuring out how STRANGE they could make their pieces!

We used oil pastel to color our person. I emphasized the great importance of blocking in the color- we DO NOT want any white spaces. I also boosted their heads a little by saying my STRONGEST students normally color the best because they know how to use their muscles to add pressure when coloring. HAHA. Next, we used liquid watercolor to paint the background. We painted in "rainbow blotches" in the background to add more wild colors.

 Needless to say- THEY WERE AWESOME. I had so much fun teaching this lesson and my kiddos had fun too, which was my favorite. I especially like that several students got experimental and tried crazy things in their background. So much fun! :)

 If you try this lesson, PLEASE let me know! TAG me on Instagram @k.latimerart . I'd love to see what your students create! :)

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