Simplicity Rules

We learned about Keith Haring in Under the Influence of Art this week. On Tuesday, after talking about his style and looking at pictures of his work, I had two projects the kids could work on. One was a small picture, using what we learned about color, bold lines, simple shapes and symbols.

The other was a large-scale outline of their bodies, reflective of what we learned about Keith Haring’s large chalk drawings he did in the NY subways.

The students really got into these projects, and they worked until the last second, with some work left unfinished. So I decided to scale back for the Thursday class. Instead, we stuck with the smaller pictures, something I suggested might make a nice Mother’s Day gift. And, instead of doing a full-scale outline, we usd the large roll paper as ‘Keith Haring-inspired’ wrapping paper.

Rock Me Amedeo

I thought a good way to start the new session of Under the Influence would be with self portraits. We've done portraits before, but this time we learned about Amedeo Modigliani. The elongated heads and necks he painted gave his portraits an "elegant" look. 

I like to start the class learning about an artist and doing a brief demonstration of the project, explaining the guidelines to help the students focus. However, not everyone always wants to do the project the way it is explained. I tell them this class is meant to be fun, and I'm not grading them. I want them to be influenced by what they see, but they don't have to (and shouldn't) copy.  They are the artists, so they are free to do what they want. Some students chose to do self portraits, some did portraits of friends or made up people, and some did animals. I think they are all "elegant."

Wild About Books (and Art)

The spring session has begun, and in PreK Art Lunch we got started with 4 great books, all about reading. We discussed them, picking our favorites, and then made (what else?) bookmarks! Here's to a great session and lots of reading....

BYOB

In PreK Art Lunch, I asked the children to bring in a book from home that we could read. Before reading each one, we heard why that book was chosen.

Maggie picked the classic Runaway Bunny, Kaylee brought a Dora Easter book, Jimmie had a Star Wars book, and Teo chose Where the Wild Things Are. He was also kind enough to pass out Wild Things pencils to everyone in the class. And Jimmy brought paper from home in case anyone wanted to draw Star Wars characters. Beatrice didn’t have a book, but I had brought some from home, and she chose “Loopy,” but she did not want her picture taken.