ART LESSON PLAN

SUBJECT: Pop Art Portraits

GRADE: Seventh

OBJECTIVES:

  1. Recognize and discuss the Pop Art paintings of Andy Warhol. Review the cultural impact of the Pop Art movement.
  2. Develop and improve painting skills.
  3. Practice mixing colors and tints and shades.
  4. Create a self-portrait using the aesthetics of the Pop Art movement.

MATERIALS:

Digital camera for taking portraits, computer, tracing paper, drawing pencils, transfer paper, poster board, tempera paint, brushes, water containers, Warhol prints and slides.

MOTIVATION:

The Pop Art movement of the of the 1950s and 1960s began as a reaction against the abstract expressionist style of the 1940s and 1950s. Pop artist believed that art had become overly intellectual and could not appeal to the masses. Pop artists embraced the environment of everyday life and used it in their art. The work was intended to be impersonal and allow the viewer to respond directly to the object rather than the skill used to create it. Pop artists also appropriated mass production techniques from modern culture and began to create large series of works depicting the same object. This movement was an important step in the history of the visual arts. It was the first time that artists focused their attention onto the vulgarity and materialism of modern culture, effectively holding a magnifying glass on American culture.

PROCEDURE:

DAY ONE:

Introduce students to the work of Andy Warhol. Concentrate on the portraits and the process used to create the work. The attached handout should be duplicated and handed out to the students. Demonstrate a simple silkscreen. Discuss the aesthetics of the Pop Art movement in the United States.

DAY TWO:

Photograph students using the digital camera. One or two students could be taught to use the digital camera and download the images to the computer where they will be enhanced and printed in black and white. Images should be cropped to create a portrait.

DAY THREE:

  1. Demonstrate tracing photo: Concentrate on shapes. Trace the darkest shapes first, then the lightest shapes, and finally the shapes with a medium gray tone.
  2. Demonstrate transferring tracing onto poster board using graphite transfer paper.
  3. Demonstrate mixing colors. Students may choose to create a monochromatic painting or use up to four colors. The value of the colors used should relate directly to the values in the photo.
  4. Demonstrate painting portraits and proper care of materials.

FOLLOWING DAYS:

Students will continue painting until finished. Some may choose to create more than one portrait and combine them in the same manner that Andy Warhol did. An example would be the many portraits of Marilyn Monroe.

Finished works will be mounted on complimentary poster board.

EVALUATION:

Product-based evaluation. See attached rubric.

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