Crazy Cows ~ Peter Diem inspired Year 3-4 art lesson

Peter Diem inspired cows By Year 3/4 students

Peter Diem (born 1945) is a Dutch artist well known for his expressive use of colour and texture in his art. “He gained worldwide fame because of his vivid paintings and lively, colourful representations of Dutch cows.” We viewed the Peter Diem – Cows website for examples of his artworks and discussed the elements of art Diem used to make them: colour, line, shape, texture, space.

LESSON ACTIVITIES:

Students viewed and discussed Diem’s cow artworks on his website. They were then given a task where they described the elements of art thy noticed in a cow painting. I used a Seesaw activity for them to respond. Here are some student examples:

We viewed some videos of Diem in action to learn about his materials and techniques, noting how he draws the cow, and methods of applying paint- brush, finger, hand, straight from the tube.

Students are shown how to draw a simplified cow, Diem style – just the outline-in the shape of a Diem painting. Students then outline in black or a dark colour crayon or pastel.

Use bright and fluorescent oil pastels to add lines and shapes and patterns, considering the features of Diem’s work. It is then painted over to fill the gaps and a contrast colour painted for the background.

The next lesson we made puffy paint with PVA glue, shaving cream and food colouring in a zip-lock bag, and mushed it around to mix the 3 ingredients. A TINY bit of one corner of the bag is cut off to enable squeezing out fluid lines of puffy paint! They could outline or add lines to their design for amazing TEXTURE.

Once complete, students reflect on their work noting materials (mediums) and techniques they used when making their Diem style cow, as well as the best thing, and what they might change if repeating the piece.

Lesson plan (approx 3 lessons to complete) with learning intentions, success criteria, lesson activities, links to useful videos about Diem & his techniques, steps for drawing, reflection sheet, student examples. Victorian Curriculum links.

$2 email download of this lesson plan

Colour and Emotion: Picasso Portraits ~Year 1-2 art lesson

LEARNING INTENTIONS:

To learn about Picasso’s abstract portraits showing different views of facial features, including portrait of Dora Mar and the Weeping Woman.

To create portraits to show emotion in the style of Picasso.

SUCCESS CRITERIA:

I can talk about some abstract portraits by Picasso.

I can explore different facial features to make abstract Picasso style portraits.

I can use paint/ pastel, line and colour to create an artwork of an expressive face with two sides (each showing a different emotion) in the style of Picasso

I can use a colour to match the emotion shown on each side of the face.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

As an introduction, watch a video (see below a list of suitable videos for Year 1-2) like “Picasso elementary lesson” explaining his style and why he made his portraits this way.

VIDEOS:

Pablo Picasso: Cubist Art Lesson – video about emotions and Picasso’s abstract portraits

Picasso’s Trousers by Nicholas Allan | Art Stories with Kids– picture story book about Picasso’s abstract art

Pablo Picasso Elementary Lesson – Picasso bio, abstract portraits etc

Pablo Picasso: Cubist Art Lesson Picasso use of colour- most relevant part of the video from 4:09min

View portrait of Dora Maar painting by Picasso. Discuss the colours used and the different views of the face. Next, view Weeping Woman 1937. Note the colours and emotion on the faces (Explain Picasso drew and painted a series of “Weeping Woman” in response to the Spanish Civil war and the loss and devastation- these portraits portraying a mother who has lost her child in the bombing, using colour and expression to convey feelings of anguish, horror, deep sorrow and mourning.)

Students can compare these two portraits of “Weeping Woman” by talking about the similarities and differences.

Students are shown how we can draw a Picasso face by playing “Roll a Picasso” game to choose different features. They draw some faces in their Scrap Books.

Next lesson, students choose two emotions they would like to show on either side of the face, choosing some features from their Roll-a-Picasso drawings to suit the feeling. Students draw in grey-lead pencil, firstly drawing a face shape or using a template to trace. After making a mark in the middle of the face students choose a nose to draw down from that point, then adding the line continuing up to the top of the head and below the nose to split the face in two. They add eyes, mouth hair etc. Trace over in black marker.

Talk about colours that could represent emotions. For example, yellow=happy, sad=blue, red=angry, green=calm, purple=confused. Students paint their faces in a colours to match the emotion shown on each half.

Background can paint or food dye “wash” . Students describe the emotion on each side of the face along with colour chosen to match.

Expressionism Portraits: Alexei Jawlensky inspired- Grade Prep art lesson

This art lesson is suitable for Prep students (adaptable to Year 1 & 2) and I loved the way the artworks turned out. The use of colour is stunning! It will take 2-3 lessons depending on the class time allotment. I have hour lessons, so two and a bit of the next lesson gave enough time to discuss, explore, reflect and share.

Alexei Jawlensky (born 1864, died 1941) was a Russian Expressionist painter, (moved to Germany in 1896 and was a founding member of the New Munich Artist’s Association.) He is known mostly for his portrait art of heads and the use of bold, contrasting colours and strong directional brushstrokes.

The students viewed artworks by Jawlensky, describing what they saw, discussing use of colour, style of art, feelings conveyed.

‘Head’ 1910 by Alexei Jawlensky, pictured left, could be used on a platform like Seesaw for students to record their description and thoughts about the artwork, which can be used to assess the achievement standard at Level F in the Victorian Curriculum: “Students identify and describe the subject matter and ideas in artworks they make and view.”

After discussing placement of features on a face, students used a mirror to draw their head and shoulders and traced over with a thick permanent marker.

Students used chalk pastels on the side edge to gently lay down colour to then blend with fingertips for the background (of course there are always some who get excited and use their whole hand or even both!) They used water soluble pastels for the face and body. Water is brushed is over the pastel areas to smooth out the colour, giving it a painterly effect.

For students at this age, they can reflect on their artwork by sharing with others or describing their piece on a platform like Seesaw.

Prep/ Foundation Victorian Curriculum Lesson Plan with learning intentions, success criteria, step by step materials and techniques.

AUD $1.75 for email download of this lesson plan

Abstract Expressionism Portraits: Year 4 art lesson. Marten Jansen inspired

Chalk Pastel Portraits- Marten Jansen inspired

Students view and describe portraits made by Jansen, discussing use of colour ,line, shape. View more info: https://prezi.com/huxyezp6dcjl/marten-jansen/

LEARNING INTENTIONS:

To learn about the Dutch artist Marten Jansen and his style of portraits

To explore using colour, shape and line to make an abstract Jansen style portrait.

SUCCEESS CRITERIA:

I can use describe the elements of art in a Marten Jansen portrait.

I can describe the artwork of Marten Jansen – colour, style, line, shape, mood.

I can use colour, line and shape to make a portrait in the style of Marten Jansen .

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

Students view portraits by Marten Jansen. I just used “head shots”; some of his pieces are not suitable to use in primary school, eg. ‘Street walker’, ‘Solicitation’ for obvious reasons (Check out his work here: http://paintings.name/paintings.php)

Discuss different colour combinations to show emotion or create a mood. List and describe the elements of art used. Talk about various lines used (thick, thin, long, short), shapes (circle, triangles, organic shapes) and colour.

They could annotate one of his pictures individually, in a small group, or as a class.

Students work from a photo of themselves to make a line drawing. (I took photos of the students, edited them on Photoscape (like Photoshop) to change it into a line drawing, and then printed them on A3 cartridge paper. They then use colours, lines and shapes to fill it in using chalk pastels, (we used square blocks) using the edge, tip, side to produce various thickness and intensity of line. Blocks of colour can be used too, especially in the background.

Students reflect on their completed artworks.

WWW EBI (What Went Well / Even Better If ) Reflection Questions:

Did I fill the paper, leaving only a little or no empty/white space?

Did I use a variety of line thickness?

Did I use some shapes- geometric / organic?

Are the colours generally sharp, only blended or smudged in areas for an effect?

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