Women Artists: Georgia O'Keefe

Do Now: Do you ever daydream during class? Draw a picture of a recent daydream you've had.

Today the 3rd and 4th grade began to study a new female artist: Georgia O'Keefe . O'Keefe is an American artist born in 1887. She lived in New York City, New Mexico, and Hawaii, painting still lives. She is best known for her paintings of flowers and of bones she found in the various places she lived. The 3rd and 4th graders had a chance to see a Georgia O'Keefe painting in person, when we took our field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

 We looked at some of O'Keefe's paintings, and then read "Georgia Rises: A Day in the Life of Georgia O'Keefe" by Kathryn Lasky.

O'Keefe's paintings are of flowers, but she paints them extremely close up. After discussing her style, we read a quotation by Georgia O'Keefe. "In a way, nobody sees a flower, really," she says, "its so small, we haven't the time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend take time." We talked about what this means, and how it relates to our painting. 

Next, we began our challenging project! Each student received a small piece of a photograph of flowers. The pictures were not cut out with the flowers in the center, which created an abstract image similar to O'Keefe's paintings. After studying their image, students began to draw a large version of their small picture!