Picasso-Inspired Portraits

Do Now: What part of thanksgiving are you most looking forward to?

Now that we have explored realistic portraiture, the 3rd and 4th grade explored a very famous abstract artist - Pablo Picasso. 

To get acquainted with Picasso, we read a book from one of my favorite childhood series - "Picasso" by Mike Venezia. 

Then, we looked at some of Picasso's most famous portraits. 

We discussed Picasso's style - his bold colors, shapes, and patterns. The 3rd and 4th graders were particularly amazed at how much Picasso's portraits represented his subjects, even if they didn't quite look like people! 

Then, the 3rd and 4th grade had a chance to do their own Picasso-inspired portraits! 

Eric Carle: Day 3 

Do Now: What part of Thanksgiving are you most looking forward to?

"Getting dressed."

"Eating a big big turkey"

"I love Thanksgiving when we eat the turkey."

"My favorite thing to so is [make] pumpkin pie."

"I'm excited about going to my Uncle's house."

"[What] I am most excited about [for] Thanksgiving is giving cards."

"The most exciting part is when I eat the turkey."

"What I am excited about is going to my grandma's house because the party is there."

"My favorite part of Thanksgiving is when my mom lets me put the stuffing in the Thanksgiving turkey."

"My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is getting in a group."

"I like the food and the joy."

First, we read "Friends" by Eric Carle. We looked at Carle's illustrations, making observations about his art. 

Today, we worked with the painted paper that the 1st and 2nd grade made last class. We let it dry over the weekend, then cut it into rectangles to distribute to each student.

Using the paper they had painted, the 1st and 2nd grade created beautiful, Eric Carle - inspired collages! 

Modigliani-Inspired Portraits 

Do Now: If you could have anything grow on trees, what would you choose?

"Air heads, popcorn, 3DS games, pizza, pancakes and more."

"People and hair."

"Mine is basketballs and marshmallows." 

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"The tree of food found in my belly."

"I have a tree with cake. The magical world of chocolate red velvet cake and it has a red velvet rainbow cake."

The 3rd and 4th graders are continuing to study portraits as part of their "Genres of Art" unit. Today, we learned about the artist Amedeo Modigliani . 

Modigliani is an Italian painter from the early 20th century, most famous for the distinctive way he made portraits. 

Before beginning our project, we took a look at some of his paintings. 

We discussed how Modigliani painted dark, solid backgrounds, how his subjects had thin features, and how he painted people with long, slender necks. 

We then made our own Modigliani-inspired portraits! We used paper, pencil, marker, and cray-pas (oil pastels). 

The results were beautiful! I was even lucky enough to receive a beautiful Modigliani-Inpsired portrait of myself!