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! 

Layered Family Portraits Part 2

Do Now: Draw yourself if you were the tallest person on earth.

Today the 1st and 2nd grade finished part 2 of our layered family portraits. 

First, we drew portraits of our family on tracing paper using only black marker.

Then, we took our tracing paper portrait...

...and our colorful picture from last week...

...and layered them together!

I hope you enjoy these beautiful portraits as much as we did!

Layered Family Portraits, Part 1

Do Now: Invent a new type of fruit. What does it look like? What does it taste like? What is it called?

"This is called a Banaza. It tastes sour, juicy, and sweet. It looks like art."

"It looks like an elephant. It tastes like candy. It is called an elephant dragon."

"It is called love. It tastes super sweet."

"It tastes like a marshmallow popcorn cheseball and sour patch kids combined. Its name is Puff Berrie."

"I call this the Peperpaya. It tastes like pepper with a little bit of cinnamon."

"Poma-heart. It tastes like rainbow and pizza had a baby."

Today we started the final project of our families unit. We are making layered family portraits, where there is a colorful drawing on the bottom and and a family portrait drawn in black marker on a transparent piece of tracing paper on top. It is a lot to try to visualize, so stay tuned for the final product next week.

In the mean time, here are a few finished part 1's....

Family Photo 

Do Now: What is one thing you did over the weekend? Draw a picture and write one sentence. 

"I went to swimming lessons"

"On the weekend I went to New Jersey and on Saturday me and my friend went to Chuck E. Cheese and my friend is named Alana."

"I went on a Stevie Wonder concert. We helped the recycling people." (read more about the concert here)

"On Saturday I went to Saturday Club." (Read more about Saturday Club here )

Now that the 1st and 2nd grade has finished our Intro to Art unit, we are beginning our next unit: Families. The 1st grade is studying families in social studies, beginning with the concept of the Nuclear Family (members of your family who live in your home with you) and the Extended Family (members of your family who do not live in your home with you).

We began by reading the book "Family Photo" by Dana Meachen Rau. This quick read shows a large family getting ready for what seems like a family photo - on the last page, we realize that the little boy arranging his family is actually organizing them to take a photograph of him!

For our project today, we made "Family Photo"-inspired pictures. Instead of a regular family portrait, the 1st and 2nd graders drew pictures of themselves taking photographs of their families! 

Look closely at each drawing to find the artist holding a camera...