1st graders were introduced to the artwork and the life of the artist Keith Haring through a powerpoint presentation. Keith Haring was heavily influenced by graffiti and street art as well as the cartoons he watched when he was a young boy. He put these elements and came up with his famous figures that always told a story and implied movement. Before going any further, the topic of graffiti and street art were introduced. We discussed as a class what it means to be commissioned for outdoor murals and how that is a legal form of street art. We also discussed the illegal form of graffiti or in other words vandalism where the artist does not have permission to use the surface in which they've painted. Once this was understood, we all stood up from our chairs and ran in place, jumped up and down, danced and skipped. When I yelled "freeze!" the students would stop in the position they are in and notice where their arms and legs are in relation to their bodies. We then drew together a running man figure in our sketchbooks, colored him in and added Keith Haring's famous movement lines in black and outlined our figures in black as well. In the next class the students were given a paper that was cut into 3 5" x 7"  panels. On those pieces of paper the students drew in their own figures, showing movement. They outlined them in black sharpie and then colored them in using oil pastels using only the primary colors (red, yellow, blue). In the following class, the students used water colors in the secondary colors (orange, green and purple)  to fill in their backgrounds of each figure. To finish off these artworks, the students will paste their figures onto a piece of bright construction paper. The result is a beautiful artwork, influenced by the great Keith Haring!

Learning Objectives: drawing, painting, mixed media, art history, movement 

ART WORDS:
Figure: Keith Haring's "figures" had no face, expression, hair or anything to specify gender. Instead of calling them people, they are referred to as figures. A figure in art is a drawing of the human form. 
Implied movement: The way an artist shows movement through technique without the picture actually moving. 
Primary Colors: Red, yellow and blue
Secondary Colors: Purple, green and orange

Click this link to see the powerpoint on Keith Haring:

Students have been introduced to the life and the artwork of the artist Wassily Kandinsky. In the presentation, the students will be able to identify the different shapes, lines and colors that they see in Kandinsky’s artwork. The students will then create a drawing with different types of lines that intersect and that create shapes in pencil. Once they have finished their drawings, the students will outline their drawings in sharpie and then color in any shapes that they see (ones drawn intentionally and some caused by intersecting lines) using oil pastels. The backgrounds will then be covered in watercolors, using colors that reflect their feelings that day. 

ART WORDS: 
Abstract art: artwork that uses only lines, shapes or colors in it's composition. 
Vertical Line: a line that is straight and goes up and down.
horizontal line: a line that is straight and goes across.
Diagonal line: a line that is straight and is on a slant.
Emotion: a feeling
 
Click on the link below to view the powerpoint the students received!