Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Keith Haring Dancing Figures

In 3rd grade we have been learning about the work of artist Keith Haring, who is famous for his energetic figures. We connected his people to our recent experience with gesture drawing. We learned that Haring was inspired by popular culture and cartoons from his childhood, and that this influenced his style.

We looked at a few examples of his murals and paintings, including this one, titled "Five Figures Dancing."
To begin our own Keith Haring inspired artwork, we began by dancing! We took turns dancing in groups to Pharrell's "Happy." When the music stopped, students would freeze mid-dance and their classmates did gesture drawings, or quick sketches, of them. 

The following class, we thought about how to use the gesture drawings and turn them into Keith Haring inspired figures. We selected 3 figures from our gesture drawings done during the previous class and drew them on colored paper. We cut them out and glued them onto a background, and then added lines and shapes to show movement. 
Colin, 3rd Grade
Anon, 3rd Grade
Grace, 3rd Grade
Lalita, 3rd Grade