Pop Art Inspired Onomatopoeia Design

To start off the year, 3rd grade artists looked at and discussed the work of Roy Lichtenstein and learned about his use of onomatopoeia, which is when a word imitates the sound of the object or action it refers to. Some examples are words like: "wham," "drip," and "ka-pow!"

Robert Lichtenstein, Whaam (1963)

We noticed that Lichtenstein was inspired by comics since the use of onomatopoeia is more common in comics and cartoons. We also noticed that he used primary colors in these paintings. We began our own artwork by brainstorming a list of onomatopoeia words as a class. 

Each student selected 4 different words and drew sketches that demonstrated the word's action and meaning as a visual picture, combining letters and pictures. Next class, we looked at more of Lichtenstein's paintings and noticed that he used dots of color, called benday dots, which were inspired by the way comic books were printed at the time. 

We selected one brainstorm sketch to make into a larger drawing. First we sketched out our design, working hard to make it larger and expand our idea to fit the space. Then we outlined with Sharpie marker and used markers in primary colors, incorporating the benday dots in at least one area of our artwork. 

Students thought carefully about where they were using certain colors and some students overlapped their benday dots to create the illusion of a secondary color. 

After students were finished, they did a turn and talk using their fortune tellers to share their work with a partner. The fortune tellers contain questions about your artwork and help students share what they are most proud of, what was the most challenging part of the project, etc. with each other. These are some examples of our finished Roy Lichtenstein inspired onomatopoeia designs:

Kalleby, 3rd Grade (Donato)

Ava K., 3rd Grade (Monfette)

David, 3rd Grade (Fletcher)

Dylon, 3rd Grade (DeBaie)

Ella, 3rd Grade (DeBaie)

Ethan, 3rd Grade (Fletcher)

Etta, 3rd Grade (Fletcher)

Kaylee M., 3rd Grade (DeBaie)

Sophie, 3rd Grade (DeBaie)

Viveca, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Wyatt, 3rd Grade (Donato)

Brian, 3rd Grade (Donato)

3D Paper Sculptures

Continuing their study of line, PK and Kindergarten artists took their lines and shapes into the third dimension! They were challenged to think of different ways to change and manipulate flat, straight lines of paper and transform them into 3D lines and shapes. We began by learning about the difference between two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. 

Many students thought about having been to a 3D movie, and how objects look like they are popping out at you. We thought about how we could change a piece of paper from two dimensional, flat pieces to three dimensional forms that pop out and stand up, just by using our hands. We came up with a few different techniques, including folding and bending the paper. We learned how to fold it to make a zig-zag line, and how to fold the ends of a curved piece of paper to create feet to help it stand up when glued. 

Then we began to work on our own 3D sculptures. Starting with a cardboard base, students added colorful 3D lines and shapes by changing the paper in a variety of different ways. We discovered even more ways we could change the paper, and creative ways to connect and add them to our sculptures. 

Students added lines and shapes on top of each other, overlapping them, and also thought about trying to fill up their cardboard base. Some students were inspired by amusement parks, race tracks, even outer space! Some of our sculptures are on display on the first floor of Hosmer, near the entrance by the Pre-School, so be sure to check them out:

Arts Around the World: Dia de Muertos Calaveras from Mexico

The first country on our Arts Around the World journey this year is Mexico. We learned about Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead, a holiday celebrated in Mexico on November 1st and 2nd. Families gather to honor and remember friends and family members who have died. 

Traditions include building altars to honor family members and decorating them with sugar skulls and marigolds, a kind of flower. We watched a video about the holiday. The skull or calavera is a common symbol of the holiday. We looked at examples of sugar skulls and noticed that they had a symmetrical design and were usually very colorful. 

We designed our own calaveras, creating a symmetrical design. First students used pencil to draw their designs and then outlined them with Sharpie marker. We added color using markers, trying to emphasize our symmetrical designs with our use of color. 

For the background, we made papel picado, which translates to perforated paper. Papel picado is a form of Mexican folk art where tissue paper is cut into elaborate designs. Papel picado is used to decorate for holidays, such as Day of the Dead, but also other celebrations such as birthdays and weddings.

Students used tissue paper and folded it up a few times before cutting out their shapes. We noticed that when we cut triangles and semi circles they became diamonds and full circles when cut on a folded edge, as they doubled. 

Students carefully glued down their papel picado to a background color which they selected to complement their tissue paper color. They thought about what color background would allow their papel picado to stand out.

They then cut and glued their calavera designs and glued them on top of their papel picado backgrounds. Below are some examples of our our artwork. Some of our calavera designs are also currently on display near the art room.

Ava, 2nd Grade (O'Connor)

Bianca, 2nd Grade (Hinds)

Brook, 2nd Grade (Pearse)

Carson, 2nd Grade (O'Connor)

Jacob, 2nd Grade (Hinds)

Naomi, 2nd Grade (Hinds)

Samuel, 2nd Grade (O'Connor)

Tyler, 2nd Grade (O'Connor)

Willow, 2nd Grade (Hinds)

Martin, 2nd Grade (Stone)

Sarah, 2nd Grade (Stone)

Tyler, 2nd Grade (Stone)

Pop Art Printmaking: Making Our Printing Plates

4th grade artists started off the year by learning about the Pop Art movement, which began in the 1950's. Artists focused on objects and scenes from everyday life and popular culture, borrowing techniques from commercial art and popular illustration, like comics and cartoons. 

Andy Warhol, Green Coca-Cola Bottles (1962)

We looked at a few examples of screen prints made by Andy Warhol, who made multiple prints of his artwork. A lot of his art featured commercial products that were mass produced, so he chose to mass produce his artwork, as well. After sharing our observations, we discussed what popular culture means to us today. 

Andy Warhol, Dollar Sign Series (1982)

Each class made a list on the whiteboard, which included things like sports teams, music, video games, social media and fashion. Then students brainstormed at least four ideas for a print, featuring pop culture imagery that is important or meaningful to them. 

Students were also given reference images for inspiration, with sports team logos, emojis and cartoon characters, among other things. Fidget spinners were a popular idea this year! Each student selected one of their four ideas to make into a print that would be repeated multiple times. 

After placing their chosen drawing on top of a piece of styrofoam, students traced over their drawing with a wooden stylus. Then they removed the paper and went over their drawing again, to make the lines deeper. 

The final step was to go over their lines one more time with a blunt or dull pencil, to make their lines a little wider. Then students cut out their design from the styrofoam. We will now be printing with them, so stay tuned to see our prints!