Creating Meaning

Making and Viewing Visual Culture

Viewing art and reflecting on it are key steps of art making. Allowing students to view art and connect to it, can help them connect to their own art, and the skills they are learning on a deeper level. We see that these two things are not separate skills, but things that reinforce each other. The more students learn about the art around them, the more they can infuse their own art, and be inspired by the artists we see everyday.

PASTICHE: The combining of two styles or ideas.

We see this pastiche all of the time in the art world. Artists are constantly transforming and recycling art that they have seen before. It is almost impossible to come up with something truly unique or new anymore, we are built and inspired by things we have seen in the past. It is natural for students to want to pull from things they use in their daily lives, whether that be social media, video games, or tv shows, but it the projects and artists we present don't connect to them it is hard for them to relate. It is valuable to teach them about the classics, Monet, Picasso and Frida Kahlo, but it is also important to bring in modern artists that students can relate to today. Finding connection allow the students to visualize and critically reflect on not only artists work, but also their own art!

Interpretation is key when it comes to art. Some art, is easy to decode because they're

designed to be, but others, known as Icons, that carry attached meanings. Mona Lisa is a great example. That painting has become a image that represents culture and can be found on all types of products and styles of art. It adds value to other products because it is such an iconic piece of our culture. So how do we teach interpretation? The following points help break down interpretation and how students can learn to dissect the art they are exposed to.

The Process of Interpretation

• Artist's intentions

• Attached cultural/personal meanings

• Internal clues (style, composition)

• Context

• Affective/emotional response

Questions to help the students get started:

• What was the artist thinking about or trying to say with this artwork?

• What cultural meanings or personal connections can you make with this piece of art?

• What subject matter or style is this piece?

• Where are you viewing this piece? Would it be the same or different in a museum?

• How does this piece make you feel?

Bring this ideas into the Art Room:

Warhol Soup Can, Personalized

Grade band: K-2 (PreK/K simpler version, 1st/2nd with more independence)

Materials: Tempera paint or bold markers, pre-cut can-shaped paper (or a simple can template to trace), 9x12 or 12x18 paper divided into a grid

Objective: Given a personal symbol or favorite object, students will create a repeated, graphic design in the style of Andy Warhol, using color variation to explore how repetition changes the feeling of an image.

Process:

1. Show Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans and ask: "Why would someone paint the same can over and over? Is that even art?" Let the debate happen, it's the whole point.

2. Each student picks ONE simple thing that represents them, favorite food, a pet, their initial, a toy, something with a clear, simple shape.

3. -PreK/K: teacher provides a pre-drawn/pre-cut template of their chosen shape; they trace or paint directly onto 2-4 pre-divided sections of the paper.

   -1st/2nd: they draw their own simple version of the shape once, then repeat it (tracing their own drawing or freehand) into 4 grid sections.

4. Each repetition gets a different bold color combination, background one color, shape another, swapped each time.

5. Display all four together as one piece.

Assessment questions:

• Did the student repeat a single recognizable image at least twice with varied color?

• Can the student explain why they chose that image to represent themselves?

American Gothic, New Story

Grade band: Best for 1st/2nd (needs a bit more drawing confidence); PreK/K can do a simplified partner-pose version with heavy teacher support

Materials: Pencil or silky crayons, 9x12 paper, optional: a simple "farmhouse" background template pre-drawn for younger kids

Objective: Given Grant Wood's American Gothic as a reference, students will create a new version of the painting's composition, two figures in a formal pose, each holding an object that represents something important to them, to explore how the same "framework" can carry a completely different, personal meaning.

Process:

1. Show American Gothic. Ask: "Who do you think these people are? What are they holding? Why do you think the artist posed them like that?"

2. Explain the "job" of the painting isn't really about a pitchfork, it's about showing what matters to the people in it.

3. Students choose a partner (or themselves + a family member/pet) to draw in the same stiff, side-by-side pose.

4. Instead of a pitchfork, they draw themselves holding something that matters to them, a favorite toy, a soccer ball, a book, a pet.

5. PreK/K: teacher pre-draws the two standing figure outlines on the paper; kids fill in faces, clothes, and the held object.

   1st/2nd: kids draw the full figures themselves, teacher available for pose help.

Assessment questions:

• Did the student replace the pitchfork with something personally meaningful?

• Can the student explain why they chose that object?