Alexa Marie Gryga
Art Educator | Fine Artist
Elementary school lessons
Enduring Idea: People make art for many different reasons.
Lesson Title: Van Gogh Irises
Grade: 1st Grade
Time Allotment: 3 days, 40 minutes each
(Students have art once a 4-day cycle for the whole year).
OVERVIEW:
Lesson Summary: The students will be discovering Van Gogh’s history and will find out how that affected his art. They will learn through his rough history, he made certain paintings (i.e. Irises) to help make himself feel better. His paintings of Irises was in a time that he was recovering and trying to better himself, which goes along with the spring flowers being signs of renewal. After studying Van Gogh, the students will create their own gold framed Iris in Van Gogh appreciation using tempera paint, crayons, metallic markers, and sharpies.
Enduring Idea: Multiple artists can inspire people all at once.
Lesson Title: Picasso VS. Calder
Grade: 3rd Grade
Time Allotment: 2 days, 40 minutes each
(Students have art once a 4-day cycle for the whole year).
OVERVIEW:
Lesson Summary: In this lesson we will be creating art inspired by two artists (Pablo Picasso and Alexander Calder). As a class, we will look at Picasso’s different styles of art through video and pictures and will read a story about Calder and look at images of his art as well. The students will paint something they like in one of Picasso’s styles, which include his blue period, his rose period, and his cubist period. The students can pick the one style that they like the best and should not combine styles. In groups, the students will then make their paintings into a mobile inspired by Calder. In the end, the students will better understand how to take two different styles of art and make one piece of art.
