Any time that you can combine fun with learning, you have really set the stage for something meaningful for your children. Teaching children about artists might involve looking at books about a particular artist or visiting an art gallery or museum. An even better way to get your kids excited about discovering an artist's work is by having them complete an art project mimicking the style of that artist.
Joan Miro, a Spanish master of Surrealism, has many works particularly suitable for a children's art project. Consider a work of his such as "People and Dog in the Sun." You will note as you view the painting, that essentially this is a painting with whimsical stick figures surrounded by circles and stars. Provide large pieces of paper and begin by having children draw a stick figure in action then adding a few circles and stars. Create the stars by using lines and dots, as Miro did. Once the circles, stars and stick figure are drawn, trace them in black crayon and then use watercolors to paint the circles and background.
Surrealism and abstract art are similar, but with abstract art, you tend to see art that is not representational, such as works by Jackson Pollack or Robert Delaunay. Many works by Wassily Kandinsky fall into the category of abstract art, and a children's project based on Kandinsky offers an excellence way for children to explore both color and shape. Consider copying a painting such as "Color Studies," which is basically a beautiful, colorful diamond. Children can copy this work using a variety of colors and in whatever medium they wish, such as watercolor, crayon or oil pastel. Other options include getting large pieces of black paper and having children create works based on "Several Circles" or "Composition X." The latter features a variety of intersecting shapes, which might be better for older artists, while "Several Circles" could be fun for all ages.
Another artist that children will find inspirational and relatively easy to mimic is Paul Klee. Begin by showing children some of his paintings, such as "Red Balloon," "Castle and Sun," and "Senecio." The latter painting is a great project for kids. Children simply create a head by tracing a big circle and then adding straight lines for the neck, dividing the head in half with a straight line and adding touching eyes and squares for the mouth. Trace the lines with permanent marker and color in the picture very thickly using pastels. Then paint over the picture using acrylic paint. After the paint dries, you can scrape it away with an old credit card, leaving only traces of the paint.
If you would like to try something that doesn't involve painting or drawing, consider looking at some of the photographic work of David Hockney. His collage style is quite fun for children to imitate. Simply look through a magazine and find a photo that looks interesting and images of nature that look quite striking. Take the picture and cut into squares and rectangles, ensuring that you still have them in order. Then glue them down on paper in order, but overlapping the pieces a bit and rotating them slightly.
Some works of art, such as Van Gogh's "Irises," or "Starry Night," and Seurat's "Sunday in the Park," are harder to imitate. However, buying a downloadable PDF mural of these works allows your child to recreate a piece of art and put their own spin on it. You can download the aforementioned works and many more from ArtProjectsForKids.org and you will see that they are divided into squares. Have your child or children decorate each square and then return the pieces to the original order. The resulting image is striking, and something you could easily paste onto a canvas and hang in your home.
Joan Miro, a Spanish master of Surrealism, has many works particularly suitable for a children's art project. Consider a work of his such as "People and Dog in the Sun." You will note as you view the painting, that essentially this is a painting with whimsical stick figures surrounded by circles and stars. Provide large pieces of paper and begin by having children draw a stick figure in action then adding a few circles and stars. Create the stars by using lines and dots, as Miro did. Once the circles, stars and stick figure are drawn, trace them in black crayon and then use watercolors to paint the circles and background.
Surrealism and abstract art are similar, but with abstract art, you tend to see art that is not representational, such as works by Jackson Pollack or Robert Delaunay. Many works by Wassily Kandinsky fall into the category of abstract art, and a children's project based on Kandinsky offers an excellence way for children to explore both color and shape. Consider copying a painting such as "Color Studies," which is basically a beautiful, colorful diamond. Children can copy this work using a variety of colors and in whatever medium they wish, such as watercolor, crayon or oil pastel. Other options include getting large pieces of black paper and having children create works based on "Several Circles" or "Composition X." The latter features a variety of intersecting shapes, which might be better for older artists, while "Several Circles" could be fun for all ages.
Another artist that children will find inspirational and relatively easy to mimic is Paul Klee. Begin by showing children some of his paintings, such as "Red Balloon," "Castle and Sun," and "Senecio." The latter painting is a great project for kids. Children simply create a head by tracing a big circle and then adding straight lines for the neck, dividing the head in half with a straight line and adding touching eyes and squares for the mouth. Trace the lines with permanent marker and color in the picture very thickly using pastels. Then paint over the picture using acrylic paint. After the paint dries, you can scrape it away with an old credit card, leaving only traces of the paint.
If you would like to try something that doesn't involve painting or drawing, consider looking at some of the photographic work of David Hockney. His collage style is quite fun for children to imitate. Simply look through a magazine and find a photo that looks interesting and images of nature that look quite striking. Take the picture and cut into squares and rectangles, ensuring that you still have them in order. Then glue them down on paper in order, but overlapping the pieces a bit and rotating them slightly.
Some works of art, such as Van Gogh's "Irises," or "Starry Night," and Seurat's "Sunday in the Park," are harder to imitate. However, buying a downloadable PDF mural of these works allows your child to recreate a piece of art and put their own spin on it. You can download the aforementioned works and many more from ArtProjectsForKids.org and you will see that they are divided into squares. Have your child or children decorate each square and then return the pieces to the original order. The resulting image is striking, and something you could easily paste onto a canvas and hang in your home.
About the Author:
Kate Halfey likes writing about art projects for kids. For further information about awesome art projects for kids or to find flower art projects for kids, please visit the ArtProjectsForKids.org website now.
No comments:
Post a Comment