A fun and simple exploration into art history.
In this lesson, we take the idea of a basic birthday card design and tie it into art history by creating a birthday card for a historical artist or figure. This site has a calendar so students can look up artists HERE who share the same birthday.
A simplified version of this lesson, for elementary students, can be found on this blog HERE.
Using materials available to the teacher, students create an illustration that incorporates the chosen artist's work through emulation or parody like this example for Salvador Dali'. By having students choose based on their own birthdays, there will be fewer overlapping projects, like having a ton of Picasso samples. You could open this more broadly to historical figures in general, or by culture for additional possibilities. I have students "sketch" on scrap copy paper as a way to recycle, but also to work out ideas, and share with peers before moving onto the final paper.
The inside of the card should include a greeting; a personal message that incorporates 3 to 4 facts about the artist or historical figure. This way a degree of investigating is needed and hones student's research skills. I allow my students to either hand-write or print out and glue-in their text based on their own comfort level with their handwriting.
The card closes with a logo to identify the student. You may wish them to include their class period or homeroom to identify work. This logo can be based on their name or a company name they make up. It can be a simple logo like my design, based on initials, or maybe more complex and in color.
Grading, should it be desired, can be based on a rubric that checks for the number of facts in the written greeting, and the degree they used their illustration skills. For lower elementary students a single layer of color might be acceptable, whereas, in middle school, layering of color and simple shading may be required. For my high school students, I expect textures, the use of both analogous and complementary colors and have created this video to demonstrate those skills HERE.
A simplified version of this lesson, for elementary students, can be found on this blog HERE.
Using materials available to the teacher, students create an illustration that incorporates the chosen artist's work through emulation or parody like this example for Salvador Dali'. By having students choose based on their own birthdays, there will be fewer overlapping projects, like having a ton of Picasso samples. You could open this more broadly to historical figures in general, or by culture for additional possibilities. I have students "sketch" on scrap copy paper as a way to recycle, but also to work out ideas, and share with peers before moving onto the final paper.
The inside of the card should include a greeting; a personal message that incorporates 3 to 4 facts about the artist or historical figure. This way a degree of investigating is needed and hones student's research skills. I allow my students to either hand-write or print out and glue-in their text based on their own comfort level with their handwriting.
The card closes with a logo to identify the student. You may wish them to include their class period or homeroom to identify work. This logo can be based on their name or a company name they make up. It can be a simple logo like my design, based on initials, or maybe more complex and in color.
Grading, should it be desired, can be based on a rubric that checks for the number of facts in the written greeting, and the degree they used their illustration skills. For lower elementary students a single layer of color might be acceptable, whereas, in middle school, layering of color and simple shading may be required. For my high school students, I expect textures, the use of both analogous and complementary colors and have created this video to demonstrate those skills HERE.
For more information and resources, please explore the tabs to the left here, or for printed resources like books and posters, my publishing website is at www.FirehousePublications.com
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