Being an Artist:A Cubism and Collage Experience

Learning from the masters, a great approach for meeting students where they are with Art!

Grades 6-8

Looking for an eye-opening experience in the world of art? By applying the lessons in Being an Artist, students truly see works of art, learning to intelligently discuss artwork, the elements and principles behind good art, and how to become artists themselves.

Lesson 1: Collage Chronology-20th Century Culture and History
Students work together to solve clues and develop a chronological timeline of wars, inventions, and numerous historical firsts. Next, based on visual observations, students place four historical works of art on the timeline, learning to extract crucial information from the credit line of a work of art.

Lesson 2: Warming Up! The Elements of Art and the Principles of Design
Time for a warm-up! Much like athletes, artists often warm up before they begin working. Through hands-on explorations, students are introduced to the elements of art and the principles of design, i.e. the compositional tools an artist uses. Students explore the elements of line, shape, and texture using compressed charcoal and kneaded erasers on newsprint.

Lesson 3: Glued to the Painting-The History of Collage
Nothing like learning from the very best! In this lesson, students examine the history of collage by writing about and discussing two works of art by Pablo Picasso, one a painting, the other a collage.

Lesson 4: Inspired by the Masters-Synthetic Cubist Collage
Building on the previous lesson, student artists study the friendship and artistic interchange between George Braque and Pablo Picasso, the inventors of collage. Students create a collage modeled after early collages by these two artists, in particular using similar elements of art, a central axis, and the same media as the two masters did.

Lesson 5: Looking at Still Life-The Synthetic Cubist Painting of Braque and Picasso
Students construct and use a viewfinder to study still life composition. By comparing two Braque and Picasso paintings, students explore the use of repetition to create movement within a composition. Further, students learn about flatness in Synthetic Cubist artwork.

Lesson 6: Creating a Still Life-Earning Your Artistic License
Ready to let loose? In the lesson, students use their own artistic license to create a still life collage, learning about scale in a composition and utilizing the design principle of movement.

Lesson 7: What do You Think? Picasso Wraps Up Cubism and Plays with Surrealism
An important part of being an artist is the art of critique. Students review a sample critique and then record a personal critique for one of Picasso's paintings. As a class, students interpret and discuss two oil paintings by Picasso.

Lesson 8: Construct a Figurative Collage-The Angles of Cubism or the Surprises of Surrealism
In this lesson, students create collages modeled after two of Picasso's figurative paintings, consciously applying elements of art and principles of design into their creative process.

Lesson 9: Photomontage-The Art of Romare Bearden
Ever evoke emotions through your art? Students are introduced to American-born collage artist Romare Bearden, exploring Bearden's use of proportion, texture, and pattern. Through this process, students learn how artists use the elements of art and the principles of design to create a sense of place and how artists evoke emotions, smells, and sounds through their art.

Lesson 10: Making a Photomontage-Creating an Emotional Space
Modeled after Romare Bearden's 1967 collages, Summertime and Three Folk Musicians, students create a photomontage, a figurative collage of photographs. Students suggest a sense of place with their collage and include one or more figures, each gesturing in a manner that evokes an emotion or an attitude. Students use magazine cutouts as their primary medium.

Lesson 11: Collage of Choice-What is Your Message?
Put it all together! In this lesson, students create personal collages that exhibit their understanding of the elements of art and the principles of design.

Lesson 12: Art on Exhibition-A Community Event
Finis! This culminating lesson is a two-day event. In the first day, students learn how to mount a work of art, create credit lines for labeling a work of art, and explore techniques for creating an art exhibition. In the second day, students exhibit their own artwork. They plan and participate in an "art opening," sharing and talking about their artwork with their community. Additionally, students constructively critique artwork created by their fellow classmates.