WELCOME TO ART!: 7TH GRADE PAINTINGS

Social Media Chase, Painting by Trinity, grade 7

Paintings! We recently completed a painting unit where 7th graders learned about 20th century Pop artists Andy Warhol, Claus Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Wayne Thiebaud. These artists wanted to celebrate everyday popular culture! Andy Warhol painted celebrities as well as product logos, and Roy Lichtenstein made huge comic book style paintings. Wayne Thiebaud and Claus Oldenburg made art pieces based on food!

Whaam!, Roy Lichtenstein, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1963

Profiterole, Claus Oldenburg, aluminum, 1989

Marilyn, Andy Warhol, screenprint, 1967

7th grade artists brainstormed a list of images they see regularly on television, in stores, or on the Internet. We talked about how the Pop artists were making a statement about the way we are constantly bombarded with images in the media!

Then, students drew thumbnail sketches to experiment with their ideas before carefully drawing their final design on paper. Students were inspired by various popular video games, sports, music, comic books, social media, cartoons, and fashion. This painting assignment gave students a lot of freedom of choice, allowing for a tremendous amount of creativity. However, they were also challenged to paint their designs with a limited color palette!

Some of the painting techniques they practiced were the "clean edge technique" and the "color gradation technique." Paint can be a difficult medium to conquer because it is liquid - it doesn't always behave predictably! I am very proud of my students and their hard work!