Lesson Overview:
Pop art examines the distinction between "high art" and popular culture, and questions the role of the artist. Pop artists Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg used everyday objects and familiar icons in their artwork. This
lesson focuses on Warhol's methods of repetition and Oldenburg's idea of presenting the ordinary object as sculptural form or art. Students will combine these two ideas into a two-dimensional artwork using hands-on
painting and photo editing software.
Length of Lesson:
Five 45-minute class periods
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- explore the concept of "ordinary" objects that are transformed, through various techniques, into art.
- analyze and interpret the work of Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol.
- identity techniques in Pop Art, including screenprinting, repetition, and embellishment of the
familiar.
- use digital cameras and photo editing software to alter images of "ordinary" objects.
- use various hands-on art techniques and materials to alter images of "ordinary" objects.
- create a diptych of altered digital images, incorporating a variety of art and graphic techniques and concepts.
Supplies:
- Magazines
- Collection of objects (sock, small toys, plastic spoon or fork, costume jewelry, trophies or medals, etc.)
- Inexpensive craft items such as sequins, buttons, yarn, scrap paper, small beads, etc.
- Tempera paint
- Computers with Internet access
- Digital cameras
- Photo editing software such as KidPix, Hyperstudio, or Photoshop
- Good quality color printer
Instructional Plan:
Teacher Note:
- Prior to this lesson, you and your students should have some familiarity with a digital camera and a graphics software program, such as KidPix, Hyperstudio, or Photoshop. You may wish to collaborate with the computer lab teacher, or work with students in the computer lab to familiarize them with the software.
- Prior to beginning this lesson, place on students' desks an assortment of objects, including such everyday items as a sock, trophy, small toys, bottle caps, pencil, plastic spoon, baseball card, costume jewelry, screwdriver, toothbrush, etc. The objects should be a variety that students might describe as ordinary and/or special.
Warm Up
Have students pick at least one of the pre-placed objects on their desk, and state their thoughts on whether the object is "ordinary" or "special." Prompt student discussion with questions like: "What makes this object special? Would you save it? Would you feel a loss if it were lost or thrown away?"
Lead the class in a discussion of "ordinary" and "special" objects. This will help facilitate students' thinking about how to differentiate between the two, and explore how and why we place value on certain objects. Ask students questions like: What do you do with special objects? (Answers could be to save them, put them in a special place for safekeeping, or display them.) Does a special object need to be expensive? Could an object be special to you, but not special to someone else?
Guided Instruction
Part I
Begin by exploring a primary concept in pop art: using the ordinary, everyday object as the subject of an artwork. Have students look at the images on the Claes Oldenburg Web site, focusing in particular on the following pieces: Giant Clothespin, Ball and Glove, Soft Toilet, and Trowel I. Read the short biography of him on the site. Lead the class in a critique of Oldenburg's art and discuss the subjects of his sculptures. Ask students about what kinds of things they usually see in artwork. Include questions such as: Why do you think the artist chose these materials to create the piece? Do you think of objects like this as being art? Show students a regular clothespin to the class. Compare/contrast the real clothespin object with Oldenburg's sculpture, using a Venn diagram. Direct students to notice the differences in size, material, and features of the clothespin and the sculpture. Ask students: "What did the artist do to the clothespin to make it into art?" The rationale of comparing/contrasting is to allow the students to examine the artwork closely, and to explore the idea that ordinary objects take on different meaning when an artist alters it.
Class Activity
Have students look through magazines and search for "ordinary" and "special" objects. Students will tack what they find to a board labeled SPECIAL on one side and ORDINARY on the other. Students should develop a rationale for their choice, and describe a possible method to make an ordinary object into something special. Potential answers could be to paint, enlarge, place it in a special container, decorate it, add features or materials, etc.
Instruct students that must bring in an "ordinary" object for use in their artwork. The object must be something they consider ordinary. (Note: Have some objects accessible in class for those who forget to bring their own.)
Part II
Teacher Note: Prior to class, have an 8 1/2 x 11 photocopied image of a famous person for each student. If you find an image that is smaller than 8 1/2X11, simply enlarge it on the copier. You can use a
magazine or the Internet. The quality of the image does not have to be good.
Have students read a biography of Andy Warhol. Discuss with students his background and the major points in his career. Explain his methods of repetition and embellishment of familiar icons or famous people. Discuss how he repeated his images and added paint and changed the colors. Discuss the Three Coke Bottles image and note the arrangement of the bottles. Ask the class how this is different from putting just one coca-cola bottle on a shelf. Notice the formal qualities of the art such as color, pattern, and texture and how they affect the image. Compare/contrast the Mao Tse-tung images to a regular photograph and note how Warhol changed the photographs to creae "art." Warhol created these portrait using a specific technique called screenprinting.
Give students the photocopied images of famous people. Have students use tempera paint and a variety of craft items to embellish their images. Have students tack their images onto the wall, side by side in rows. Explain to students that this is the Andy Warhol method of repetition. Lead the class in a critique of their artwork, asking them: "Did you think the image was art before you did something to it?" "How do we perceive the images when they are placed next to each other like this?" and "Do any of the images look the same as they did when you first received them?" Allow time for discussion as students explore the idea of an artist transforming an ordinary object into art.
Part III
Review with students how to use a digital camera. You may wish to have some students "peer tutor" others who are less familiar with using a digital camera. As previously assigned, students should have brought to class an ordinary object. If any students forgot their object, you can lend them one from the collection in class.
Review with students the basics of KidPix, Hyperstudio, or Photoshop software. If you have access to computers and the software in the classroom, you may do this activity there. If not, you will need to reserve time in the computer lab.
Explain to students that should take a digital picture of their ordinary object. Assist students in photographing their ordinary object. Advise students to lay the object on a neutral surface and photograph it, filling up most of the frame. Have students name and save the images. Print out two images of each student's photograph. Students should write their names on them and the printed photographs.
Tell students that they will use the photo editing program (KidPix, Hyperstudio, or Photoshop) to embellish the photograph of their object. Assist students with importing their images into the photo editing program. Instruct students to use the paint, pencil, stamp and airbrush tools. They may also change the backgrounds, but remind them to keep their changes simple. Allow students some time to embellish their images. Explain that they creating a diptych, which is similar to Warhol's method. However, the class is using a computer to alter the images, whereas Warhol used
silkscreen techniques. They will alter the printed photographs with paint, and combine these with the digitally altered images, to create their diptych.
Once students have completed their digitally altered photographs, they should save them and print two color copies of the finished images. Have students write their names on the back.
Part IV
Have available pre-cut sheets of black or white paper large enough to hold four 8 1/2 x 11 printouts, with room for a small border in between the printouts and around the edges.
Briefly review with students the techniques of Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol. Have students retrieve their two unembellished printouts. Remind students that they are creating a diptych, a series of four, related pieces. Students should paint and embellish the printouts in any way they wish using tempera paint, colored pencils, and markers. Encourage the students to change the background in some way using patterns, color, texture, line, etc. Remind them that they do not have to completely color in the background on both of their photographs. Students may also use craft and found items such as sequins, small beads, string, etc.
Have students arrange their pictures in rows—either one horizontal or one vertical row, or two rows of two pictures each—on the pre-cut sheets of black or white paper.
Closure
Lead the class in a discussion of the two concepts they have explored in pop art - Oldenburg’s method of making sculptures or art from ordinary everyday objects, and Warhol’s methods of repetition and embellishing familiar images. Have students display their artwork and conduct a class critique. Discuss the two methods used by Oldenburg and Warhol and how they used both of these methods in their artwork. Have students use the Pop Art: Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol interactive slideshow to review and check for understanding.
Have students volunteer to explain how they changed their ordinary object into art. Discuss with class how their ideas of art have or have not changed, and revisit students' original ideas at the beginning of the lesson on the definition of art.
Assessment:
Use the Assessment Rubric to evaluate students' learning, participation, and completion of final project.
Sources:
Web
Authors:
-
Barbara Gardner, Graduate Student
University of Houston
Houston, TX
