In class we have been looking at many many famous portraits and trying to deduce what the artist might have wanted to tell us about the character they painted/drew. The kids loved doing this and I think they could have kept going for the whole class. Their insights were very interesting and creative.
We came to the conclusion that artists use any or all of the items listed below to give the viewer clues about the person being portrayed. These clues come in many forms.
(1) posture,
(2) facial expression,
(3) background,
(4) props and
(5) clothing.
Each child went through a list of adjectives and chose one MASTER adjective they'd like to focus in for their final portrait. The goal of their portrait would then be to make all items listed above congruent with this adjective so that any viewer would immediately see a strong character shine through in their final portraits.
As homework each child is supposed to list 3 things:
ART HOMEWORK for ALL 4th Graders.
1. What could be in the background that would support the adjective you chose for yourself? (example: if you chose "athletic" as your adjective your background could be a playing field.)
2. What could you be wearing that would best support the adjective you chose? (Example: If your adjective is "creative" you might be wearing a smock with paint on it in your portrait.)
3. What "prop" could you include in your final piece that would support the adjective you chose. (Example: If the adjective you chose was "sassy", you might be holding a mirror in your portrait).
HOME EXTENSION AND MORE IDEAS
A great home extension might be visiting the National Portrait Gallery. I will e-mail the museum right now and see if they could set us up for a trip too. But in the meantime. If your child is catching on this topic, feel free to take them on a personal tour.
Here's a fun lesson.....you can try this at home.......this guy is great at giving you great drawing advice.....
This one has shading...which we will be also doing next week.
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