Artist Inspired Art Lessons are a great way to teach important art concepts while also including an art history connection. Plus, I find students often enjoy learning about real artists and being inspired by their work. Lessons more suitable to grades 5+ are first, with a couple elementary lesson ideas at the end.

Andy Warhol Inspired Reduction Prints

I love to teach my students about printmaking and the printmaking process while learning about the life and work of Andy Warhol. My students learn some fun facts about New York artist Andy Warhol, while learning about printmaking and how to create reduction prints with foam sheets. My students use insects as the subject matter and then they print at least 5 prints with just the outline and white areas carved into foam. Next, they remove the negative space (and legs or antennae) and print the insect with a new color. With a third color, they print patterns on the insect. Lastly, after removing most of the insect’s details, they print black. The final prints are presented as a triptych. Check out the lesson here.

Georgia O’Keeffe Inspired Close-Ups

Georgia O’Keeffe is my favorite artist to introduce to my students when they are learning about composition and creative cropping. After taking a closer look at her paintings and learning some background information about her, my students use flowers, fruit or leaves and a viewfinder to zoom in on their subject. They place the viewfinder on the object or a picture of the object. The composition must touch at least 3 sides of the viewfinder or paper. Next, students use oil pastels to create the image. Just as O’Keeffe painted with her oil paints, students layer and blend colors together to create colorful images. Complete Lesson Plan available here.

Roy Lichtenstein Inspired Self Portrait

Kids love Pop Art, and they love the bright simple colors used by Roy Lichtenstein. I introduce my students to Lichtenstein, ben Day dots and how Lichtenstein used the technique to represent tonal and color effects. My students use a graphite transfer to transfer their portrait to drawing paper and fill the flesh with dots. Then they use a limited color palette, not necessarily primary colors, and add color to their hair and clothing to make an abstract version of themselves. Lastly, students use onomatopoeia or a slang word in the negative space that describes them. I love seeing their interpretations of Pop Art and Lichtenstein’s work. Lichtenstein Lesson Plan available here.

Romero Britto Inspired Pop Art

Another Pop Art favorite is Brazil native and now Floridian, Romero Britto. I enjoy introducing my students to Britto when they are learning about pop culture and we discuss items that are current or popular. When looking at his artwork we also notice his use of unity and pattern. I ask my students to draw a large item from pop culture, and we use a chisel tip marker to add an outline and spokes around the subject. Each segment is painted with watercolors. Next patterns are added with markers. The results are always vibrant and full of fun patterns. Check out the lesson plan here.

Yayoi Kusama Inspired Eye Paintings

Yayoi Kusama, a female Japanese artist, is always a hit with my students. Just like the artists mentioned above, she combines, dots, bright colors, pop culture and painting. I like to focus on her artwork featuring eyes as the subject matter. My students draw an eye or eyes on their paper and add color with watercolors. Next, students use acrylic and stamping to add dots to the negative space like Kusama did. Each mixed media art piece is unique, all while learning about a fascinating and unique artist. Kusama lesson available here.

All five of the lessons above are available for sale in a 5-lesson bundle at a discounted price.

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ARTIST INSPIRED ART LESSONS FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

Eric Carle Inspired Bug Collage

This lesson is a great way to make a connect to illustrators as artists. My elementary students love reading and looking at Eric Carle books. After discussing the role of an illustrator, my students begin making painted paper just like Eric Carle. We use scrapers, sponges and other found objects to create textured paper. Once the paper is dry, I cut the paper into smaller pieces and pass out several pieces of the painted paper to each group. Students begin cutting shapes for the head, thorax and abdomen. They then use the scraps and cut smaller details like the eyes, legs, antennae and patterns. Lastly, the pieces are glued together to create a colorful collage just as Eric Carle used in his book illustrations. Eric Carle Lesson Plan available here.

Sari Schrack Inspired Disco Ball

My students enjoy learning about artists from the past but also appreciate learning about artists from today. Sari is appealing to young artists with her use of bright colors, pop culture references and disco ball paintings. My students draw along with me to create the disco ball. Next, we use oil pastel resist to add color to the lines. Students then use either watercolors or tempera cakes to fill in the squares with a variety of colors. White highlights are added and the disco ball is cut out and added to a black piece of paper. The results are stunning, and the students learn a new art technique while being introduced to a modern artist. Complete Lesson Plan available here.

Thanks for reading – Trista

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