ABSTRACT FLOWERS INSPIRED BY GEORGIA O'KEEFFE
Subject:
Art History
Grade:
All Grades
Age:
All Ages
Submitted by:
Madeline Buonagurio, an art educator at Jefferson, Roosevelt and Washington Elementary Schools, in North Arlington, NJ
Objectives:
Students Will:
- Create a drawing of a flower using Georgia O'Keeffe as their inspiration.
- Develop skills in drawing and composition.
- Understand the difference between realistic and abstract.
- Know the warm colors (reds, yellows,oranges).
- Know the cool colors (blues, greens violets).
- Know that violet and purple are two names for the same color.
Vocabulary:
abstract, enlarge, warm colors, cool colors
What You Need:
- 9" x 12" white drawing paper
- permanent black markers
- watercolor markers
What You Do:
- The students will view and discuss Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings.
- Teacher will demonstrate drawing the flower on white paper using a permanent black marker. After the demonstration, students will try their hand at drawing their own flowers.
- Draw a circle about 1/3 of the way down on the paper.
- Draw a 3 scalloped circles around the original circle.
- Draw 4 wavy lines for the stem. Make sure that they touch the flower top and the bottom of the paper.
- Draw a small leaf on each side of the stem. Follow the shape of the leaf, draw several larger outlines of the leaf.
- Repeat the scalloped lines for the flower top until the entire paper has been filled with lines. It will appear that the flower extends beyond the paper.
- Repeat the lines for the leaf until the entire bottom of the paper has been filled in with lines.
- Display two complete flowers. One should be colored in warm colors. The other should be colored in cool colors. Explain that warm colors and cool colors create a mood.
- Color the flower in all warm colors or all cool colors.
- Mount on colored paper.
- Talk about the completed works.
Artist Biography:
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)
American abstract painter born in Wisconsin. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Student's League in New York, and Colombia Teacher's College in New York. She was an art teacher before she became a full time artist. She was a leader in the development of the American Modernism Movement. O'Keeffe painted still lifes, massive flowers, the New York at Night series, southwestern landscapes and stark bones found in the desert. In 1939, she was selected as one of the twelve most outstanding women of the past fifty years by the New York World's Fair Committee. Her painting, Sunset-Long Island, was chosen to represent New York in an exhibition of the art of the United States at the World's Fair. In 1985, O'Keeffe was granted the Medal of Arts by President Ronald Reagan.
More Information:
The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Garden.Com
The Flower Image Library
Recommended Books:
Georgia O'Keeffe : One Hundred Flowers
by Georgia O'Keeffe, Nicolas Callaway, Nicholas Callaway
A collection of 100 famous and extravagantly beautiful flowers is available in an unprecedented miniature trade paperback edition.
Georgia O'Keeffe (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artist)
by Mike Venezia
Briefly examines the life and work of the twentieth-century American artist known for her paintings of flowers and presents examples of her art.
Georgia O'Keeffe (Portraits of Women Artists for Children)
by Robyn Montana Turner
A biography of the prominent American artist renowned for her images of gigantic flowers, cityscapes, and distinctive desert scenes.
Biography:
Madeline Buonagurio is an art educator at Jefferson, Roosevelt and Washington Elementary Schools in North Arlington, NJ.
