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Submitted by: Jennifer Love-Marriott, Art Teacher

Teaching Tip

I introduce every lesson with a little Art History! We look at examples of the artist that best relates to our project, discuss their style and identify elements and principles of design within their works.

The children then go on to create their own artworks, in a similar style, and at the end of the project we compare and contrast our works.

The kids like to point out or identify the problem solving solutions they used in the process, and gain a better understanding of how the artist went about making the work of art.

Today's example was Paul Klee's painting of Senecio. My students enjoyed looking at this piece and comparing it with his other two paintings (Mask of Fear and Arab Song).

The project was to create a collage of a face, using unexpected colors and shapes.

The kids really enjoyed themselves and made some very astute observations regarding symmetry as they worked!

I believe that by introducing them to Art History at a young age (I teach K-5) they are better able to understand the assignments, as they get older.

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