This project is based on the LOVE sculptures and paintings of American Pop artist, Robert Indiana. Older students can create their own four letter "Wish for the World" in the same stacked style as the artist. The word will then be adorned with unique patterns and shapes. Younger grades will create patterned versions of the word LOVE.
Robert Indiana was born in 1928 (he is 88 years old), in the US in the state of Indiana. Does anyone know where Indiana is or has anyone ever been there? (It is in the Midwest, you can show it on a map of the US if the classroom has one). So Robert Indiana was born in Indiana, but his name was actually Robert Clark. He later changed it to Indiana in honor of his home state.
He was adopted when he was a baby, and his family moved around a lot when he was a child. His first grade teacher noticed how interesting his art was, and encouraged him to always continue making art.
A new kind of art became popular in the 1950s and 60s called POP ART, and Robert Indiana became a very famous Pop Artist. In Pop Art, artists often created simple, brightly colored, bold images. SHOW EXAMPLES FROM THE ART CLOSET: WARHOL'S SOUP CAN AND PORTRAIT OF MARILYN MONROE; LICHTENSTEIN.
The artwork often showcased everyday items, like a soup can or other common products you might find in your home. They sometimes included famous celebrities, or looked like comic strips. You can see how there is not too much detail—they are fairly simple images. The colors used are often very bold; sometimes not the colors that things would be in real life. The images sometimes used patterns (point out repetition in the Warhol images, and the dots used in Lichtenstein). What else do you notice? What do you think about these pieces of art?
The people who made Pop Art didn't want their artwork to be too "fancy"; they wanted it to be about things in everyday life that most people could relate to.
In 1965, a little bit before I was born (relate it to your age), a famous museum called The Museum of Modern art in New York City asked Robert Indiana to make a design for their Christmas card. And he made this: SHOW LOVE ARTWORK (Art Closet)
Then, in 1973, almost 8 years later, the US Postal Service put his design on a stamp so that everybody could see it—pretty cool right? SHOW STAMP ARTWORK (Art Closet)
People loved it! In fact, his LOVE artwork became part of what he is most known for. SHOW LOVE SCULPTURE (Art Closet)
Robert Indiana decided to make many LOVE paintings and sculptures. One sculpture was placed in a park in Philadelphia in 1976 for the United States' Bicentennial celebration. (You can mention the Bicentennial was the 200th anniversary of the founding of our country and Philadelphia is where our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution).
Later on Indiana created sculptures in other languages as well, like the AMOR sculpture that appeared in Madrid, Spain in 2006. What do you think AMOR means in Spanish? SHOW AMOR SCULPTURE (Art Closet)
In 2008, when Barack Obama was running for President for the first time, Robert Indiana created a HOPE image in the same style. SHOW HOPE ARTWORK (Art Closet)
He donated all of the money he made from this artwork (more than $1 million dollars) to help Barack Obama's Presidential campaign. Since then he also created several HOPE sculptures.
Robert Indiana's artwork, especially his LOVE and HOPE artwork, is thought to be so important because so many people have been able to see it in their everyday lives: many of his sculptures are out in public places so you don't have to pay a museum to go see them. His stamps arrive in people's mailboxes and his HOPE images were everywhere, on posters, t-shirts, and bumper stickers. It's an example of how art can tell a story, communicate feelings and messages, and be an important part of our everyday lives.
Today, we are going to make our own LOVE artwork. Can anybody tell me what a pattern is (take their responses)? A pattern is something that repeats in a predictable way. Like circle-square-circle; or red-blue-yellow, red-blue-yellow; or heart-squiggly line-flower; or even 2-4-6-8. Patterns are often part of Pop Art, so we are going to put patterns on the words we are making today.
DISTRIBUTE WISH FOR THE WORLD WORKSHEET,
1 PER CHILD (Art Closet, see below for example)
Each of you will come up with your own four-letter word that is a Wish for the World. Think about a four-letter word that would make the world a better place. We saw Robert Indiana's word, "LOVE." Here are some other suggestions to get you thinking: HOPE, LIVE, FOOD, CARE, LIFE, PETS - be creative!
NOTE: FOR YOUNGER GRADES YOU CAN SKIP THIS PART AND SIMPLY ASK THEM TO DRAW THE WORD 'LOVE' (OR USE A STENCIL) TO MAKE THE LESSON EASIER.
Example of worksheet in Art Closet:
SUPPLIES
- Square1 Art paper
- Black sharpies, 1 per child (Art Closet)
- Markers in various colors (Art Closet)
- Pencils and rulers (from children's own supplies)
- Pre-made LOVE stencil and/or font worksheet (Art Closet)
- Images of Robert Indiana's artwork (Art Closet)
SCRIPT
SHOW PORTRAIT OF ROBERT INDIANA (Art Closet)
Robert Indiana was born in 1928 (he is 88 years old), in the US in the state of Indiana. Does anyone know where Indiana is or has anyone ever been there? (It is in the Midwest, you can show it on a map of the US if the classroom has one). So Robert Indiana was born in Indiana, but his name was actually Robert Clark. He later changed it to Indiana in honor of his home state.
He was adopted when he was a baby, and his family moved around a lot when he was a child. His first grade teacher noticed how interesting his art was, and encouraged him to always continue making art.
A new kind of art became popular in the 1950s and 60s called POP ART, and Robert Indiana became a very famous Pop Artist. In Pop Art, artists often created simple, brightly colored, bold images. SHOW EXAMPLES FROM THE ART CLOSET: WARHOL'S SOUP CAN AND PORTRAIT OF MARILYN MONROE; LICHTENSTEIN.
The artwork often showcased everyday items, like a soup can or other common products you might find in your home. They sometimes included famous celebrities, or looked like comic strips. You can see how there is not too much detail—they are fairly simple images. The colors used are often very bold; sometimes not the colors that things would be in real life. The images sometimes used patterns (point out repetition in the Warhol images, and the dots used in Lichtenstein). What else do you notice? What do you think about these pieces of art?
The people who made Pop Art didn't want their artwork to be too "fancy"; they wanted it to be about things in everyday life that most people could relate to.
In 1965, a little bit before I was born (relate it to your age), a famous museum called The Museum of Modern art in New York City asked Robert Indiana to make a design for their Christmas card. And he made this: SHOW LOVE ARTWORK (Art Closet)
Then, in 1973, almost 8 years later, the US Postal Service put his design on a stamp so that everybody could see it—pretty cool right? SHOW STAMP ARTWORK (Art Closet)
People loved it! In fact, his LOVE artwork became part of what he is most known for. SHOW LOVE SCULPTURE (Art Closet)
Robert Indiana decided to make many LOVE paintings and sculptures. One sculpture was placed in a park in Philadelphia in 1976 for the United States' Bicentennial celebration. (You can mention the Bicentennial was the 200th anniversary of the founding of our country and Philadelphia is where our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution).
Later on Indiana created sculptures in other languages as well, like the AMOR sculpture that appeared in Madrid, Spain in 2006. What do you think AMOR means in Spanish? SHOW AMOR SCULPTURE (Art Closet)
In 2008, when Barack Obama was running for President for the first time, Robert Indiana created a HOPE image in the same style. SHOW HOPE ARTWORK (Art Closet)
He donated all of the money he made from this artwork (more than $1 million dollars) to help Barack Obama's Presidential campaign. Since then he also created several HOPE sculptures.
Robert Indiana's artwork, especially his LOVE and HOPE artwork, is thought to be so important because so many people have been able to see it in their everyday lives: many of his sculptures are out in public places so you don't have to pay a museum to go see them. His stamps arrive in people's mailboxes and his HOPE images were everywhere, on posters, t-shirts, and bumper stickers. It's an example of how art can tell a story, communicate feelings and messages, and be an important part of our everyday lives.
Today, we are going to make our own LOVE artwork. Can anybody tell me what a pattern is (take their responses)? A pattern is something that repeats in a predictable way. Like circle-square-circle; or red-blue-yellow, red-blue-yellow; or heart-squiggly line-flower; or even 2-4-6-8. Patterns are often part of Pop Art, so we are going to put patterns on the words we are making today.
DISTRIBUTE WISH FOR THE WORLD WORKSHEET,
1 PER CHILD (Art Closet, see below for example)
Each of you will come up with your own four-letter word that is a Wish for the World. Think about a four-letter word that would make the world a better place. We saw Robert Indiana's word, "LOVE." Here are some other suggestions to get you thinking: HOPE, LIVE, FOOD, CARE, LIFE, PETS - be creative!
NOTE: FOR YOUNGER GRADES YOU CAN SKIP THIS PART AND SIMPLY ASK THEM TO DRAW THE WORD 'LOVE' (OR USE A STENCIL) TO MAKE THE LESSON EASIER.
CREATE ART
- Practice: have the students draw their Wish for the World on the worksheet. This will help the kids get a feel for how big the letters should be. The letters need to be big, fill each square, and be an even size and thickness.
- When they are done practicing on the worksheet, have the students use their rulers to draw 4 equal quadrants on the Square1 paper in pencil, taking up most of the usable space. To save time, you can pre-draw the grid.
- Now it's time to draw their 4-letter word, or trace the LOVE stencil on the Square1 paper! The kids should draw their letters in pencil first, copying from their practice sheet if they need to. Make sure they keep the letters and any details 1-inch away from the border of the paper. When they're done, have the kids trace their pencil lines with black sharpies.
- Ask the children to create patterns in the letters using black sharpies (circles, squares, hearts, stripes, etc.).
- Once they're done creating patterns, the kids can color their drawings with the markers, choosing whichever colors they like.
- Encourage the kids to choose one color for the background that will complement/contrast with the colors in the letters.
Example of worksheet in Art Closet:
