Grant Wood Inspired Landscapes

For this lesson we started off reading through some of the pages of Mike Venezia's Getting to Know book about Grant Wood. I love telling them the story about how American Gothic came to be and showing them a photo of me in front of the original in Chicago! Great opportunity to discuss the difference between copies and originals. We discussed the difference between portraits and landscapes and we did a step by step drawing of a horizon line, barn, trees, fence, sun (always encouraging them to add their own ideas because they are the artist!) ....The next class, after reviewing, we talked about pattern and drew the lines in the landscapes with patterns in them. Then they traced everything with a chisel tip sharpie. The next class was coloring in small details with construction paper crayons and then adding liquid watercolor paints. Students also had to show me an understanding of vocabulary by filling out an assessment to be glued to the back of their artwork. This project took longer than I anticipated, (4 classes) but they worked so hard and I am pleased with the results!