Design colorful cards—for Valentine’s Day or any special occasion. Send heart-y greetings using the contemporary art techniques of pop-artist Jim Dine.

• 1.

  Artist Jim Dine lives in Ohio. Among his popular series of paintings and sculptures are his Hearts. Dine’s series usually contain an appealing interplay of shadow and light between the main object and the background. This effect, combined with Dine's interesting surfaces, make his works a pleasure to see.

• 2.

  Jim Dine was heavily influenced by the Pop-Art movement, which draws its inspiration from everyday objects. His other series include tools, bathrobes, and skulls.

• 3.

  To create your own Heart series, hold a sheet of white paper vertically. Fold it into three equal vertical columns. Open the sheet, then fold it into four equal horizontal columns. You will have 12 boxes.

• 4.

  Use Crayola® Scissors to cut three or more hearts from squares of other paper that is the same size as any of your 12 boxes. Make each of the hearts slightly different.

• 5.

  Trace the hearts into the bottom six boxes on the folded paper. Alternate the different hearts.

• 6.

  Use Crayola Oil Pastels to color in each of the hearts. Use a variety of colors.

• 7.

  Cover your art area with newspaper. With Crayola Watercolor Brushes, fill in each box with a different combination of Crayola Watercolors. Make sure the watercolors contrast slightly with the hearts for increased visibility. Use a damp paintbrush to blend background colors around the boxes. Air dry flat.

• 8.

  Fold the card. Write your heartfelt message inside with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils. You’ll delight someone with this colorful greeting card!

Standards

• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
• SS: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.
• VA: Select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of ideas.
• VA: Use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.
• VA: Describe and place a variety of art objects in historical and cultural contexts.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal; Snowy Valentine by David Petersen; Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat
• Students research other works of Jim Dine and attempt to replicate his style. Provide a display area for this artwork. Students also supply a one to two sentence summary of artwork.
• Students research the history of Valentine's Day. After summarizing their research, students illustrate what they've learned using the pop art style of Jim Dine.
• Encourage students to investigate the work of various pop artists and compare/contrast it to the work of Jim Dine. Organize research into an electronic format for class viewing.
• Have students investigate a variety of greeting card sayings and verses. Challenge students to compose original verses for their Jim Dine-like greeting cards.