Way Out Warhol

1. Andy Warhol was a famous Pop Artist. He used images of popular people and items and often repeated those images, with different color schemes, together in rows and columns, sometimes even 100 times!
2. Using Andy Warhol’s “Art” button print as a basis, ask students to create a basic outline. Photocopy it several times. Using only primary colors, instruct students to color in one button design with Crayola® Watercolor Pencils. Color another with only secondary colors. Color two more with warm or cool colors. Consider also coloring with only variations of one color (monochromatic) or with only a pair of complements (‘opposite’ colors).
3. Adding small amounts of water and colored areas will magically become paint! Begin with the areas that are colored in with the lightest value first; then move to medium color values and finally the darkest. Remind students to rinse the brush out well each time a change color is made. Repeat with all of “Art” button papers. Allow time to dry.
4. Or, students can make their own version of ‘Paint with Water’ by using Crayola Washable Markers to create designs inside the letters, such as dots, lines or circles. Using a very small amount of water on a brush, rub over the marker designs a few times; the marker designs will fade while the color fills in the area.
5. Demonstrate for students how to carefully cut out and arrange them in rows. Using a Crayola Glue Stick, glue them onto another piece of background paper. Look at Warhol’s version and see what other types of images he mounted together like this.
6. Provide time in the school day for students to share their “Warhol-like” designs. How are their art pieces similar? How are they different?

LA: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

LA: Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

SS: Describe ways in which artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.

SS: Demonstrate an understanding that people in different times and places view the world differently.

VA: Artists and designers shape artistic investigations,, following or breaking with traditions, in pursuit of creative art-making goals.

VA: Artists and designers experiment with forms, structures, materials, concepts, media and art-making approaches.

VA: Visual imagery influences understanding of and responses to the world.

Invite students to create personal word button designs with their names or the school’s name, following the above suggestions. Students can laminate the artwork and wear it!

Research other works by Warhol, especially his portraits that are printed in various color schemes and displayed together. Students draw a simplified self-portrait and repeat the color suggestions above.

Use a large rubber stamp design and print as many as 100 (or more!) like Warhol did with Campbell’s soup cans, and color the images in with colored pencils. Hang artwork next to a friend’s creation and count how many total little items illustrated. How many people would have to do this to total 1,000? How about 1,000,000?