1st grade: Joan Miro Art

1st Grade: Joan Miro Inspired Art..Magical Figures and Creatures

Let me start out by saying that this project was inspired by my wonderful and amazing mentor teacher, Dee Lemke. Dee Lemke was also the teacher I taught under when I did my student teaching. She taught Miro to 1st graders when I was at Reid and now 3 years later I am teaching it to my 1st graders. I love how art teachers share ideas and get inspired by one another. It is such a blessing to have been in your art room, Dee Lemke. I often think back to how you'd be presenting a lesson or giving instruction when I do my own teaching. I love the energy you give to your teaching. I can not say enough about how inspired I was and I'm grateful that I got to see true "great teaching" not just read about it in a textbook. So I'm dedicating this project to you, Dee. You are just that awesome! 

My own son is in 1st grade now and he loved doing his Miro art. He can explain and analyze his entire picture in great detail. I love how this art can encourage students to really go beyond just "representational art". It forces you to think outside the box and imagine what it could  mean.

I asked my son to tell me about his art (below). See his response in the caption. 

Can you find all the hidden things in my picture? If you can not, I will tell you. See the biggest guy? He has a giant eye. His eye is so big, that it also makes the head of the dog above him. See the 2nd biggest eye? It is also the mouth of the guy on the right side. That guy's feet is also the head of another guy. I like this kind of art because you can pretend a lot.

1st graders explored works by the famous Spanish artist, Joan Miro. We noticed how he had "hidden pictures" many times in his art, including "Figures and Dog in front of the Sun". We noted how he used his imagination to create abstraction. He focused on hidden meanings and also had a limited palette. His art was very fun and even silly at times. Other times, the colors were dark and brooding, such as the art he created during WWII. He had his own sense of style, which he became very well known for around the world.

Students created their own "Miro" inspired figure (s), as well as, pets and other imaginative elements. We talked about some stylistic ways Miro created his art using: ladders, dots, black circles, curvy lines, etc. I did a few step by steps of silly animals and figures to get ideas flowing. For the most part, students were free to create their own Miro artistic masterpiece. 

Students drew their art with black permanent markers. The next art day, students painted the background with watered down gold tempera paint. I watered it down, so the black marker underneath would show. It was still plenty "gold". Last day, students added color with crayons-primary colors and green. We wanted to keep with the colors Miro often used. Students also wrote about what was in their picture and could create a short story based on the art.

I do love how these came out! I think Miro himself would be proud!