To first start off the class, the teacher had a powerpoint of Andy Warhol to present interesting facts and an introductory bio of the Artist. I had no idea that there was so much information on Andy Warhol that would be appropriate for the children to learn, however the teacher provided a lot of fun and silly facts about the artist that made the lesson so engaging. For example, one person told Andy to paint what he liked therefore, he painted pictures of cats for he like cats so much the he owned 25 of them, which were all named Sam! This also reflected his famous soup can prints for he loved tomato soup. He ate tomato soup every single day, a lunch that his mother usually provided for him. Eventually Andy bought a factory where he created many of his famous prints and movies. One movie consisted on a man sleeping for 6 hours! Any one was invited to his factory and could make art during any time of the day for the doors were always open.
Student loved this information and were intrigued by Andy, which motivated the students when it came time for their art activity. The teacher had the students colour their own soup and label it any kind of soup they wanted. She provided inspiring ideas such as your favourite kind of sour, or soup you think would taste good, or even invest a soup that hasn't been invented yet. To do this the teacher handed out little cards with printed soup cans on them. To make the colour of the soup cans really pop, which was a classic characteristic of Pop Art, she had the students used colourful sharpies which really made the colour stand out.
One all the students had finished colouring their soup she glued the soup cans on a canvas and finished it off with a glossy coat. This was then hung in the classroom to celebrate the children's' Art. I thought the turnout looked amazing and very professional. This is something that I would definitely love to do with my class one day for it was engaging, fun and not that much prep work.
Here is a photo of the finished product. I got a real kick out of some of the different kinds of soup, for example make note of the one at the bottom right hand corner lol.
I have never really understood Andy Warhol's art but I know that he is famous and there seem to be all kinds of lesson ideas based on his style. I think the important thing is that, like many of the artists we talk about, he is known for originality - for seeing the world and showing others how to see it just a little bit differently than the usual view. I've never heard of putting paper on canvas like that before - neat idea and it did create an interesting finished piece. I think this would be more interesting than having each student draw and colour the same image many times, as some Warhol-inspired lessons do. And I like your attitude about "poop soup" - lots of teachers would be offended or at least annoyed and tell the student that it was inappropriate. But I think the best response is not to be shocked but simply to accept the self-expression, which may pass as the child matures. I will always remember when my principal's son was in my Gr. 1 class and we were finishing the sentence stem: I like to see... This little boy had to be different, and he wrote: I don't like to see...turds in the toilet! Amusing at the time and no harm done - he grew up fine and in fact, quite creative! It seems that creative people are not afraid to break the rules or at least push them a bit.
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