Today’s Lesson…

As summer is winding to an end and the kids are heading back to school I think it's important to keep the creativity and exploration alive, especially with many school budgets having to cut arts programs in schools. A couple of summers ago I had an amazing experience teaching art to kids through the Summer Art Camp at SLOMA. This is a project I develop for the classes and hope it inspires you to take the time to encourage and educate with your children.

 
First, do a little research. Learn what you can about Cubism and some of the artists that developed it such as George Braque, Pablo Picasso or Juan Gris; share some of their paintings with your kids.

What you will need:
Colored Paper
Pencil
Straight Edge
Color Pastels, Chalks or crayons
Still Life Subject...I used a Guitar Hero Guitar
I chose a Guitar Hero Guitar for a couple of reasons; the kids recognized it and were excited to use it, it has a simple shape with little to no details so the drawing would be simple as well and they wouldn't get bogged down it the specifics and it was a nod to the many cubist artists that included stringed instruments in their images.


Part of the project also included an exercise with the color wheel and recognizing analogous colors-whatever color of paper the students were working on determined the entire palette for the drawing. For example; if drawing on blue paper the drawing included greens, blues, purples with the addition of white, black and gray. (A few of the students added a pop of an opposite color.)

Start by drawing the basic outline of the object with a few details-keep it simple.
Next, using the straight edge, draw lines across the paper at random angles and intervals.
Now using the pre-determined colors start filling in the shapes created by the drawn lines. Try not to use the same color next to itself and feel free to only shade the shapes starting in a corner rather than coloring in completely.

If necessary, as the page gets filled with color think about shading around the subject to help it pop out.

 
Here are some of the finished drawings from the 7-9 year old class...