A is for Artist

Tess just finished up an art program, "A is for Artist"at our local library. The program consisted of hearing literature about four different artists, studying some of their famous artwork and then creating art similar to the artists studied.

The first artist studied was Jackson Pollock, splatter paint artist. Here is a piece of Pollock's artwork:
**A side note on Pollock: The librarian was showing photos of different pieces of Pollock's art, and when she got to one page, Tess jumped up and whispered in my ear, "I've seen that one before!" Now honestly, many of his pieces kinda look the same so I was wondering why one was familiar and where had she seen it? Later she explained to me that she had seen that piece in a book we got at the library. I'm racking my brain trying to think and then I realize that MANY months ago we got a book about the Metropolitan Museum of Art and THAT specific Pollock painting was in that book with many other pieces of famous artwork. I never would have remembered it, but I have learned to not question the VERY specific details Tess' memory seems to keep!**

To represent Pollock's artwork, the kids put paper inside a shoebox, squirted paint into it, then put rocks in the box and shook it. So much fun! So here is Tess' artwork:
The second artist was Dale Chihuly, whose artwork I love! I saw an exhibit of his work a few years ago and it is amazing what he does with glass. Here is a piece of Chihuly's beautiful art:
We were in Maryland during the Chihuly class, so we had to improvise our version at home. We used plastic cut up water bottles and tried to paint them before glueing them together. Here is our attempt:
The third artist was Louise Nevelson, junk artist. Here is her work:
Here is Tess' version (which needed LOTS of glue to keep it together!):
Lastly, she studied Charley Harper, an artist who was known for his use of shapes and bright colors to illustrate wildlife.
Using shapes and scraps of paper alone, Tess created this piece of art. (I love the turtle!)
**Side note on Charley Harper: My friend Dana just commented on this entry and let me know that Harper lived at the retirement home I used to work at! I knew Harper was from the Cincinnati area, but how cool! (Thanks, Dana!) **

What a fun time she had learning about these different artists! We are already looking forward to getting other books from the library to continue learning about them and other artists! I wonder what other art we can try to replicate?