Art With Ms. Ammons: Van Gogh's Bedrooms

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Van Gogh's Bedrooms

Van Gogh's Bedroom

Some Finished Masterpieces by Grade 3

Ms. Stefan's third graders are learning about the art of Chicago. I began their 10 week session in art class by highlighting some of the Art Institute of Chicago's permanent collection. They did "mash-up" sketches that were compositions combining imagery from artists including Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Pablo Picasso, Grant Wood, Georges Seurat, and Gustav Caillebotte.

Once we finished learning a little bit about the permanent collection, I was excited to have them do this project, based on a visiting exhibition. The Van Gogh Bedrooms exhibit will be on display until May, and I am encouraging them to go see it. We learned about the paintings, we talked about Van Gogh's life, and we watched the videos from the Art Institute website about the science of the paintings.

They got to work constructing their own versions of the painting using paper, scissors, glue, and oil pastels. I made a template for them to help with the furniture, but they did all of the drawing and coloring to create these amazing and tiny rooms. They were so eager to get more creative, so we extended the project and created a second bedroom. I told them they could make their own room or their "dream room". I was amazed by their creativity. I did not make templates for the second room, so all furniture was student-designed. Some of them drew their own detailed templates, and others dove in with some trial and error practice.

Here are some photos of the process. They have been such an enthusiastic group and so much fun to work with so far! Mallory even went with her family to the exhibit, made her OWN book about it, and shared it with the class!