Kindergarteners learned about the art of Joan Miro. His work lends itself so well to elementary art and children seem to really respond to Miro's style. We talked about the way Miro used symbols instead of making his work look "real". Each student saw something different in his work, but, to my surprise, there was always one student in each class who thought the above picture looked like a bumble bee! I gave each of them a sheet of 12" x 18" tan construction paper and a big, fat, black crayon. I told them to stretch their arms out so that their drawing hands rested at the top of their papers. Then, with their eyes closed, to draw a big circle. I didn't want them to look at their papers, because it seems when they do, they think so hard about making the "perfect" circle, their circles come out tight and small. I wanted them to be very organic shapes, like Miro's. Next, they were instructed to draw a shape for their body and then add arms and legs- as many as they wanted. Some students did more than one figure on their paper. We observed the various lines and shapes Miro made in his work, and I instructed the students to decorate their papers with these symbols, or to make up their own. Students then painted inside their figures with black tempera paint. In our next art class, students added details on top of their figures with white crayons, and further embellished their art work with chalk pastels and a few spritz's of watercolor spray. I told the students I thought Miro was smiling on us and that he would be really proud of their work!
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