Pablo Picasso is one of the most famous artists of all time who dedicated 80 of his 91 years to creating artwork that changed the course of modern art history. The evolution of his artwork transformed from his foundations in representational art to decades of unique styles such as the Blue Period and Rose Period. What Picasso is best known for is co-founding the movement of Cubism that radically altered our perception of fine art by distorting the flat canvas with illusionistic tricks to depict three-dimensional objects.
Art that has been abstracted is either simplified, exaggerated or distorted. The invention of Cubism by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque revolutionized realism by bringing different views of their subjects together in the same painting; abstracting and fragmenting them from all angles.
Imagine if you could look at someone and see all angles of their face at once! Each section would become a jagged shape that stacks on top of another like a 3D puzzle. This concept continues to inspire the work of contemporary artists today!
The 6th Grade Art class drew abstract portraits of a classmate or themselves in a Cubist style by imagining views from the front and the side that were split into sections just like Picasso created shapes within his portraits.
As my students were drafting their portraits, we practiced modifying facial features into custom shapes from multiple views.
They had to invent as many ways as possible to draw an eye, nose, or mouth that would configure their Cubist portraits.
When their portraits were completed, they designed the negative space to reflect their interests or personality.
A series of skill-building exercises followed with oil pastel blending techniques and watercolor practice. They had a lot of fun experimenting the medium. Some tablemates found that tic-tac-toe looks "really cool" when using sgraffito with two contrasting colors!
I also appreciated the extra pair of hands in the classroom from my 8th Grade Peer Mentor who has been working wonderfully with the 6th grade class! I am so happy to have her assist with one-on-one feedback and help students get caught up if they were absent. I love that we were able to add this opportunity to the schedule this trimester for older students to practice leadership skills in the art classroom.
Below: Our Peer Mentor demonstrates oil pastel techniques with a 6th grade student
My Cubist artists put all of these skills together in the development of their Picasso Portraits by demonstrating value, color blending, and watercolor resist techniques. I encouraged my students to keep experimenting and make personal artistic choices so that each work of art is unique to them.
They have been taking the initiative to apply the skills they learned with layers of oil pastel and watercolor. A few students even asked to take their work home so they could have more time. I even received updates from a very serious artist who wanted to show me what she was working on outside of class with a video recording.
I love how colorful and expressive each Picasso Portrait is!
My students were excited to learn and eager to complete their masterpieces. I love teaching an influential artist from history and then reinventing their ideas from the perspective of such creative young artists!
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once they grow up.”
― Pablo Picasso
They are really nice projects and I like them all.