If there is anything that young artists should know about POP art, then Keith Haring’s works should do the trick. Popular for his vivid colors, chocked characters and representation of graffiti, Haring’s work, in as much as being entertaining, has a concealed deep meaning. In terms of idea, his style of art – basic geometric shapes, clear lines and funny cartoons – is perfect for a lesson for 8-12 year-olds and fun at that. This art lesson will also include an overview of POP art but more significantly it will demonstrate how illustrations of ordinary signs and color can convey strong statements.
Art Lesson Objective
This lesson based on Haring’s works will target at making children familiar with POP art and graffiti and focus, in particular, on Haring’s cartoonistic vision. Students will be able to find out the peculiarities of Haring’s works and how the great artist explained complex things with the help of simple colors, shapes, and symbols. By the end of this lesson, they will be able to:
- Understand several major aspects of Haring’s work; for example, such elements as the usage of bright colors and thick lines, as well as adore of simple cartoonish figures.
- Cartoon Characters in Haring’s Graffiti-like style: After completing each task they will choose cartoon characters and draw what Haring described as “his own brand of graffiti like Pop art” cigarette lighter designs instead of painting a picture.
- Learn how art works both as narration and language as in the case of Haring’s art pieces own POP art piece inspired by Haring’s graffiti-like style.
- Understand how art can be used as a form of expression and communication, similar to how Haring conveyed messages through his work.
Why Teach Keith Haring’s Art?
Keith Haring is an American artist whose creations embodied spirit of the year 1980s New York City postings . Characters which he painted in his instantly – recognisable cartoon graffiti style signified happiness, solidarity, and recall even social activism. Introducing children to Haring’s POP art is a good idea because it helps teach them about a unique and rather diverse world which they find easy to comprehend and relate to. Because of its simplicity, such an approach of Haring has a strong communicative impact on creating the works: he demonstrates that the young artists, who do not have opportunities to produce unique and refined paintings yet, can achieve splendid results just using colors, symbols, and lines.
Understanding Haring’s POP Art and Graffiti Style
One has to nail Haring’s art style that is simple and very colorful. As opposed to sometimes puzzling fine art, which might be unintelligible to some of the children, Haring’s murals are graphics. His choice of primary colours and crude lines make the children want to use colours and space in a playful way. He often depicted people and animals using simple geometric shapes so that children could immediately identify what they saw on the canvas; therefore, his productions would be ideal to be presented to the young generation as POP art.
Haring also take ideas from graffiti. His work can be found till this day in the streets of New York before it was moved into the galleries and he was one of the pioneers who depicted graffiti and pop art together as one. In a fun loving caricature-where the figures are dancing, moving or holding each other’s hands there is so much fun, energy and togetherness. In children it can make art look more like fun where they can scan around with bright colors and funny shapes.
