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Learning Objectives 

Students will: 

• Research and gather information about famous artists. 
• Analyze the life and works of an artist. 
• Write a biography of his or her life.
• Create an original work of art based on the life and work of an artist. 
• Plan and design an art show to highlight the created art pieces.
• Portray the artist during the time period they lived through traditional dress and drama.
• Produce interviews as the artists in an Entertainment Tonight™ type of segment
• Participate in an art show. 

Standards Alignment

National Core Arts StandardsNational Core Arts Standards

Common Core State StandardsCommon Core State Standards

Recommended Student Materials

Editable Documents: Before sharing these resources with students, you must first save them to your Google account by opening them, and selecting “Make a copy” from the File menu. Check out Sharing Tips or Instructional Benefits when implementing Google Docs and Google Slides with students.

Videos

• Looking at Art Together with Tami Wood

Websites: The recommended websites for this lesson are suggestions and can be exchanged for other websites and print resources.

Additional Materials

• Art supplies (paints, paintbrushes, chalk, drawing material, canvasses, art paper, sculpting clay, etc.)

Teacher Background

Teachers should review the featured artists in the lesson and offer student choice for artist biographies. Teachers should familiarize themselves with the websites prior to introducing the research portion of the lesson. Review the article’s Art Critiques Made Easy and Formal Visual Analysis: The Elements & Principles of Composition to learn how to engage students in thoughtful discussions about art. 

Student Prerequisites 

Students should be familiar with different art forms and how to conduct research.

Accessibility Notes

Modify the research handout and resources as needed. Utilize appropriate assistive technologies for the research project and art creation portion of the lesson. Allow extra time to complete artwork. Teachers can share , a collection of famous works narrated by musicians and with captions.

Engage

1. Show students the video Looking at Art Together with Tami Wood. Discuss with students how museum educator, Tami Wood, examines Vincent van Gogh’s, Starry Night.

2. Display paintings from the and sculptures from the , or print replicas of famous works of art from around the world. Engage students in a discussion about the pieces.

3. Display the following works of art around the room to create a gallery walk:

4. Distribute the resource to students to facilitate their thinking as they view the art pieces. Using sticky notes, tell students to leave a comment about the art. The comments should be something they noticed about the pictures/sculptures, an aspect they liked, colors that drew them into the pictures, a model’s pose, the historical time frame, an interesting portion of the picture/sculpture, etc. 

Build

1. Assign a small group of students to each work of art. Have the small group read and discuss the comments, thinking about the following questions: Are all of the comments are similar, or can everyone see something different? How did other students’ comments help them better understand the picture or give them an insight into what the artist was trying to capture or express? What was the time period in which the work was created? Have students share a summary of their discussion. 

2. Tell students they are going to research an artist from the handout, . Students will write a biography about the person (including information on the historical time period that they lived), recreate a piece of their art, become the artist for an interview, and hold an art show.

3. Break the students up into small groups. Have each group choose the artists they will study. Their group names will be the same as the artist they have chosen, (i.e., “The Monet group,” etc.).

Apply

1. Have the students explore the printed materials on the artists they chose to study, and their works of art. The following websites have a very comprehensive listing of artists and their works: 

2. Continue to explore artists, using the media center and web sources. Tell students they can divide up the artist’s life so each group member can focus on a portion with the works created during that time. Students will come back together and share the information they collected. 

3. Have each group use the biographical information collected to write a short biography about the artist. Students can include pictures and art samples with the biography. Allow time for students to complete the biography.

4. Create a work of art based on the artists’ biography and a work of art. Tell students can create replicas or interpretive pieces based on their feelings about the chosen work of art and their lives. The theme and individual elements will be the same. Facilitate and confer with students as they work on their own masterpieces, providing feedback and guidance. Students may use the same materials the artist used: watercolors, pastels, crayons, acrylic paint (substitute for oil paint), modeling clay, wire, wood, or styrofoam. 

Reflect 

1. Distribute the handout. Have students meet back in their groups and plan their art show. Each group member will play a certain role: artist, costume designer, framer/set designer, videographer, writer, and interviewer. 

2. Students will film and produce the interview segments based on the assigned duties. While one group is filming, others may quietly watch, and learn different ways to ask questions and give answers to make their segment stronger.

3. Have students create invitations for parents/friends. The art show may be held in the cafeteria, hallway, or lobby of the school. Students will present their video on devices, with the student dressed as the artist there to answer questions.

4. Assess your students’ knowledge of the artist using the .