Van Gogh Masterpieces

What better way to start the school year then to study Van Gogh's Sunflowers while our own sunflowers are blooming? This unit has been one of my all time favorites. I started by making an Artist Facebook page on one of my bulletin boards with quotes, Van Gogh paintings, and paintings done by Van Gogh's friends.

I also put this banner up to get everyone excited about our upcoming show!

This year, our school is working hard to integrate technology into our curriculum. I decided to introduce this unit using technology. In 1st and 2nd grade we started by reading, Van Gogh and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anholt. We broke up into teams of 3, and took turns reading an animated version of the book on an ipad. Each artist had 5 minutes to control the ipad, and everyone enjoyed this part of the lesson! I highly recommend this app. The story is great, and the app allows artists to paint characters in the story and visit a virtual Van Gogh museum to learn more about his paintings.

When we met for our next class, I demonstrated how to draw the vase and background. Each artist signed their work just like Van Gogh, and traced over their sketch with shapie. The Kindergarten and 1st grade artists painted the background with watercolors, and then used tissue paper and sunflower seeds to create their beautiful flowers.

The 2nd Grade artists used tempera paints to paint both the background and the flowers. The final results are amazing, and look terrific in our school gallery.

For 4th and 5th grade artists, I started by playing Don McClean's song, "Vincent" without an introduction. I asked if anyone knew who the song was about. We then watched a youtube video of a slideshow of Van Gogh's work set to McClean's song. We had a great discussion about Van Gogh's work and style. I offered a quick bio about Van Gogh, and then demonstrated how to navigate an app called, "Starry Night Interactive Animation." I also highly recommend this app. Each artist can manipulate the painting by using a finger to direct the swirls in Van Gogh's actual "Starry Night" sky.

In 4th and 5th grade, we followed up with a demonstration on paper quilling. I came across Suzy's Artsy Crafty Sitcom blog, and was inspired by her paper quilled version of "Starry Night." My students were very excited to recreate their own version of "Starry Night" using paper quills, especially after playing with the painting on the ipad. They had the option to create part of their landscape with oil pastels. I showed them some examples of work done online, and we also watched a youtube video of someone who recreated "Starry Night" with colored legos. After a time lapsed video of the building process, we enjoyed watching the painting come to life in seconds.

My students loved this project! They are masters at paper quilling now, and their final pieces would make Van Gogh very proud.

What added to our fun, is that the whole school got involved. As luck would have it, two original Van Gogh paintings were discovered while I was teaching this unit. Two staff members brought in articles about Van Gogh that appeared in the New York times, and the 5th grade class was thrilled to recognize a "Starry Night" bracelet that a guest teacher was wearing.

This entire body of work our artists created is incredible! 

Way to go, Ms. London's Studio Superstars!!!!