Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928. His parents had only recently moved to the United States from what is now Slovakia. As a child Warhol, was often sick, or thought he was sick, so he spent a lot of time in bed. During this time, Warhol drew many pictures. He also listened to the radio and collected pictures of celebrities.

After studying fine art in college, Warhol moved to New York City and began illustrating for magazines and creating advertisements. He became very popular, especially for his drawings of shoes.

During the 1960s, Warhol began creating the paintings he is best known for today. Warhol loved pop culture and he decided to paint what he loved. You may have guessed that he was a Pop Artist like Roy Lichtenstein. Warhol painted large pictures of Coca-Cola bottles, Campbell’s soup cans, and dollar bills. He also painted pictures of celebrities.

Because he was creating pictures of mass-produced items, Warhol thought it would be fitting to mass produce the artwork. He did this by creating screen prints rather than painting each picture separately. This allowed him to make many copies of each painting, but each copy was an original Warhol painting. Click here for an example.

Warhol founded “The Factory” which was his studio. At the Factory, he was always surrounded by people. Some of these people were in films that he made, some were writers or artists, some were celebrities. Warhol wanted to create an image for himself and he chose carefully the people in his circle.

Andy Warhol was criticized for turning art into a business. Many people didn’t like the idea that he was just making copies of the same picture to sell and make money. Warhol believed in what he was creating, though. He continued to make screen printed paintings of celebrities.

Warhol died in 1987.

Check out this great website all about Andy Warhol: Pop Mag Children’s Activity Book. I love the idea of a magazine about Andy Warhol because Warhol founded his own magazine, Interview. This is also a great place to see some of Warhol's artwork.
EDITED TO ADD: Create Your Own Andy Warhol Portrait,
Create Your Own Andy Warhol Masterpiece,
Fantastic Fiction Friday Starring Andy Warhol

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Stolen Renoir Painting Has Been Recovered

Sorry for last week's lack of posts. I've been sick. I still haven't completely recovered, but I think another day of rest will do the trick. I'm feeling much better.

You may remember the series I posted about art theft. Today, I'm pleased to share with you a case that has been solved.

In 1975, a Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting was stolen from an art restorer's lab in Milan, Italy. The private owners of the painting had sent it to the restorer to have some repairs done. The painting is not one of Renoir's most valuable but would still sell for about $735,000 today.

During the summer, the people who had the painting contacted an art critic. They wanted to know what the painting was worth. They probably thought they had waited long enough (33 years) that no one would remember that the painting had been stolen, but the art critic called the Italian police. When the theives took the painting from a back vault in Italy, the police were waiting.

After 33 years, the owners will get their painting back!

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Create Your Own Setting Sun Pencil Holder

We’ve all settle back into the school routine and that probably means homework. Set this cheery setting sun pencil holder on your workspace at home to keep your school supplies close.

Supplies Needed:

Round container cut down to size
Construction paper (blue, yellow, orange, and pink)
Pencil
Scissors
Glue stick
White glue
Ask an adult to cut an empty Pringles container (or container of similar shape and size) down to about 8 inches. I used a bread crumbs container.

Cut two strips of blue construction paper. You want the strips to be the same height as the container (about 8 inches). It’s okay if the strips are a little too long. You can cut them shorter or allow them to overlap.

Cut thinner strips of orange and pink. Cut a wavy line across the top of the pink strip and attach it to the orange strip.

Glue one of the blue strips around the outside of the container. Glue the other to the inside. Use a glue stick or white glue for this step. You may wish to apply a small piece of double-sided tape to the end of each strip to help it stay stuck until the glue dries.

Trace the bottom of your container onto a piece of tag board and two pieces of yellow construction paper. Cut out all three circles. Glue the yellow pieces to either side of the tag board (like a sandwich with the tag board in the middle). This is to give the sun some strength so it will stand up.

If you’re feeling creative, draw a face on your sun.

Finally, glue the sun to the top of the container. You’ll want to use white glue for this step.
When the pencil holder has dried, fill it with pencils and enjoy!

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Create Your Own Salt Ceramic Decorative Ball

Sometimes it’s fun to paint on something other than paper or canvas. This project gives you the chance to do just that.

Supplies Needed:

Salt
Corn Starch
Water
Measuring Cup
Wooden Spoon
___

Wax Paper
Mod Podge
Paint
Paintbrush
Newspaper (optional)

First, ask an adult to make the salt ceramic for you. It takes fewer than five minutes to make. The adult should mix 1 cup of table salt, ½ cup of corn starch, and ¾ cup of water in a sauce pan. Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly. The mixture will get sticky and quickly form a ball. At this point, remove it from the heat. Wait a few minutes for it to cool enough to handle, then kneed the ball to soften it. At this point, the salt ceramic can be wrapped in wax paper and placed in an air tight container for storage, or molded into a sculpture.

Cover your work space with wax paper. As the salt ceramic dries, it gets sticky but it will not stick to wax paper. To make a ball, crumple up a piece of newspaper and mold salt ceramic around it. If you want to use your decorative ball as a paper weight, just roll out a ball without newspaper stuffing. If you don’t use newspaper, the ball will take longer to dry.

Salt ceramic is just like hardening clay. You can mold any shape so feel free to use your creativity.
Allow your ball to dry. This will take several days.

When the ball has dried, brush a layer of Mod Podge over it to seal it. Mod Podge dries quickly. You’ll only need to wait about 5 minutes before you can paint.
Choose colors and paint any pattern or picture you want.

Finally, when the paint has dried, brush another coat of Mod Podge over your creation.

Enjoy!

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Create Your Own Roy Lichtenstein Starburst

If you really liked Roy Lichtenstein’s artwork, try this project and make your own Lichtenstein-inspired drawing. This project is best for kids in upper elementary grades or higher.

Supplies Needed:

White paper
Graph paper
Tag board
Pencil
Markers
Ruler
Hole Punch
Scissors

Gather your supplies and cover your workspace. You’ll want to color all the way to the edge of the paper and this could get messy.

First, create a star stencil out of tag board. (You can choose any shape you want but I chose a star.) Then create a stripe stencil. Just cut a thin strip from your tag board. Finally, use a hole punch to create a Benday dot stencil. Punch holes in every other square of your graph paper. Make two rows of holes. Then, line up the graph paper with the edge of your piece of tag board and punch through each hole.
Trace your star in the center of the page. Draw some diagonal lines from the edge of the star to the edge of the page. Begin to fill in the spaces on the page with either stripes (using your stripe stencil) or with dots (using your Benday dot stencil). Choose any colors you want to fill in your designs.
Continue until you’ve filled every space.

Check out Roy Lichtenstein: Artist at Work by Lou Ann Walker.

Enjoy your weekend!

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