Pop Art Lesson Plan

Pop Art lesson plan is inspired by Art History. This art lesson plan was inspired by Andy Warhol and Pop Art.

This art lesson can be tied into Oral communication expectations as well as advertising units for Language Arts class. It can relate to computer class; how graphic artists create logos using software like Photoshop.

Definition of Pop Art:

A Pop artist takes the popular and every day iconic images outside of the commercial realm or setting and lets us see the lines and colors behind the logos and advertising designs as well as their roll in our lives.

Materials for Art Lesson:

Tempera Paint

Poster paper

Andy Warhol Painting  “Soup Can”

Images of Pop Art paintings

Andy Warhol Biography (PBS)

Magazines with current advertisements

 

Art Lesson Plans Introduction: Discussion

Use a variety of Pop Art images if you don’t have the PBS Andy Warhol biography available, to introduce the Pop Art Movement.  Then have a discussion on how prevalent advertising is in our daily lives. We see the graphic designs in the advertising media, tv, video and computer games.  The packaging of foods and successful logos blend and become apart of our culture and our lives.

Inspiration:

Have the students sit in groups and find their favorite logos and advertisements using magazines and or computers. Ask the different groups to narrow down their favorite advertising images down to a maximum of five advertisements. An interesting twist can be to suggest that they look at the logos on their cloths or items in their bags after the groups have presented their favorite advertising images and then ask if they want to change their top five lists.

Application:

Have the students choose a logo, label or graphic design that they commonly see and use in their daily life for their painting. Then draw the logo or label on poster paper before they begin to paint. Exaggerated in size and shape, but true to the original design. They can also choose to repeat the logo to create patterns and experiment with colours. This will be challenging for younger students but older high school art students should take the project further and personalize their designs to demonstrate the influence they have on them and our society. A painting of the apple logo tattooed in the palm of a oversized hand would make a modern pop art painting.

Display and Presentation:

The finished paintings should be lined up and examined by the students silently and respectfully. The teacher can guide each student into explaining why they choose their subject and having the class express an element that they like or agree with in the painting. The finished paintings can be displayed as posters and advertisements around the school.