Georgia O'Keeffe

Red Poppy

My choice for our November artist is Georgia Totto O’Keeffe. She painted flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones and landscapes. She often turned her compositions into large bold abstract images.

She was born on a farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on November 15, 1887. She was the second of seven children and as a child received art lessons at home. Georgia decided at an early age to become an artist.


Autumn Leaves

She went to art school in Chicago and New York and moved to Texas to teach in the public schools there. Later she taught at a college in South Carolina. Georgia began painting landscapes and one of her paintings caught the attention of internationally known photographer, Alfred Stieglitz. He invited Georgia to come and paint in New York City. He displayed her work in his gallery. Georgia later married Alfred. She later moved to New Mexico and spent her remaining days there. Georgia O’Keeffe died in 1986 at the age of 98. She is considered one of America's greatest painters.




Cow's Skull: Red, White and blue

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso is the artist I have chosen for October. He was born on October 25, 1881 in Málaga, Spain. He began drawing at an early age. His style developed from his Blue Period (1901–04) to his Rose Period (1905) and to Cubism (just to name a few). Picasso also made the first collage. He designed jewelry, did paintings, created sculptures, and made posters and pottery. He created such an amazing volume of work that I think he is the most influential artist of his time.
Picasso continued his prolific work in painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture until his death on April 8, 1973.

An example from his Blue Period.


An example from his Rose Period.


An example of Cubism.


A Sculpture


A piece of Ceramics


I also like this symbol of peace he created.

If you want to create a portrait in the style of Picasso during his Cubism click:
Make a Picasso head
and have fun!

Romare Bearden

The artist I have chosen as our September artist is Romare Bearden. He was born on September 2, 1911, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and died in New York City on March 12, 1988, at the age of 76. When he was young, his family moved to Harlem in New York City. Here he learned to appreciate jazz music. He experimented with many different mediums but is best known for his collages. Collages are pictures or designs created by pasting flat elements such as newspaper, wallpaper, printed text, illustrations, photographs, cloth, string, and painted or drawn pictures to a flat surface.
The Metropolitian Museum of Art has a great Interactive Romare Bearden Page called "Let's Walk the Block". Here you can learn about the artist, the history and inspiration behind "The Block", and examine this large scale collage more closely. You can also follow the directions to make your own collage about your own neighborhood.
If you want a quick preview of Romare Bearden's life and works click here.
At the MOMA you can watch a short video showing Romare Bearden discussing how he came up with his ideas and created his collages and paintings. Just click on:
Romare Bearden.

Andy Warhol

I have chosen Pennsylvania born Pop artist, Andy Warhol, as my choice for August.

He was born Andrew Warhola, August 6, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his exploration of Pop Art, an art movement that emerged in America and elsewhere in the 1950s to become prominent over the next two decades.



This art period mass produced images of mass produced objects. Pop artists focused their attention on familiar images of the popular culture such as billboards, comic strips, magazine advertisements, famous people, and supermarket products.

Some of his most famous works depicted Campbell's soup cans. These were enlarged, hand-painted or silkscreened, framed, and hung in art galleries.


Andy Warhol died in 1987 after establishing himself as the most well known Pop artist. If you want to see how the silkscreen process works or try and create a Pop art e-card, click on POP ART.

Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder is the artist I picked for our July birthday artist. There were many artists born in July, but Sandy Calder is no doubt, my favorite. He was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania (that’s close to Philadelphia) on July 22, 1898. His father and grandfather were both sculptors. Calder’s mother was also a professional portrait painter.

Calder also became a sculptor. Kinetic sculpture probably describes his works the best. Kinetic sculptures are sculptures that actually move in space. Calder created stabiles and mobiles (his first in 1932). He also designed and built large public sculptures. He was 76 when he died on November 11, 1976.

Click on the following words to better understand and view some of Calder’s works.

Definitions of Mobile, Sculpture, and Stabile

The Circus

Fish

Object with Red Ball

The Crab

I think using some found objects you could very easily make a stabile or mobile. Just some string, wire, foam, beads, paper, whatever and you are a sculptor too. Sandy Calder made his parents a kinetic sculpture when he was in 4th grade. I hope you will give it a try.

Frank Lloyd Wright

My selection for my June artist is an American architect. I think you will enjoy learning about one of his buildings. Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator who was born June 8, 1867 at Richland Center, Wisconsin. He died on April 9, 1959 at the age of 91. I have always been interested in architecture. It is the art and science of designing and building structures within spaces.

My most favorite Wright piece of architecture is classified as organic architecture. Organic architecture is when the architect designs the building within the natural surroundings so both work together to create the total composition. In today’s world that is a beautiful philosophy. The building is called Fallingwater and is located in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Fallingwater is in the southwest Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands southeast of Pittsburgh. To take a short virtual tour of this magnificent structure click here.

Well-known during his own lifetime, Frank Lloyd Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time.” I hope you loved Fallingwater as much as I do and go visit it soon.

Color

I think it is time we discuss color.
Color is one of the best art elements in our world. I love color. My favorite color is green. What is your favorite color?

How we create color and see color is quite different in art, science, and the printed page.
Let's explore color.

Click here for an understanding of color by my friend the colorworm.
To learn even more about color theory, click here.

Our May artist of the month is Keith Haring. He is another Pennsylvania born artist for you to get to know better. He was born on May 4th, 1958, in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Haring family lived in Kutztown, a nearby Pennsylvania Dutch farm community, where Keith was raised. I think you will like his art work. You can learn all about Keith and see his art work when you click on haringkids. Have fun and let me know what you think. Here is a picture of Keith Haring working on a mural. He also did sculptures as well as paintings.