Pop Art Printmaking Andy Warhol Style

  

Fourth grade began this unit with completing a survey asking  them about today’s most popular food, people, music, and technology/electronics.  When the results were in, we discussed how even though some of the choices might not have been everyone’s favorite, it was the most popular and apart of their POP CULTURE.  For homework, students asked their parents what was something they remember from their pop culture when they were in fourth grade.  Many of the fourth graders were boggled by the idea of Walkman's and Boom Boxes. 

Next, we analyzed the iconic work of American Pop artist Andy Warhol,  and how he challenged the way people thought about art in the 196's.  Students learned how he created art from everyday items and celebrities that was apart of this pop culture.  After looking at Warhol’s famous Campbell's Soup prints, students connected this new mass production of artwork to the actual mass production of consumer goods.  Other Pop artists we viewed with Andy Warhol were  Roy 

Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns. 

Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1963 Andy Warhol

Drowning Girl, 1963 Roy Lichtenstein

To start our own Pop Art prints, we chose an important object that was apart of our everyday lives and created a relief plate by carving into Styrofoam and printing with a blend of analogous colors (colors that are next to each other on the color wheel and often seen in nature).  Similar to how Andy Warhol relied on collaboration of others in what he called The Factory, we worked in pairs to move help move  along the printing process.  Lastly, we learned how artists mount their work for an exhibition and checked to make sure our prints were correctly labeled with our titles being consistent on each print and having our impression and edition numbers included as well. 

Student Styrofoam relief plates.

Tracing pop art drawing onto Styrofoam relief plate.

Cutting out relief plate design.

Inking up relief plate.

Mounting finished art.

Student Examples