3rd Grade & Wolf Kahn

 

I discovered the work of Wolf Kahn this summer while looking around the web.  I must express that I was blown away by the beauty of his pieces!  He was born in Germany in 1927.  He and his family fled from Germany in 1940 and relocated to New York City where he grew up and studied. Wolf makes his home in NYC and Vermont and works primarily in pastels and oil paints.  I introduced him to my third grades on Thursday and they were also blown away by the beauty of his pieces!  We started by looking at many of his pieces on the Morrison Gallery website on the Smartboard.  There were so many pieces to view and the kids wanted to see them all!

 

                      

This is one of the many pieces by Wolf Kahn that my third grades looked at.

 

I made up table posters (1 for each table).  These gave the students a close up visual of the artist/artists work that can stay on their table fpr them to study throughout the project.  I laminate them and save them from year to year.  So, when they get paint plastered or accidentally spill colors, I can just wipe them off easitly.

 

This was a quick artist study/project.  The kids were able to finish in one class period, then they started by creating a simple sketch of trees using oil pastels.  I only gave them purple, light green, white, peach, pink and yellow to draw with.  They could use one or many of the colors to draw their trees.  Some even added leaves to the branches.  I had them paint over the oil pastel using the tempera paint cakes that I had already out and prepped from the color studies we are doing in fourth and fifth grade.  The colors are bright and the kids were able to water them down for a more transparent look if they wanted to.  Here are some of the finished pieces from Thursday...

 

As we were cleaning up after class, one of my third grade boys while looking at the images on the table poster said:  "I just can't believe it."   I replied:  "What can't you believe?"   "I can't believe he is still alive!"  The kids always imagine every artist as deceased!  I went on to say that not all artists we talk about are deceased.  Many are alive and well!  He went on to say:  "Wow! He looks really good for a man in his 80's!"  This is why I love teaching elementary age children!   :)