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One 3rd grader who created a painting modeled after Picasso's blue period created a piece titled "Banjo of Doom". When asked to tell about where the title came from he said, "Well, I tried to make...Uh, it was Pablo's guitar from the blue period. I just called it banjo because it wasn't as big as Picasso's guitar."

When asked what they enjoyed most about this theme, one student replied, "I enjoyed it because when I was in kindergarten we always wanted to paint and stuff." Another student answered the same question, "I liked when we painted because I got to do something else. I got to try styles like famous artists."


For five weeks this spring Mrs. Moloney's and Mrs. Pratt's 2-3 grade classrooms investigated six famous artists and their most common styles. They read and recorded facts on the lives and works of these famous painters and collage artists: Vincent VanGough, Claude Monet, Frida Kahlo, Henri Matisse, Eric Carle, and Pablo Picasso.After researching about the artistic training and styles of the famous artists, they expolored those styles by modeling their own artwork after them. Each child chose two styles: swirles and dashes (Monet), self-portraits (Kahlo), cut-outs/collage (Matisse and Carle), and the blue/rose periods (Picasso). Upon completing the art pieces, each student titled, signed, and dated his/her work. As a class they shared their work and those of their models, in an art museum for the school, inviting students, teachers and parents to the presentations. Following the presentation, parents joined the group to ask questions and to get a closer look at both the young artists and their work. The art museum even made the Pekin Daily Times in a full-page spread! *See below for some student quotes.



One 3rd grader who created a painting modeled after Picasso's blue period created a piece titled "Banjo of Doom". When asked to tell about where the title came from he said, "Well, I tried to make...Uh, it was Pablo's guitar from the blue period. I just called it banjo because it wasn't as big as Picasso's guitar." When asked what they enjoyed most about this theme, one student replied, "I enjoyed it because when I was in kindergarten we always wanted to paint and stuff." Another student answered the same question, "I liked when we painted because I got to do something else. I got to try styles like famous artists."