Colored Rhythm, 1958, by Sonia Delaunay, captures the philosophy of Orphism, a branch of Cubism that focuses on bright colors and abstraction, by using shape and color as a style of expression similar to notes in music. Delaunay’s work is a geometric abstraction that symbolically represents the joyful rhythms of the universe, which felt were in harmony with modern life. This lesson, in connection with a music curriculum, will introduce students to the Orphism movement through emphasis on color, shape, pattern, and rhythm. 

Frankenthaler developed her own innovative soak-stain technique by thinning her paint with turpentine or water and pouring it onto bare canvas so that the pigment soaked into the untreated surface.

In Child’s Blue Wall, 1962, Jim Dine combines painting and sculpture to create both a realistic depiction of a child’s bedroom and an abstract painting of a night sky. Through the inclusion of physical objects and the re-creation of a domestic scene, Dine also elicits emotion from the viewer. Child’s Blue Wall invites memories of childhood spaces. In this lesson, students will make connections between art and their own experiences. Students will re-create a space that has a personal special meaning in the form of a three-dimensional painting.

Frida Kahlo was largely known for her symbolic self-portraits reflecting her life, loves, joys, and sorrows. Influenced by her Mexican culture, Kahlo uses vibrant color and meaningful imagery to portray her self-identity to the viewer. In this lesson, students will make connections to the artist while creating a self-portrait celebrating their own self-identity.

Sun, Tower, Airplane, 1913, by Robert Delaunay, is a celebration of modern technological advancements in the early twentieth century. The painting depicts Delaunay’s enthusiasm for technological developments in the new and modern world through the use of bright colors and fragmented imagery. This lesson will introduce students to three significant technological feats of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries while encouraging them to reflect upon the technologies we experience in today’s society.

This activity is to encourage young students to create their own drawing that is inspired by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s use of maps, bright colors, and circle. 

Artists have often found inspiration in art history’s movements and from their fellow artists. While André Derain, Stuart Davis, and Giorgio de Chirico painted with different styles and focuses, all three artists created landscapes. This lesson plan will examine these artists’ various styles through the theme of landscapes.

In this lesson, students will learn what activism looks likes and how it can be demonstrated through the community mural The Freedom Wall. Additionally, students will view Carrie Mae Weems’s Family Pictures and Stories and learn how Weems’s use of photography enables her to advocate for something that she has a passion for.

In this activity, students will go on an outdoor walk to find inspiration for their nature drawing. They can visit their backyard, neighborhood, or local park/nature preserve.

In this activity, students will draw a hot air balloon–like object from their imagination. Using color, students will be encouraged to add whimsical patterns and designs to spur fun, silliness, and play.

Creating a self-portrait can go beyond the actual image of a person; the process of self-portraiture can help explore one’s identity and life history, or the invention of masks and alter egos that reveal dimensions of oneself that remain hidden. It is a way of self-knowledge.