As an art teacher, I get my inspiration for assignments anywhere I can. I got my Roy Lichtenstein/ Pop Art project from Roy Lichtenstein himself, even though he'd taught in the Ohio State art department long before I was a student there, and has been dead for years. He was famous for creating large, comic inspired paintings, using primary colors and Benday dots, as though they were printed in a newspaper. In collecting images of his work for a slide show, I stumbled across a painting he did based on Van Gough's painting of his room. It seemed like the perfect solution for my students who only had four class periods (minus time for lecture and research) to complete a large painting. I had them pick a famous masterpiece from art history. Once a painting was chosen, the subject matter and composition were already in place, freeing the student a chance to use his or her time to focus on colors and mark making. They could create shapes of solid color, as Lichtenstein did, but were also required to create a Benday dot pattern, using the back of a large pencil to stamp out the paint.
I wish we'd had time for to have the students get a pop art make-over, but it was all we could do to get through with the painting. I did, however, try some Lichtenstein cosplay with left-over Halloween make up on my own.
Through the week, old masterpieces became new. Rembrandt's burnt sienna became saturated and Cassat's modeled furniture became flattened. Everything felt more commercial, mass produced, and well...fun! That's the point of Pop Art. Make it, sell it, love it.
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