The Skulls of Georgia O’Keeffe: 5th Grade

When I think of Georgia O’Keeffe, 2 main things come to mind: flowers and skulls. In the past, I’ve introduced artist Georgia O’Keeffe early on to 2nd and 3rd grade students. These younger students went on to make pretty, zoomed-in flower artwork like this:

It’s safe to say I breezed over the ‘skull stuff’ with the younger kids. While O’Keeffe’s flowers are gorgeous, I find her skull artwork much more interesting. That’s why I decided to introduce 5th graders to a stranger and less generic side of Georgia O’Keeffe.5th graders followed my step-by-step demonstration as we drew a Georgia O’Keeffe inspired ram skull together. We drew our skulls on thick and frayed handmade watercolor paper. I’m eager to see how this ragged effect will look in our final pieces.

After we completed our drawings, we moved on to painting the ram’s head. This art lesson was a great opportunity for me to introduce students to tints, tones, and shades.  We painted our skulls and horns together using black, white, and brown. We mixed colors as we went to fill in shadows and highlights.I mean, aren’t they kind of spectacular?

They’ll be done next week, after students paint in their unique backgrounds and flowers. Can’t wait to share! I think Georgia would be proud.

-Mrs. Heinlein

PS. After-school art begins next week (Sept 16!) and this week is registration week. Here is a list of classes that 5th graders are eligible for:

Click here to sign up for any of these classes!