How to Teach about Famous Artists without Copying

The Monet Bridges, the Starry Nights, the Kandinsky circles-- you name it, I've made them all with kids in the past and hung it on the school walls proudly as evidence of teaching and learning about art history.

But when I actually sat down to actually think about it-- is recreating a famous work of art (with a few tweaks here and there) the best way to teach this? Are my core values about fostering creativity aligned with 20 little Monet Bridges in different color schemes on the drying rack when the kids left my art room?  

 

Here are some effective methods to explore the artists' styles, techniques, and inspirations to teach young children about famous artists without creating a project based on copying:

 

1. Start with storytelling: Share engaging stories about the artist's life, their journey, inspirations, and the world they lived in. No death by Powerpoint! What inspired the artist?  What secrets did they have?  How did the world react to their art (bonus points if everyone hated it at the time!)?  Getting to know the World's greatest Artists is an excellent series for this, they are hilarious!

 

2. Differentiate between Art Exercises and Authentic Art: Want to have the kids try some Jackson Pollock style drip painting or learn how to blend colors softly like Monet?  Structured art exercises like that are great! A fun way to structure those types of art exercises is through “Around the Room” activities in their sketchbooks.  Give the kids the chance to practice those techniques without forcing them to use them on their independent authentic work.

 

3. Show examples of Copying vs Transforming: Instead of just copying Van Gogh's Starry Night, give the kids a Creative Challenge-- transform Starry Night!  Show them concrete examples of ways to do this and let them at it! Here is a poster that I have in my classroom that I reference often to help students transform what they see.

4. Drawing Inspiration: Talk about how the artist's style, techniques, colors etc can be used as inspiration. For example, if studying Van Gogh, talk about his use of swirling brushstrokes to show movement and ask the children to explore other ways to show movement in art.  Looking at Picasso's Old Guitarist?  Dive into the "tricks" that Picasso used to evoke a feeling of sadness in the viewer and ask the students to choose a trick or two to use in their own emotion-based art project.

5. Explore the artist's "why": It's important to dive into why the artist created a particular piece of art- was it to express their culture, to share a political message, to solve a problem?  Once you teach the students about the various purposes of art, (here is a great resource that will help you) you can give them an art challenge to create their own piece of art that serves a particular purpose.

Encouraging creativity and critical thinking allows students to appreciate art in a more meaningful way while developing their own artistic voice. Teaching about art history isn't just about replicating what already exists, it's about igniting the spark of originality within every student.