Wednesday, February 27, 2002
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Wednesday, February 27, 2002 |
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Pop art changes look of Rising Starr Middle Everyday people at Rising Starr Middle School have taken on a whole new look, Andy Warhol style. It is not unusual to see small groups of people gathered in one hallway of the school looking at the displays of photographs of teachers, administrators and staff members painted in various color patterns just like the pictures Warhol did of famous people, most notably Marilyn Monroe. The different color patterns of cool, warm and complimentary tones give the faces a distorted look, which intrigues passersby as they stop to see the portraits of their friends and teachers. "There is always a little group of people standing there just looking at the images. The whole school thinks its great," said Britt Killingsworth, student art teacher and the driving force behind the unit on pop art that students at the school are now studying. Killingsworth, who is earning her degree in art education from Georgia State University, began student teaching in Kim Daniel's art classes at Rising Starr in January. As part of her student teaching activities, she is required to write several lesson plans introducing students to a particular art concept so she decided to focus on her love of Warhol and the pop art movement. "I just enjoy pop art. I have a lot of Andy Warhol puzzles and books. I have even visited his grave and taken pictures of it, which I shared with the students. They thought that was really cool," said Killingsworth. Warhol is famous for taking everyday objects or people and turning them into art. He would print many series of the same image using silkscreen printing and then apply different colors to them. "This is what we based our artwork on, the idea of repeating an image of people in our everyday lives at the school," said Killingsworth. Sixth, seventh and eighth grade students began the project by taking black and white digital photos of various teachers and administrators at the school. After printing them on white paper, the students colored them with oil pastels using blocks of color similar to what Warhol might have used. In keeping with the spirit of Warhol's art, students were instructed that they could not add anything to a face that wasn't already there. However, students were able to use their creativity in selecting color groups and choosing how the colors would be applied to the face. While Warhol's work might have been new to some students at the school, many say they had a lot of fun working with the faces of people they see and interact with everyday. "When we first started studying Andy Warhol I thought he was kind of a kook but doing the faces was fun. I really enjoyed the project," said eighth grader Kelly McCollum. Three displays hang in the school featuring the same faces in warm, cool and complimentary colors. Since the student body and faculty are enjoying them so much, Killingsworth said she plans to leave the displays on the wall until they start to fall down. "We have had teachers ask if they can have their picture when we take them down. They all have been good sports about all of this. One teacher even said she wants to take her picture to her hairdresser," Killingsworth added. When the displays are removed, students will have the opportunity to donate their creative imagery to the teacher or staff member who was the subject of their work. Killingsworth's next pop art lesson is going to be on Keith Haring, one of the great graffiti artists of the 1980s.
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