Visual Arts Grade 6

Pop-Art Introduction and Roy Lichtenstein Self-Portraits

TITLE: Roy Lichtenstein Pop-Art Self-Portraits

LESSON
PLAN
MELS
Competencies

DATE: Wednesday September 30th, 2015

TIME: 12:47-1:32 pm

CLASS: Room 13 (Grade 6)

DURATION: 45 minutes

SCHOOL: cole Hampstead

Cross-Curricular Competencies:
Competency 4: To use creativity.
During this lesson the students will be discovering a new
art style, and specific techniques used by an artist in
creating works of art in that art style. Students will have
the opportunity to plan out and experiment with the style
and the techniques to develop their own process in how to
best use the techniques in creating a visual artwork.
Competency 5: To adopt effective work methods.
During this lesson students will be given the opportunity to
experiment with a new art style, and practices techniques
used in that art style. Throughout their work, they will
have to opportunity to show that they understand the task
given to them (explore the art techniques), persevere in the
task (actively working and taking the time to experiment),
and complete the given task (have work to show what they
accomplished).
Subject-Specific Competencies:
Competency 1: To produce individual works in the visual
arts.
Students will practice creating work using the techniques
and style shown in the lesson art in the style of Roy
Lichtenstein. They will practice using Benday dots,
primary colours, cartoon style, and bold lines in their
artwork. They will practice using these techniques in
simple and informal work as practice for use in an
individual work that will follow in consequent lessons.

Objective(s)

This lesson aims to give students an introduction into Pop

Art. Students will learn what Pop Art is, when the movement
happened, what it involves (popular culture), and begin to
look at who was involved (attention drawn to some Warhol
works, and a closer look at works by Lichtenstein).
Students will learn about the Pop Art movement, and how it
used images from popular culture: advertising, cartoons,
everyday objects, celebrities, etc.
Students will look at the work of Roy Lichtenstein, and will

Visual Arts Grade 6

Pop-Art Introduction and Roy Lichtenstein Self-Portraits
identify what characterizes his style: the use of primary
colours, cartoon imagery, bold lines, and Benday dots.
Students will practice using the techniques and style used by
Lichtenstein.

Group size,
Location,
Materials

Group size: Room 13, consisting of twenty-one students.

Location: Room 13, a large classroom where the students are
seated in desk groups of four to five students.
Materials: Smart board; images of work by Andy Warhol;
video (http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/tatekids-presents-pop-art); images of work by Roy Lichtenstein;
teacher example of final product (self-portrait) that will
follow; blank notebook page to show how to do Benday
dots; blank paper; students pencil crayons, black pens,
pencils, erasers.

TIME

LESSON
Introduction:
As the students return to the classroom following lunchtime, there will be

an image up on the smart board (http://www.themiamiartscene.com/top5-pop-artists-in-miami/). This image will serve to immediately grab the
students attention and get them excited about the art lesson that is to
come. (Prezi)
When I am ready, I will get the students attention using our practiced
attention-getter (If you can hear me, clap once...). I will take the time
here to thank the students for responding well to the attention-getting,
2 minutes
in order to set it up for use throughout the lesson.
First, I will introduce the students to Ms. Kakouratos, by letting them
know she is one of my teachers from McGill, who heard about the art
lesson we were doing today and wanted to come see it too!
I will then begin by reminding the students about the photos I took of
them last week, and let them know that this week we will begin
working on an art project using those photos, but first, we must learn
about a new art style.
I will ask students, Does anybody know what Pop Art is? I will take
some responses to get an idea of what students already know about this
art movement.
I will then tell students what Pop Art is. I will explain that Pop Art is an
8 minutes
art style that started in the 1950s, and became very popular in the
1960s. I will take a moment to talk about when that was, to make it
relevant to the students own lives. I will explain that that was about the

Visual Arts Grade 6

Pop-Art Introduction and Roy Lichtenstein Self-Portraits
time that their grandparents were born, or just a few years before my
parents were born.
Next, I will explain that Pop Art is based on popular culture. Here I
will pause to ask, What does that mean, popular culture? Does
anybody have an idea of what popular culture is? I will take student
responses, before defining popular culture for the students.
I will explain that popular culture is anything that is well known or
well liked by the general public. I will give some examples: iPads,
Starbucks, Nike, Minecraft, celebrities they know. I will ask for some
examples of what the students think could be part of their popular
culture basically anything should be acceptable if it is something that
is popular in society or recognizable by most people in our society.
I will then show some Warhol works (Coca cola, Campbell soup,
Marilyn Monroe). I will say, These are some art works by Andy
Warhol. He was a very important artist at the start of the Pop Art
movement. He chose to make art based on everyday items, like Coca
cola and Campbell soup, and on a well-known celebrity of the time,
Marilyn Monroe. This will hopefully make the idea of popular culture
in art more clear and understandable for the students.
I will point out that this artwork is very different from artwork that was
seen in the past, and was very shocking for the time.

Development:
3 minutes I will show the video: http://www.tate.org.uk/contextcomment/video/tate-kids-presents-pop-art. This will give students an
overview of Pop Art, and will introduce Roy Lichtenstein. I will end the
video at 2:50. I will take any comments or questions following the
video.
I will then talk about Roy Lichtenstein; The video just introduced us to
an artist called Roy Lichtenstein. We will be looking at him closer
today, and basing our art project on his art style.
5 minutes I will show some of his artwork, and draw students attention to what
characterizes his style: comic imagery, primary colours, bold lines,
and Benday dots. I will point out some of these, and try to elicit
observations from students too.
I will explain that these characteristics make up his style, and are what we
will be using in our own Pop Art artwork. I will tell the students how
we will be using their photos to create self-portraits, and show the
example of my own self-portrait.
I will explain that we first need to practice Lichtensteins art style, and
(2
that that is what we will be doing today.
minutes) I will use the Smart board to list what makes up his style: comic
imagery, primary colours, bold lines, and Benday dots. I will show a
picture of zoomed in Benday dots, and model how to go about drawing
them.

Visual Arts Grade 6

Pop-Art Introduction and Roy Lichtenstein Self-Portraits
The rest of the class time will be given for students to practice using
Lichtensteins techniques, to experiment using the characteristics of his
style.
I will tell students that they will have time to practice Lichtensteins style,
2 minutes
using the techniques listed on the board.
I will show a model of my own practice sheet: I will show how I
practiced Benday dots, experimented with the primary colours, did
some simple pictures and practiced coloring them and outlining them.
I will tell the class each student will get a blank piece of paper, and will
need their coloring crayons just the primary colours (What are the
primary colours?) and a black sharpie.
I will emphasize that this is practice for their final artwork of the selfportrait, which they will begin on Friday. Today is your time to
experiment and try this new style out. Decide what you like or dont
like, so you will have a better idea of how to colour your self-portrait
20
on Friday!
minutes
Once all students have paper I will play quiet music and give the students
the remaining 20 minutes to work. I will circulate to help and give
feedback throughout.
***I will walk students through how to fold their page into 8 so they have
different sections to work in and practice different things. This will be
done as a class.

Conclusion/Transition:

I will give students a five-minute warning before the end of class, so they
know that they will soon be asked to pack up and get ready to leave.
About two minutes until the end of class I will tell students that it is time
to wrap up as they have gym. I will ask them to put away their art
materials, and for one person from each table group to collect the pages
and bring them to me.

Follow-Up:
In the next art lesson the students will begin to create their own selfportraits in the style of Roy Lichtensteins Pop Art. They will be given a
photograph of themselves, which they will use to trace the outlines of
their faces. They will outline these in bold black lines and colour their
portraits using primary colours, and using a combination of solid colours
and Benday dots, as characteristic of Roy Lichtensteins work (as
discussed and practiced in todays lesson). This process will likely take a
few art periods, however most students should be able to complete the
tracing and begin adding colour to their work by the end of the next
portraits.
The end result of this unit will be that each student will have created a
Pop-Art self-portrait following Lichtensteins style.

Visual Arts Grade 6

Pop-Art Introduction and Roy Lichtenstein Self-Portraits

EVALUATION
This lesson will involve formative assessment. I will observe students throughout and pay
attention to students responses and comments to the lesson, to find out what students
understand or have missed.
While students are working and experimenting with the art style I will circulate to
observe and to provide immediate feedback to student work.
I will take in their practice sheets at the end of the lesson to see if students have
understood the style that we are aiming to use, and to see if I need to come back to
anything next lesson before having them begin to colour their self-portraits. I will write
feedback comments on sticky notes on their practice sheets, which will be returned to the
students for the next lesson as a reference and ideas page.