4rd Grade Art Lesson: Frank Stella and Lines

This year my daughter is in 4th grade and her teacher has graciously allowed me to come in and teach art to her class.  Today was our first lesson.

During the year, we'll be studying the seven elements of art and I decided to start with lines.  We used only paper and pencils as materials. I like to include an artist with each lesson and choose Frank Stella.

I was not able to secure the art room and needed a lesson that wouldn't utilize messy materials.  Since this was some of the students first time meeting me, having an easy lesson to start also allowed me more time to memorize names and observe listening styles of the kids.

We started by talking about the seven elements we'd be learning about in the coming year. I explained that artists use these seven elements to create art, and we'll be going through them, starting with lines.

I told them that lines can be bent into curves and broken into angles to create an infinit number of configurations.  These include zigzag, curve, wavy, spiral, scalloped, etc.  We listed more types of lines together.

Then we went on to getting to know the American artist Frank Stella, who currently lives in New York City, NY.  He was born in 1936 in Massachusetts to a doctor father and a mother who was a landscape painter. He went on to study history at Princeton University before moving to NYC in 1958 after gradation.

Frank Stealla, Sinjerli, III, 1968

Frank Stella didn't feel that a painting had to represent or look like anything but a painting.  He was quoted in the early 1960s as saying a canvas was "a flat surface with paint on it - nothing more".  His work is known for being abstract and minimalist.

Frank Stella, Star of Persia, II, 1967

We looked at a few of his pieces and talked about the size since most took up whole walls.

Frank Stella, Harran II, 1967

We moved on to our art lesson by first talking about henna and how some cultures use lines it to decorate hands on special occasions. I told them that for today's lesson, they were going to outline their own hand and arm and decorate it with as many types of lines as they can fit in.

Here are a few of the masterpieces:

A few were able to finish early and had time to come up to the front of the class to list all the different types of lines they included in their arms and hands.

The kids were great. They really got the concept of lines and how to use them to create minimalism art.

More art lessons can be found checking out past Art Lesson posts. See you in two weeks!

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value

March is Women's History Month and to celebrate I introduced my students to Pop Art painter Tamara de Lempicka.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

I volunteer teach art every two weeks at my daughter's 3rd grade class and we are taking the year getting to know the 7 elements of art. Go to the bottom of this post for all our lessons so far. While learning the elements, I also teach them about a new artist for inspiration.

Tamara de Lempicka is a Polish artist who was born in 1898 as Maria Górska. She would grow up to spend her teen summers at her grandmother's home on the French Riviera. It was there that she was introduced to the great Italian master painters.

Life at home was unstable, so she went on to marry young and eventually moved to Paris because of the Russian Revolution. It was there she became a full time artist and did portraits for aristocrats and notable professionals of her time. This is a painting she did of Dr. and Madam Boucard in 1929.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

 
Tamara de Lempicka also had a daughter, Kizette, who she loved to paint. She even won a major award in France for this one of Kizette on a Balcony in 1927.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

She later remarried and moved to Hollywood, California. She became friends with famous actors and went to a lot of parties. Tamara de Lempicka became known as “The first woman artist to be a glamour star"

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

While I was showing them all of Tamara de Lempicka's artwork, I was taking the time to show the shadows and light in the fabrics she painted to give the illusion of it flowing in the wind. This painting, called Blue Woman with a Guitar that she painted in 1929, is a perfect example of value.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

Value deals with the lightness or darkness of a color.  Since we see objects and understand objects because of how dark or light they are, value is incredible important to art.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

I made sure to tell them all that if they were interested in any form of 3D design, even creating computer games, value is what is needed to determine if the viewer can really get the illusion that it's not a flat image.

To try to duplicate what Tamara de Lempicka does in her artwork, we tried to make our own hands look 3D.

I started by having the kids tracing out their hands lightly on a piece of paper with pencil.

The students were then told to create a curved line inside the hand outline. They were then told to place down two fingers so they know how far up the next curved line went, and so forth.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

After the curved lines where placed inside the hand, straight lines need to connect the hand to the paper border on either side.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

Once all the lines were drawn, the kids could use charcoal or color pencils. A great tip is to pick one color first. Then once that is all colored in, do the next color. Darken the area where the curved lines meets the straight line first, then get lighter the closer you get to the border. This creates a shadow which gives it a 3D effect. Then the inside of the hand would be colored in the same way, but the opposite direction: dark at the lines, lighter as it gets into the center.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

Here are a few of the master's at work.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Tamara de Lempicka and Value by A Crafty Arab

The kids loved learning about value and Tamara de Lempicka. As always, I'm so impressed with how much they love to learn.

To see more more of our lessons from this year, visit

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Embellished Faces Inspired by Marita Dingus

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Celebrating Black History Month with Marita Dingus

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Contrast Colors in African Dancers  

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Kinetic Kites (Part 2) 

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Secondary Colors with Calder 

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Color with Mondrian

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Lines

To see more lessons plans for different grades, visit
Crafty Arab Art Lessons

Be sure to join us in two weeks!

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Happy International Women's Day!

To celebrate international women, I taught my students an art lesson on Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who was a painter, sculptor, writer, composer, created large scale environmental installation pieces and also worked in collage and fabrics.

I recently included her in a post I wrote about 7 Women Artists Who Changed History.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

I volunteer teach art every two weeks in my daughter's school and we are spending the year going through the seven elements of art. Today I taught them about space, using Yayoi Kusama as our inspiration.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Before we started on our project, I told them a little about Yayoi Kusama and her use of pointillism in her quest to cover up all the space around her.

Yayoi Kusama was born in Japan in 1929 to a very conservative family. At ten years old, her mother took away her brushes and paints and told her girls had to train to be housewives.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Yayoi Kusama's family finally let her go to traditional art school, but she soon got bored with the technique and secretly drew animals like this one below. I drew attention to how she covered every single area of this sketch so the kids would see her full use of space.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Kusama even drew her mother in a traditional Japanese kimono dress in the below sketch. I asked the kids if they thought that maybe the mom had chickenpox? But then I showed them how the dots also showed up on the kimono, the hair and the landscape behind her.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Dots, dots. dots? Whey dots? To Kusama, dots represented the universe, the sun, the moon, people, atoms in people, everything and anything was a dot. And she has never been able to stop drawing them. She was once asked in an interview why she drew so many dots, to which she replied, "You must ask my hands."

She left Japan as a young adult and came to live in Seattle for a year (the kids got excited over that) before heading to New York City.  The moment she got there, she went to the top of the Empire State Building and said

"Seeing this big city, I promised myself that one day I would conquer New York and make my name in the world with my passion for the arts and mountains of creative energy stored inside myself."

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Kusama went on to show in major galleries, museums, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, anywhere and everywhere she could. Her repetitive use of the dots really made a huge splash in the art world.

She always made sure to have herself photographed at each event, so that the photos would also then become a part of her art.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

She hired actors to do large scale environmental installations and I talked to the kids about how these were different then the performance art pieces that she would also do in enclosed spaces.  We looked at a photo of her environmental installations piece.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

She did group gallery shows with other famous New York artists during this Pop Art era, including Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol.

I told the kids they can head down to the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park and see for themselves Kusama's large scale influence in Claes Oldenburg's Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, 1999. The Sculpture Park is free to anyone during the day.

(FYI, the piece behind the Oldenburg is an Alexander Calder. Be sure to check out his art lesson.)

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

I also showed the kids Double Elvis, 1963/1976 by Andy Warhol that is hanging in the Seattle Art Museum. When Warhol first painted this, it only had one Elvis on it. It was only later that he added the second Elvis. Could it be because of Kusama's repetitive influence? Some in the art world would say yes. If the kid wanted to decide for themselves, they can go see Elvis the first Thursday of every month, when SAM if free to the public.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Kusama has since returned to Japan, due to health reasons. She works out of her studio even now (the kids and I did the math together, she is 87 years old), five days a week, 9 to 5, (also more fun math to do). Her artwork can be seen all over the world and in hundreds of exhibits.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

She also creates accessories for Louis Vuitton, a fashion designer.  There is a store in Seattle that has her line of purses, sunglasses, necklaces, bracelets, etc that the kids can go check out.

A few years back when SAM had a showing of Kusama, the Louis Vuitton store fronts turned into her environmental installations, a continuation of the exhibit a few blocks away from SAM. I loved walking by it weekly when I got off my bus at 5th and Seneca on my way to work and would always stop and get lost in the dots for a few moments.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

When Kusama paints, she fills up the entire space of each artwork by creating interesting patterns and colors with different sizes of dots. I showed a few photos of her pumpkins to the kids.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

We then got started on our own. Together with pencils we created a basic pumpkin shape out of curved lines that covered our entire piece of paper from top to bottom, leaving a little space for a stem. After the pumpkin was drawn, the kids were given acrylic paint and qtips to cover the inside of the pumpkin with two contrast colors.  They could use one side of the qtip for one color and the other for their second color.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Some kids really got into it and used both hands to paint every space inside their pumpkin.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

While others took their time making patterns to cover up their space.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

We had some great looking masterpieces by the end of our hour.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

Some of the kids finished the inside of their contrast color pumpkins earlier then others. They were allowed to qtip the outside any color they wished, filling it up way they liked. A few even had time to include more pumpkins.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Yayoi Kusama and Space by A Crafty Arab

The kids loved learning about space and Yayoi Kasama.  As always, I'm so impressed with how much they love to learn.

To see more more of our lessons from this year, visit
3rd Grade Art Lesson: Embellished Faces Inspired by Marita Dingus

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Celebrating Black History Month with Marita Dingus

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Contrast Colors in African Dancers  

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Kinetic Kites (Part 2) 

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Secondary Colors with Calder 

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Color with Mondrian

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Lines

To see more lessons plans for different grades, visit

Crafty Arab Art Lessons

Be sure to join us in two weeks!

February Art Party

February Art Party by A Crafty Arab

I just gathered with some friends for an art party to spend a little time together.

I got the idea from a Pinterest Birthday Party one of my girlfriends had last year in her home. I asked her and a few other friends if they'd like to have the same party again but this time at my studio.

A couple of them were able to make it so I got to work getting ready for guests. I think I need to do these parties more often. Since I had a deadline, it was nice to complete so many unfinished projects!

February Art Party by A Crafty Arab

My studio has two areas, a work station and a seating area. We spent some time in the seating area first catching up and drinking tea to get warmed up from the rain outside. Soon the work table was covered with tools, India inks, paper and masterpieces.

February Art Party by A Crafty Arab

I personally had a goal of cutting No Sew pillows for an upcoming girl scout event. My pile looked like this when I got started.

February Art Party by A Crafty Arab

I was able to get this much done by the time our party was over.

February Art Party by A Crafty Arab

We listened to some great tunes, drank lots of tea and shared delicious healthy popcorn.

February Art Party by A Crafty Arab

And by the end of the afternoon these were some of the art masterpieces created.

February Art Party by A Crafty Arab

February Art Party by A Crafty Arab

We've already decided we're going to do it again soon.