When your students use art to convey a message that’s important to them, meaningful art is created. The message could be anything, but when it comes from the heart, it will show in their work.
Artist Georgia O’Keeffe used her art to convey a message.
Her mission was simple. She was greatly moved by the beauty she saw in nature and wanted others to appreciate it as she did.
She had observed that most people could walk right by a beautiful flower without even stopping to notice it. There was so much to see in that one small flower yet it went unappreciated. She decided she had to change that.
One of her favorite subjects to paint was flowers. But she didn’t paint flowers in the typical way for artists of her time. She didn’t paint landscapes, or gardens, or still-life arrangements.
She delivered her message in a new way
Instead of painting flowers the way others did, O’Keeffe would paint just a single flower. It would completely fill her canvas, its petals spilling over the edges.
She would paint a single flower, but much bigger than its actual size. She would often crop her flower right against the edges of her canvas. It was as if the canvas itself was just too small to contain it.
She went on to create each of her flower paintings so large that people couldn’t help but notice them.
In her own words…“I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty.”
O’Keeffe wanted people to notice the beauty that she saw in a single flower. And she used the scale, or size, of her art to accomplish that.
Students can use art to convey a message, too
Scale can be a fun tool for students to experiment with as well. You could ask them to think of something small that they find beautiful or interesting. Then have them paint or draw it very large, cropping it against the edges of their paper.
Challenge students to illustrate their subject in a way that others can’t help but take notice of!
Why not share this story about Georgia O’Keeffe with your students? You may want to combine it with a project inspired by her.
You can find two FREE O’Keeffe-inspired projects on my blog, one project with oil pastels, and another project with markers. Both of these projects feature a flower, but you could exchange the flower for another interesting subject of their choosing!
an inspiring quote
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” ~ Georgia O’Keeffe
The very best way for Georgia O’Keeffe to make her point about flowers was to use art to convey a message.
Painting was the language in which she could communicate most effectively. And it worked… the world took notice. Sometimes art can speak to people in a more powerful way than words.
