Jasper Johns Name Art

Marissa and I taught this 3rd grade art lesson to the class. We taught the class about Jasper Johns and pointed out his use of color, pattern, and repetition in his artwork. Then students created their own artwork that included these 3 concepts. Students folded a white sheet of 11"X 16" paper to create a grid with 12 squares. They glued this grid onto a sheet of 12" X 18" colored construction paper. Then they glued small squares of paper onto every other square of the grid to create a checkerboard. They wrote some form of their name on the paper with oil pastels, placing one letter in each square. On the white squares, they painted over the oil pastels with watercolor. They used at least two of the following colors in their work: a secondary color, an intermediate color, and a shade. When their artwork was complete, students wrote 3-5 sentences explaining how they made a pattern.

We displayed the students' name art on a bulletin board titled, "What a Colorful Class." I love the way they turned out. Each student's personality and creativity is reflected in their work.

For an extension activity, students could take photographs of the letters of their names found in their environment. Students could go outside during the school day or bring cameras home with them to photograph letters on signs or letters found in nature. They could print them out and arrange them to spell their names in a collage. This could be used to teach about design and other areas of art.