Isaias Crow Uplifting Paintings

​This is a project that I snagged from Don Masse over at shinebritezamorano.com
 
Students learned about the muralist, Isaias Crow, for this project. Isaias is an artist who believes that his art can send a positive, uplifting message. He typically chooses an encouraging word and then incorporates it into his murals. Sometimes the word is easy to read, other times it is near impossible. His work also features many geometric lines and shapes with strong, bold colors.

​After introducing Isaias’ work to the students, students were given some time to brainstorm positive words that they may want to use in their artwork. Then they worked with a partner to brainstorm some more words. Next they chose one of their words and created two different abstract sketches that incorporated their word. Some students chose to really hide their letters while others made their letters more obvious. Lastly, they transferred their favorite sketch to a large sheet of paper.
 
The 2nd and 3rd days were spent using oil pastels to outline all of their design and then selectively filling in parts of their artwork with color.
 
The final 2 days were spent using liquid watercolors to fill in the last of their artwork. Then they were asked to write about why they chose the word that they did. I loved reading about some of the deep thinking that went into their word choice.