FIRST GRADE . . . As whimsical as a Miro

Sculpture by Hannah

Joan Miró

First graders were introduced to the artwork of Joan Miró, a Spanish artist best known for his whimsical paintings. We learned how he was inspired by the colors and movements of the circus and we talked about how he showed that through his artwork.

When Joan Miró was a young art student, he became frustrated when he tried to draw objects realistically. One of his art teachers saw that Miró had a good understanding of color but had a hard time copying shapes. The art teacher blindfolded him so that Miró could better understand the forms of an object by feeling it with his fingers before trying to draw it.

We tried that in our classroom, using brown paper bags to hide our objects. Putting our hands inside the bag, we felt the objects with our fingers and then drew what we felt. We let our fingers see for us! Everyone was so surprised and impressed with their "touch only" drawings and we all had a hard time believing that this was the work of first grade artists!

Our Miro project continued with a 3-D animal sculpture in the whimsical style of this famous artist. Using cut paper and scraps of other materials, we built our colorful animals with silly shapes, swirly lines and fun compositions. Here are some more examples of our animals in art...

Sculpture by As'ad

Sculpture by Timmy

Sculpture by Phillip

Sculpture by Gigi