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K eith Haring is an artist whoseabstract, cartoon-like style is read-

ily accepted and embraced by my ele-mentary students. His style infusesgraffiti, stick figures, gestures, danc-ing, cartooning, design, patterns andchildren’s literature in a perfectly non-threatening venue for beautiful, color-ful pieces of work produced by myfourth-grade students. His use of “uni-versal symbols” also captures theattention of my students.

After introducing some generalinformation about Keith Haring(1958–1990)—including his boyhood inPennsylvania, his love of Dr. Seussbooks and cartoons, and his interest inbreak dancing, the hip-hop scene andgraffiti—a discussion takes place aboutwhat and where art can take place.

Most of my students were amazed

that Keith Haring became famous bydoing chalk drawings all over thestreet corners of lower Manhattan andon empty advertising boards in theNew York City subway system.

My students were now all earsbecause they, too, have used sidewalkchalks on their driveways or on thesidewalks near their homes, and real-ize they are doing no harm to thecement, since chalk is easily erasedwith a hose, rain or by foot traffic.

The kids were also amazed at thefact that he incorporated graffiti intohis work and received praise for doingso, as well as his inclusion of breakdancing and his favorite childhood lit-erature, since they all have favoritebooks they envision incorporating aswell. They were now eagerly awaitinginstructions so they could delve into

this very approachable theme.At this point, I share several prints

of Keith Haring’s work, as well as for-mer students’ works, while elicitingthe feelings, thoughts and interpreta-tions of each piece viewed.

The idea that gestures, color, design,symbols (some universal, like a peacesign and stop sign) and abstraction allset up a mood, a message or a feelingdominates the discussion. We also talkabout how the inclusion of small blacklines placed closely near a figure implymovement or sound, just like in theirfavorite comic books or cartoons.

Next, the color wheel is examinedso the students can determine whichcolors will establish the feeling or amood they intend to portray. Red, forexample, can depict a mood of anger

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Hipby Robert Graff

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or heat; blue can be used to show sad-ness; yellow, orange or pink can depicta mood of happiness; and green canshow a feeling of relaxation.

I demonstrate the steps in setting up abalanced composition in pencil usingstick figures or gestures. The class thenstarts their own compositions. They areencouraged to depict any theme of theirchoosing. In doing so, they are instructedto initially set up their figures in stick-fig-ure fashion so they can establish direc-tion, action and movement. They canthen use the colors they have chosen tocolor in and add patterns or designs,which will accent their creations in a verycomfortable, abstract style.

After completion, each piece will bematted and shared with the other stu-dents in the class, giving them a chanceto share their feelings about their class-mates’ work. Invariably, different themes,moods or message are talked about thatthe artist really didn’t intend to portray.

The project ends with the idea thatwe all see things differently, and feeldifferently about art. All responses areperfectly OK, and are normal out-comes to any piece of art. ■

Robert Graff teaches at Gardiner ManorSchool in Bay Shore, New York.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upper-elementary students will ... • study the works of a famous New

York artist.• learn how the use of line, shape and

color can create a well-balanced, well-thought-out composition.

• learn that repetition can cause patterns and/or movement.

• learn that color can portray a mood or feeling.

• learn that different venues of the “arts” can ultimately be incorporated into a style unique to the artist.

MATERIALS

• Photos and reproductions of Haring’s work• Color wheel• Pencil and paper• Any color media

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Like Haring

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