Beginning of the Year Art Activity to get to know Your Students
When creating assingments I try to think of ways to help students make personal connections to the work they’re looking at and learning about. This year, I added an assignment asking Art History students to answer the 4 questions below. My favorite was seeing everyone’s response to #1. This assignment encourages students to search artists names and explore works of art and helps everyone get to know each other. This assignment works well in art history classes but also works well in art courses. Use it as a way to prompt students to explore and research work and artists, that may inspire some of their own work. Or as a fun way to get to know each other. Students can use the Google Arts and Culture app to help them find works of art that look like them.
- Select an artwork that looks like you. Include a photo of yourself beside it for evidence.
- Find as many artists as possible that have the same # of letters in their first name as you do. Share the list of names.
- Find a work of art that was created in the same area that you were born.
- Find and share an artwork that is mainly your favorite color.
Sample Responses:
- Artwork that looks like me
2. A list of artists with the same number of letters in their first name as me:
Angelia (7 letters)
Masseot Abaquesne – French Potter
Sigmund Abeles – American
Nicolai Abildgaard – Danish Painter
Andreas Achenbach – German Painter
Valerio Adami – Italian Painter
Herbert Adams – American Sculptor
3. A work of art that was created in the same area as I was born:
John Henry Twachtman, Connecticut Shore, Winter, ca. 1889, oil on canvas
4. A piece of artwork that is mainly in my favorite color:
Blue Water Lilies – Monet
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