Andy Warhol Inspired Blotted Line Monoprint Soup Cans

As part of my New Years resolution to get more organized I've been going through old photos and found these from a unit I did on Andy Warhol with my younger students (ages 5-8).  This activity combines Warhol's blotted line drawings with his soup can subject matter, and his wacky use of colour.  On the first day, I had the students use a paintbrush to apply India ink to an unwrinkled sheet of aluminium foil.  Working quickly, while the ink was still wet, the kids laid a piece of paper on top, rubbing the back of the paper with their hand before peeling it back from the foil to reveal their blotted image.  Since they were working with foil, the paper had to be removed quickly to avoid it sticking to the surface.  The great part about this activity is that you get a variety of lines, from thick smears to thin whispers. 

After letting the monoprints dry, during the next couple of classes I had the students begin painting their images.  Each student had two soup can artworks so I emphasized making different colour choices so that each monoprint would be unique.  Once the paint was dry the group finished the artworks by labelling our soup cans with any flavour they could imagine.  I gave examples of royal biscuit soup, pickle soup, and Sally's seaweed soup, which some of the kids decided to adopt.  I can't remember how the suggestion of dragon soup, and its variations, came about but as you can see from below it really took hold.

This student did a fantastic job creating two very different colour schemes.

 This student's monoprints are a fantastic example of the variety of lines and blots that can be created.

This student only created one monoprint.  He really loved dark browns and greens, but his colours go well with his soup flavour-yummy pickle soup!

Two more dragon soups, one of them using dragon's breath to create a burning soup.

 

 Some yummy star and apple soups

The hot fire soup I'm sure was dragon inspired.  I also love its partner-hot candy soup.

I've since taught this activity again and have made a few changes (which I'll share in a future post) including, as evidenced by the choice of light blue above, how the soup cans are labelled.