Dogs, Dogs, Dogs! Inspired by William Wegman

 

I think this image speaks for itself as introduction for artist William Wegman. 

However, if you would like to learn more about Wegman and explore more of his work, head over to www.WegmanWorld.com for hours of entertainment! 

Third and Fourth Graders learned about William Wegman and looked at many examples of his work.  We even enjoyed one of his "Hardly Boys" videos while we worked! Students used dog head templates (thank you to Art Projects for Kids for this!) and drew the rest of the bodies dressed in many different types of attire! 

In addition to looking at Wegman's contemporary work, we looked at the classic paintings by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge of Dogs Play Poker.  This series of paintings were made over 100 years ago as advertisements for cigars.  This connection shows that artists have enjoyed the idea of putting animals in human situations for a very long time. 

Animal Personification

Third and fourth graders are learning about Personification.  This is when animals or objects are given human characteristics or traits.  We looked at several examples of art that shows personified animals. 

Dogs Playing Poker by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge

Personified Rabbit from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Each student chose a pair of photocopied animal eyes (thanks to www.artprojectsforkids.org) and created a personified animal around the eyes.