Keith Haring Prints

4^th and 5^th graders learned about the artist Keith Haring through a Power Point presentation. They learned that Haring started out as a subway graffiti artist. We discussed the positives and negatives of graffiti art, and when graffiti is actually art. The students viewed lots of examples of Haring’s artwork and learned the common characteristics that he included in his artwork: thick black lines, simple shapes and figures, and lines that create movement. They also learned about his favorite subjects to include in his artwork: dancing figures, dogs, flying saucers, hearts, and radiating babies. For the project, students learned the technique of printmaking. First they did a practice drawing of one of Haring’s favorite things to draw. Next they transferred that drawing to a rubber linoleum stamp. They used special linoleum carving tools to carve out their design. They then made four prints, two were left black and white (like Haring’s early subway artworks), and the other two were colored in. They also added visual movement by adding colorful lines in the boarders of their paper. We discussed that print making is a very unique style of artmaking because no two prints are ever the same, even if using the same printing plate every time.