Andy Warhol Extension Activities

What is the difference between art and an advertising? The subject matter?  The quality? The medium?  The buyer?  This debate surrounds the artwork of Andy Warhol.

Born in PA, Andrew Warhola was the first star of pop art.  Fantastic at marketing himself, he changed his name to Andy Warhol and became one of the greatest artistic businessmen. 

Warhol moved to NYC in 1949, where he got a BA in graphic design and worked as an illustrator for magazines for more than 10 years.   Despite his commercial training, Andy saw himself as a “pure” artist.

Not content to be just a great commercial artist, Warhol appropriated imagery from consumer culture and changed all of the boundaries that had existed between fine art and the more familiar imagery found in advertising. 

He invented blotted line technique, which he used to create whimsical illustrations. The process was tedious, and often included multiple apprentices.  First he drew an image on waterproof paper with a pencil.  Then it was traced with ink.  The paper was then flipped and pressed on absorbent paper.  The printed image was finally colored in using pastels.

Read:

• As always, Mike Venezia's introductory art books are at the top of my list.  The one on Andy Warhol is no different.  Fantastic from beginning to end.
• Written by Andy Warhol's nephew, "Uncle Andy's" offers a fun and unique perspective on the artist.

Explore Online: 

•  Queensland Art Gallery has a fun interactive site devoted to Andy Warhol' life.  Have fun learning what Andy was like as a boy!
• The Warhol Museum has a fantastic gallery of online images.  You might be surprised to see how diverse his interests were.  Take a look.

Create:

• Did you know that Andy Warhol collected cats?  He had over 25!  Try making your own version of his "Red Sam" with these instructions.
• Make your own image into pop art using this online converter.  I already have the settings ready for you, just scroll down to step 3 and upload your photograph!  Don't worry about the mention of facebook, the image will not show up in your feed unless you approve it at the very end. 

Consider:

• Andy Warhol once said, “Art is what you can get away with.” - What do you think he meant?  Do you agree?

Join Us:

Remember to to put Sunday October 5th on your calendar.  We are going to all meet up to pick apples for a neighbor.  Join us at 3:30 at http://www.macksapples.com  in front of main stand.