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Artist : Keith Haring
compiled by Michelle
We did this project in Kindergarten. We showed some works of Keith Haring on the TV screen using a CD and read some of the information we'd compiled. The children then made a collage of their interpretation of his work. We gave them quarter sized black construction paper to make their collage. Along with that we gave them 4 different colors of small sized construction paper and a white crayon to make motion lines. We showed them samples (made on construction paper) of the Barking Dog, the Crawling baby, the Skateboard and a few others. (You don't need to make so many samples, just a couple of samples with lots of pictures of his work should also work well.)
About the Artist
Keith was born on May 4, 1958. He grew up in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, the oldest of four children. He started to draw right away.
( "My father made cartoons. Since I was little, I had been doing cartoons, creating characters and stories.")
As Keith grew up, he continued to draw and make art. He went to Art schools to study as well. When he moved to New York, at the age of 20, he loved it. He was very fascinated by Graffitis he saw on the streets (– the lines, the size and the technique.) After graduating from school he started drawing his own graffiti on the street himself.
Because he had little money, Keith went everywhere by subway. One day, while waiting on a subway platform, he noticed some empty black paper panels which were used to cover up old advertisements against the platform walls.
He knew that this was the perfect place for him to draw. He started making his subway drawings every day.
Keith started to become famous. All the people riding the subway saw his work, and it was also on TV and in the newspaper.
Keith also started showing his work in art galleries, where many people started to buy them.
Now Keith worked harder than ever, and he travelled around the world to show his work. He had shows in Europe, Japan, and all across the United States. He even painted the entire side of a church in Italy!
He also worked with children in schools to paint large murals with them, and he made paintings and sculptures for schools and hospitals in many places.
Typically, Haring would create a spontaneous large-scale drawing on a piece of paper, a mural or a city wall. Using his thick black lines as a boundary, Haring's guest artists would proceed to fill in the volume of his figures with their own drawings, paintings and writings-a method that gave voice to thousands of young people who otherwise might not have had the chance to express themselves.
Over the course of his career he called attention to causes by creating works to promote literacy, support UNICEF, work against apartheid in South Africa, and fight drug use.In 1988, Keith got very sick. Keith knew he was going to die, but he was very brave and kept working as hard as he could until the end. He also made posters to tell people about the sickness and gave money for doctors to search for a cure.
Keith wanted everyone to make art, especially children.
What did he like to draw
(Clean, simple, linear style. Enjoyed drawing and painting large and small scale Hieroglyphic like art that incorporated many social issues. He presented art to the public by decorating everything from walls to watches, billboards to buttons. Keith liked to cut things up with scissors and make collages. He also liked to make sculptures, and to take pictures too. )
swimming
pool mural
wall of a church in
Italy
Which do you think is a Keith Haring painting?
Some more works
Useful Links
www.Haringkids.com is a very interesting site for children to familiarize themselves with the artists work. The site also has many lesson plans.
