Marty Maehr Project

The Marty Maehr Project was an introductory lesson for beginning artists in the Art Foundations class.​

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Students began the project by studying the work of a local artist named Marty Maehr. Students took note of the deliberate use of warm and cool colors, and observed how Maehr uses shape, line, and color in his artwork.

 

After reviewing Maehr's work, students were prompted to mimic one of his artworks or create their own works by using his style as inspiration. 

 

Students who chose to mimic a Maehr artwork were challenged when trying to recreate an image accurately. Students began to understand how to draw what they see accurately by breaking down an image into simple shapes and manageable portions. 

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Other students learned how new original artworks can be made by using previously existing works as a reference or starting point. Artists often take little things from other artists and incorporate them into their own work. Very little work (perhaps none) is completely original because we are always influenced by the work we have seen in the past. 

 

Students developed a new understanding of how warm and cool colors interact and how colored pencils can be very effective tools for making 2D artwork. A colored pencil warm up exercise was given to students in preparation for the project. Feel free to download the worksheet that I made! I found it to be a helpful tool when introducing layering techniques to students who are new to using colored pencils.