Jasper Johns Flag (Pk-5)

Jasper Johns 

Flag

Teacher Example
Mod-Podge, liquid watercolor, white acrylic, and newspaper on cut poster-board

I did this project with my class of 4-6 year-olds and a class of 7-10 year-olds 

About Jasper Johns

I love Jasper Johns because he is a local artist from Augusta, Georgia, which is only a short drive away from my art center.  

Jasper Johns was born in 1930.  When he was 18 he moved to New York to pursue an art education.  There he became immersed in the local artistic community.  Soon after arriving Johns was drafted into the army, which put his art career on hold for several years.  While in the military Johns began to see the impact that simple everyday symbols (flags, numbers, letters, maps, targets) have on mankind.  Johns realized that people walk past symbols like flags everyday without really taking notice.  However, when a flag, or painted target, or map is presented as a piece of art people really begin analyzing these symbols for hidden meanings, messages, and emotions. Johns never says what his artwork means, and instead he lets his symbols speak for themselves.

In the early 1950s Johns began seeing American flags everywhere he went, even in his dreams.  Johns created "Flag" in 1954.  He carefully collected newspaper clippings from the daily papers and used them as a base for his painting.  Over the newspaper he painted an American flag using a mixture of beeswax and paint pigment. This is known as an encaustic.  The wax/paint acts as a preservative that is transparent enough that the newspaper can be seen through the color.  

Jasper Johns worked alongside the Abstract Expressionists, who avoided using recognizable symbols/objects and instead believed in using line, color, and form in abstract ways to convey their own emotions.  Johns, with his flags and targets and unwillingness to state what emotions his works stand for, seems like the exact opposite of an artist like Jackson Pollock.  

Materials

• Quartered poster-board, railroad board, or some other durable paper
• Mod-Podge (a LOT of Mod-Podge)
• A stack of newspaper
• Foam brushes
• Paint brushes
• Liquid watercolor 
• Scissors
• White acrylic paint

The Process

The process for younger and older students is the same, the only difference is that I restricted my younger students to just the American flag while my older class could choose their own flag.

This project is a collage, which 

"is a technique for composing a work of art by pasting on a single surface various materials not normally associated with one another, such as newspaper clippings, parts of photographs, theater tickets,  fragments of an envelope, ext." -Dictionary.com

To start make sure you have enough thick paper cut to the size of your choosing BEFORE the students enter the room.  

For younger groups I recommend mixing the paint up before class for them.  I add several squirts of liquid watercolor into a bowl or cup filled with Mod-Podge.  I then stir.  Your colors will look very light, but they should darken once they dry.  I recommend testing your colors first and after your test dries adjusting the liquid watercolor amount for the lightness/darkness of your choosing.  To create white add a SMALL amount of white acrylic paint to the Mod-Podge.  My older class added a touch to much and the white lost the transparent effect that we were aiming for.  

Students then went through my stack of newspapers and began cutting out the sections that they wanted and arranging them on the poster-board. 

Then we broke out the plain no-paint-added Mod-Podge and foam brushes.  The great thing about Mod-Podge is that it can be used as both a glue and a gloss medium.  Students covered a section of their poster-board with the Mod-Podge, added their newsprint section on top, smoothed the paper, and then added ANOTHER layer of Mod-Podge on top.  I've found that sandwiching the paper scrap between layers of Mod-Podge is the most effective way to get a flat surface.  Also, because the Mod-Podge dries so quickly I have students do a small section of their paper at a time.  

Now comes the fun part! I passed out the pre-mixed Mod-Podge paint and paint brushes to the younger students, and supervised the older class mix up their own colored batches.  For the younger students I did a demonstration on how to paint the American flag.  The older class practiced drawing their chosen flag on a scrap sheet of paper first before starting to paint. 

The only problem we ran into with this project was misjudging how little white acrylic was needed.  The newspaper became almost impossible to see on the South Korean flags. 

National Visual Arts Standards Addressed 

 1. Content Standard: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes

 Achievement Standard:

Students

 a. know the differences between materials, techniques, and processes

 b. describe how different materials, techniques, and processes cause different responses

 c. use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and

stories

 d. use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner

 3. Content Standard: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

 Achievement Standard:

Students

 a. explore and understand prospective content for works of art

 b. select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning

Georgia Performance Standards for Visual Art Addressed

VA2MC.3 Selects and uses subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning. 

a. Discusses uses of symbols and cultural icons in artwork. 

d. Observes how the visual relationship of objects and ideas affects meaning and/or significance. 

VA2CU.1 Identifies artists as creative thinkers who make art and share their ideas. 

a. Recognizes unique contributions of contemporary and historical Georgia artists and art forms. 

b. Creates artwork that explores ideas, issues, and events from current and past cultures. 

VA2CU.2 Views and discusses selected artworks. 

a. Names subject and theme. 

c. Theorizes and suggests how culture and environment provide inspiration for creating artworks. 

d. Recognizes media and technique. 

e. Observes and discusses simple perspective techniques (e.g., diminishing size, overlapping, placement on the picture plane). 

VA2PR.2 Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art processes (drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed-media) using tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner to develop skills.