Jasper Johns Flag Paintings

These paintings took a good 3 weeks to complete, but the final results were quite stunning!  The main idea behind this lesson was to discuss the art of Jasper Johns and his use of simple subject matter and iconographic imagery.  We discussed the main ideas behind Pop Art before we began our flag paintings.  Students were encouraged to think about using colors which represent certain feelings or emotions about our country.  Some ideas they came up were using the color green because it represented the greed of our nation, using the color pink because it expresses happiness and joy to be a part of our great nation.  The paintings were made on three pieces of tagboard, one large, one medium, and one small.  Small pieces of foamcore were glued between each flag to make the flags 3-D.  On the last day, the students worked on writing a description about the American flag, what it symbolizes, and why they chose the colors they did.  With the strong imagery and the descriptions displayed next to them, these flags attracted a LOT of attention at our school.