1st Grade Dessert Paintings

First grade students began this project by learning about Wayne Thiebaud.  Thiebaud is an American painter whose most famous works are of cakes, pastries, boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks. He is associated with the Pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his works, executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists. Thiebaud uses heavy pigment and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in his work.  As a class, we compiled a list of dessert ideas.  From there I demonstrated how to make the desserts look three dimensional.  The students began by drawing out their idea and then painted it in the following class using tempera paints.  Students were to use bold colors, paint in a shadow, and use the brush like a pastry chef would spread on frosting.  Our goal was to make our desserts look edible!  We touched up some of our edges with permanent maker at the end of the project.