In this 4 week flexible schedule class we will learn about 4 different African American artists (Alma Thomas, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold) and create art pieces that are inspired by their work. We will talk about their genre of art, create pieces to be proud of, and learn about the artists through interactive games and trivia. 

Learners will post pictures and/or video of their work (and their works in progress) on the classroom page so that fellow learners and the teacher can give feedback and encouragement on their pieces. It will be uplifting and helpful to the students and peer feedback will be fun! 
Students will also engage with each other with interactive online games, fun trivia and games about the artists we will be talking about each week!  
Here are the highlights for each week! 

Week 1 - Alma Thomas - We will discuss her life as an African American woman during this time period and her experience as an art teacher as well as an artist.  We will talk about color, composition, creativity, and also the proper use of materials and clean up. The students will be able to create their art based on her painting Apollo 12 Splash Down. They will post pictures of their work on the classroom page so that we can give feedback and encouragement to each learner. 

Week 2 - Jean-Michel Basquiat - We will talk a little about Basquiat's life (kid friendly), his inspirations, his street and graffiti art and some of his other works. As an artist he quickly rose to fame from living on the streets of New York to hanging with the stars in Hollywood in the 1970s and 80s. We will recreate his work which is "untitled" ,and look at his use of bright colors and line. His line work is incredible. We will have some fun facts and online interaction during the week. 

Week 3 - Jacob Lawrence - We will have fun exploring the artist Jacob Lawrence. We will be looking at his inspriational and sometime eye opening artwork and explore his piece that is part of a series called The Migration.  We will re-create his beautiful artwork using crayon and watercolor and students will have fun adding their own creativity to their piece. We will have fun with some interaction and also with art pieces posted by the students.

Week 4 - Faith Ringgold - During this week we will look at the artist Faith Ringgold. She is a famous African American artist known for her beautiful and intricate art. Her art has inspired children's books and more. We will re-create one of her pieces using watercolor and crayon. We will do some puzzles related to this artist and the era.

The classes will be step by step allowing time for each learner to create their piece and be proud of what they create. The videos will be clear and provide at least 2 angles.

No experience is needed, but some parental help could be needed with the painting parts if the student is younger. 

Please look at the supplies list for everything needed for these lessons! 
Each learner will need: 
- A watercolor set 
- A brush (any size will do) 
- A cup with water to clean the brush
- Set of crayons (or oil pastels)
- Heavy white paper (watercolor paper is preferred but not completely necessary) 
- Table protection (newspaper, butcher paper etc). 
- Smock or old t-shirt to keep the paints off of your child's clothing