3rd Grade Grant Wood Landscapes

 

The 3^rd grade students learned about the artist Grant Wood.  He was born in a small town in Iowa and was born and raised on a farm.  Grant Wood loved living on the farm and had many pets such as chickens, goats, ducks and turkeys.  When Grant was 10 years old his father past away.  He had to move into the city because his mom was unable to keep up the farm on her own.  Grant did not like the city because he felt out of place and was made fun of because he did not dress like the other kids did.   Grant was an excellent artist from an early age on and he did many things revolving around art.  He taught art, made jewelry, learned carpentry, and also decorated people’s houses.  When he joined the army during WWI his job was to paint camouflage on the tanks and canons.  Most of Grant Wood’s paintings were of farmlands because that was a huge part of his childhood.  People loved his work because they could relate to his paintings, and they were very peaceful and calming.  Grant’s most famous painting is American Gothic.  The people in this painting were actually not farmers; they were his sister and his family dentist!  The 3^rd grade students learned what a landscape is.  They learned that a landscape has foreground, middle ground, background and a horizon line.  By having these elements it creates depth or distance in a painting.