Grade Level: 7-8 Students will discuss and explore American Pop artist Andy Warhol and his role as a iconic figure in the Pop art movement of the 60's. Students will be introduced to the printmaking process and create a self portrait using a posterized photograph with a reduction printmaking technique. Background Biography: Born on August 6, 1928 in Pittsburgh, PA. Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a pivitol figure in the visual art movement of the 1960's known as Pop Art. Warhol graduated HS in 1945 from The University of Pittsburgh in hopes of becoming an art teacher. He changed his path attending Carnegie Institute of Technology where he studies commercial art. He earned a BFA in pictorial design in 1949and soon after began his career in magazine illustration/advertising. His commercial art background also involved innovative techniques for image making and printmaking techniques. His artistic expression developed using these techniques for his images. Warhol used everyday consumer objects as subjects and focused on mass produced commercial goods in his paintings. in 1962 he exhibited his now-iconic Cambell's soup cans. Other famous works depicted Coca-Cola bottles, hamburgers and vacuum cleaners. Warhol also painted self-portraits and celebrity portraits in vivd colors. His most famous include Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, and Elvis Presley. He also received hundreds of commissions for portraits from various celebrities including Michael Jackson. His portrait "Eight Elvis's" eventually sold for $100 million in 2008, making it one of the most valuable paintings in world history. Warhol created this self portrait for a 1966 exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery at which the artist announced his (supposed) retirement from painting, Andy Warhol's self-portrait, is an offset lithograph based on a photograph by an unknown maker, pictures the artist with his face deeply in shadow. The print's mechanical appearance and manufacture further disguises evidence of Warhol's presence as an artist. The artist has even relegated his signature to the back of the work, rendering it invisible to most viewers. Warhol's choice of a silver background distances him from the viewer. Implicit in the metallic background-which recalls Warhol's famous pronouncement, "I want to be a machine"-are references to his studio, known as the Factory URL: http://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2002.357 Type: Image Source: National Portrait Gallery Creator: Andy Warhol, 6 Aug 1928 - 22 Feb 1987 Keywords: Poster, Self-portrait, Andy Warhol: Visual Arts\Artist, Andy Warhol: Visual Arts\Artist\Printmaker, Andy Warhol: Communications\Publisher\Magazine, Andy Warhol: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter, Andy Warhol: Visual Arts\Artist\Illustrator, Andy Warhol: Performing Arts\Filmmaker, Portrait Name: Sitter: Andy Warhol, 6 Aug 1928 - 22 Feb 1987 Activity 1. Students will begin by taking a computer photograph of themselves and posterizing the image in photoshop creating 3 different values of white, grey and black. 2. Students will transfer the image to soft cut linoleum with transfer paper. 3. The 3 value areas will be marked to specify areas to be carved. 4. Review proper carving, safety and inking procedure. 5. Using gauge tool, carve away all of the white areas which will not be printed. 6. Choose 1 color of ink, add white to create a tint (lighter). 7. Demonstrate printing process. 8. Make a test print (proof) to check for any corrections. 9. Make a series of 8-10 prints. 10. Next, carve away all of the grey areas, leaving only the black areas. 11. Choose a darker shade of the same color ink and print over existing prints. Be sure to line up the prints for good registration. 12. Pull prints. Dry on rack. 13. Sign prints with Edition Number, Title and Name. 14. Students will do a group critique of prints and experience. This collections created in conjunction with the National Portrait Gallery's 2016 Learning to Look Summer Teacher Institute.