Under the guidance of art teacher Malia Urie, fifth graders created interpretations of works by Andy Warhol, an iconic artist of the 20th century.

“Art doesn’t always have to be beautiful because sometimes it is making a statement. Sometimes artists are being critical, even making fun of others or themselves. This is what we learned from studying Andy Warhol,” said Urie.

Warhol was a highly successful, commercial artist  in the 1960s, especially known for his breakthrough pop art culture.

Students in Urie’s art classes were asked to replicate Warhol’s art by using oil pastels and neon colors to create pictures of themselves.

Student Lacey Evangelista said, “[Ms. Urie] took our picture and then we had to outline it with a dull pencil – a sharp one would break through the film. It came out on this paper and then we used oil pastels.”

The second part of the project had students creating a duplicate picture using only black and white.

“The difference in feeling is extreme, and a great demonstration of how powerful color can be,” said Urie.

The third part of the project asked students to completely transform their portrait.

“Most struggled with this last part, which demonstrates to me, how important it is to give children the opportunity to use their imagination and make their own choices,” said Urie.

“My favorite part was probably seeing myself on another paper and having to outline it, and it actually looked like me. There were challenges with the oil pastel, and it would smear all over our face and the background.” said Evangelista.

“My favorite part of the project was being able to color whatever I wanted,” said classmate Prudence Eddy.