NeoPopRealism Easter Eggs

Submitted by: NeoPopRealism Press, NeoPopRealist ink and pen pattern drawing
Subject: Arts and Music, Arts and Technology, Arts and History
Grades: 3-5, adaptable to grades 6-8 +

Preparation:

Display Nadia RUSS’ art posters in your classroom. Show a PowerPoint or other presentation of Nadia Russ’ NeoPopRealism art. (See Resources)

Objectives:
Students will:

1. Learn about artist Nadia Russ and her art style, NeoPopRealism. You can see more about the NeoPopRealism art style from her website.
2. Learn About Easter celebrations and both religious and secular symbols.
3. Compare and contrast realistic art with NeoPopRealism.
4. Learn about NeoWhimsies, a simplified version of a NeoPopRealism ink pattern drawing.
5. Create NeoWhimsical Easter Eggs.

Suggestion for better learning: a book "NeoWhimsies: NeoPopRealism Ink Drawing Basics for Mannequins."

If you want to have the students paint the patterns on real eggs or wood, make sure these are available. The wood can first be painted white so the black ink patterns show high contrast. Otherwise, students can draw them on white paper.

Materials:

- Computer with internet access to see a short movie-introduction to NeoPopRealism.
- 8.5"x11" (21.5 x 28 cm) white Drawing Paper or a Wooden Egg
- Ink pen black 0.7 mm Rollerball or similar such as Rapidograph Pens
- Clear Varnish Spray for wooden eggs

Lesson Procedure:

1. Day 1: Introduce Nadia RUSS’ biography and the NeoPopRealism style of art to students. (You can see her video channel on YouTube) This introduction can be found in a book "NeoWhimsies: NeoPopRealism Ink Drawing Basics for Mannequins", pages 8 and 81 (or on her website.)

Introduce briefly the history of Easter and its religious and secular symbols. Compare Nadia Russ’ ink patterns, drawing portraits, and abstracts with pencil drawings by Rembrandt. Discuss how they are similar and different.

2. Hand out 8.5"x11" (21.6 x 28 cm) papers and have students write their names on the back. They may also paint on wooden or real eggs. Turn on music (not loud) while students work, preferably jazz.

Demonstrate step-by-step how to draw a simplified NeoPopRealism, NeoWhimsy Egg. Draw a contour of the image first lightly. Then, divide egg's shape into sections and fill these sections with different patterns.

3. Day 2: Continue drawing different patterns. Encourage students to create a gallery of repetitive patterns in the special chapter of her book or on paper divided into sections-squares 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) each. Each section will be filled with a different repetitive pattern. Encourage students to use their imagination and create something new. Drawing patterns is a meditative process and it increases critical thinking.

4. Day 3: Demonstrate how different patterns can change the character and the meaning of artwork. Students have the option to complete templates - the images of unfinished eggs - with different patterns located in a chapter "Draw the Eggs Here and Now," pages 23-26.

5. Day 4: Encourage students to draw the NeoWhimsy images of eggs from beginning to end on special pages 73-78 of a book (See image at left) "NeoWhimsies: NeoPopRealism Ink Drawing Basics for Mannequins“ (30% off to art teachers and libraries at http://www.neopoprealism.org) in chapter "Create Your NeoWhimsies from the Scratch." Explore 10 NeoPopRealism canons for happier life (page 83). If students were drawing patterns on a wooden egg, after their work is finished, students may vanish their eggs.

Discuss with students the NeoPopRealism ink drawing concept. Tell them that a line creates sections and then, these sections are filled with different repetitive patterns. See the brief history of pen and ink drawing style on the NeoPopRealism's blog. An eraser is never used.

Follow‐up activities:
View Nadia Russ' NeoPopRealism artwork online or in her books and discuss NeoPopRealism ink pattern drawings. Name artists who invented new styles of visual arts: Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns made Pop Art, Monet made Impressionism, Salvador Dali made Surrealism, Picasso made Cubism, Jeff Koons made Neo-Pop, and Nadia Russ made NeoPopRealism.

Historical Facts & Related Information:

Easter or the Pasch or (among Eastern Orthodox) Pascha is a Christian festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament. Easter is the culmination of the passion of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday), commemorating the Last Supper and its preceding foot washing, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.

For more on Easter, visit IAD's Easter page.

NEOPOPREALISM/NeoWhimsies JR. slideshow -

Resources (links):

1. Wall decals and posters-prints with NeoPopRealism ink pen pattern drawings: http://www.neopoprealism.net

2. A book “NeoWhimsies: NeoPopRealism Ink Drawing Basics for Mannequins," contains 10 different step-by-step teaching projects, including eggs.

3. NeoPopRealism/NeoWhimsies' short online Jr. Movie-introduction (See movie above)

4. Information on NeoPopRealism ink pattern drawing, its concept, and Nadia Russ, who created the NeoPopRealism style in 1989, biography: http://neopoprealismblackwhiteink.blogspot.com

5. Nadia Russ' official website www.nadiaruss.com