10 Gorgeous Grant Wood Art Projects for Kids
Celebrate the spirit of rural Americana with these Gorgeous Grant Wood Art Projects for Kids – in time for the birthday of the artist on 13th Feb!
Every artist starts with something basic, primal. It’s the foundation. But it has to grow.
Many famous paintings have become famous and instantly identifiable, like Leonardo Da Vinci‘s Mona Lisa. However, have you heard of a painting that was already famous, but became much more popular thanks to the many parodies based on it?
Such a painting exists – it is American artist Grant Wood’s 1930 work of art, American Gothic.
The painting here is one of the most famous American paintings in the world, and you have probably seen a parody version of it somewhere! The painting features a man and a woman, and while they’re often mistaken for husband and wife, the artist intended them to be father and daughter.
The models for the painting were the artist’s sister and his dentist. This gives you an insight into Grant Wood’s character – he was all about keeping it close to home!
Who was Grant Wood?
Grant Wood began life in a humble setting, raised for the most part by a single mother. He started studying art from a young age and went on to become a teacher. He used his summer vacations to visit Europe to study multiple styles of art, like Impressionism and post-Impressionism. For some reason, none of these really appealed to him much.
It was only later that he realized – his style was under his nose all along! Grant Wood dove deep into Regionalism, a style of art that focused on realism based in America. Since he was from a small town in Iowa, his work featured many scenes of rural life. Obviously, this was very relatable to people, and his work became a hit!
Since the artist’s birthday is coming up on the 13th of February, we’re going to have some fun by exploring his art – with the help of some Grant Wood art projects for kids!
10 Gorgeous Grant Wood Art Projects for Kids
1. Grant Wood Farm Landscapes
When people talk about Grant Wood, the conversation tends to center around American Gothic, but the truth is that rural landscapes were closer to his heart. He loved painting scenes from the country side, where hardworking people tended to their crops, plowed fields and lived a peaceful life overall. Beyond Roy G. Biv shows us how to create similar landscapes that are striking, yet calm.
2. Grant Wood Parody Art
As we mentioned earlier, American Gothic is probably one of the most parodied works of art! Even the artist’s reason for painting it is interesting. He saw the house and was amused at the placement of a serious-looking Gothic-style window in a simple farmhouse. Well, Jamestown Elementary Art Blog gives us some hilarious ideas on how you can make your own parody of this masterpiece. Don’t forget to change the house according to your characters!
3. Grant Wood Farm Landscape Art Lesson
Meet the Masters brings us an art tutorial inspired by Grant Wood’s 1931 painting Fall Plowing. It represents a plowed field from his hometown and features some new developments in plowing at the time. It was common to find such minute details in Grant Wood’s paintings – you just had to look for them!
4. Grant Wood Mixed Media Landscape
In most of Grant Wood’s landscapes, you’ll find rolling hills, lush fields and lots of trees. There is an abundance of curves, all used to create perception and depth. Painted Paper Art tries to recreate this effect using mixed media, and we love the result!
5. Grant Wood Ceramic Landscapes
Grant Wood is famous for his paintings, but he also worked using multiple materials, like wood, metal, ink, charcoal and ceramics. Get inspired by this project from The Art of Education that tries to create a Grant Wood landscape using ceramics.
6. Grant Wood Inspired Landscape Collage
One thing you’ll notice in these Grant Wood art projects for kids is that there is a definite connection to the land, the earth. Despite traveling across Europe, the artist was more interested in painting his hometown; as he said, “My subjects, of course, are strictly American.” The Smart Teacher shows us how to create a Grant Wood-style landscape using colored paper in a collage.
7. Grant Wood Painted Paper Collage
Splats, Scraps and Glue Blobs shows us how to first create painted paper scraps and then use them to create a collage. We love the fact that they’ve used combs and other items to create texture on the painted paper first, which adds an extra layer of depth and dimension to the final work.
8. American Gothic: The Life of Grant Wood
This book written by
9. Grant Wood 3D Landscape Art
This 3-dimensional art from The Grace Museum is inspired by Stone City, Iowa, Grant Wood’s first major landscape painting which is based on a real place. In fact, many of the places Wood painted are real, and most of them are in Iowa. Today, Grant Wood’s childhood home in Iowa is listed as one of the most endangered historic sites in the U.S. state.
10. Grant Wood-Inspired Self-Portraits
Teach Kids Art encourages us to turn a parody of American Gothic into a self-portrait – just add a friend or family member to join in! When Grant Wood was getting ready to paint his classic, he was very particular about how the models were dressed. He wanted his sister’s apron to have a specific trim, which she ended up removing from their mother’s dress!
We hope these Grant Wood Art Projects for kids have helped to give you an insight into the artist’s life and work. Kids should be able to relate to his paintings, especially when they hear about the interesting stories behind them!
If you liked these Grant Wood art projects for kids, you may also like to check out these American artists:
- 10 Andy Warhol Art Projects for Kids
- 10 Jackson Pollock Art Projects for Kids
- Top 10 Georgia O’Keeffe Art Projects for Kids
- 10 Mary Cassatt Art Projects for Kids
- 10 Fascinating Norman Rockwell Art Projects for Kids
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