Covering the Masters: Reimagining Iconic Works

To begin the first lesson of the new school year, I showed my fifth graders how artists from Botero to Basquiat created their own versions of the Mona Lisa. We all had a good laugh at Dan Piraro’s take on American Gothic. Most importantly, we discussed how Kehinde Wiley reimagines iconic works of art for his own purposes. I told students that this would be their objective for the project: Adapt a master painting to communicate your own mood, feeling, theme, or idea.

View this article in the digital magazine.