In 2020, during quarantine, many jumped on the trend to join others making famous painting recreations at home. I was so happy to jump on the bandwagon and try a couple for myself.
Here, I invite you into my process and offer ideas for easy painting recreations that you, or your students can try.
1. Choose a painting that is easy to replicate and begin to study all of the details.
This is usually a portrait or a full figure with a simple background. These are great because you don’t have to rely on anyone else to be included in the project and you don’t have to worry about background scenes.
Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
2. After you have chosen an artwork you like, ask yourself, can I pull this off? Do I have most of the needed props at home
Feel free to improvise and interpret the work in your own way. I talk more about this in tip number 6.
One of the things I needed was a dark, muted background.
I had some fabric that worked perfectly.
3. Prepare before you start taking photos.
Have your reference image handy whether it be in a book or a photocopy. If possible, get your props ready the night before. This is what I did for the remake of Hiram Maristany’s photo, The March to Free the Panther 21, 1969. It was easy to then transfer all the props to the backyard when I was ready.
artwork recreation
4. Have someone take the photos.
You can use a tripod but you need a second set of eyes to help you with positioning. You want it to look as close to the original painting as possible. It’s also easier to have someone take multiple photos rather than you having to start and stop, and manage the camera.
In the recreation below, I needed my older son to coach me on the placement of the hands. I wanted to get it just right! It still isn’t perfect!
Collection: Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico
5. Leave room for interpretation.
I kept my glasses on for this remake. I liked the way it looked visually.
For this one, I only had two bananas so I went with it anyway.
Collection: El Museo del Barrio
The idea of these lockdown painting recreations is to use what you have in the house!
6. Make this an opportunity to add diversity to the art curriculum
Choose artworks, (or have your students choose) from non-western cultures.
Most of the artwork I chose was intentionally by Puerto RIcan artists. I wanted to know more about the painters from my cultural background.
Following are links to culturally specific museum websites with great art to choose from:
https://www.elmuseo.org/permanent-collection/
https://studiomuseum.org/collection
http://museum.asiasociety.org/collection
https://www.si.edu/collections
Lastly…
Have fun with these! Tap into your creativity, reinterpret works of art in ways that make sense to you.
I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Feel free to tag @Nelarte on Instagram for a shout out!
For all of the tips in this blogpost, go to my ETSY shop for this resource. This is a fun distance learning assignment to offer your students during a break or weekend, something they can do in their homes and then present to their classmates. Enjoy!
