5th and 6th-graders learned all about this popular American art movement while creating these vibrant fruit pictures. Pop art was born in the 1960’s, and, contrary to what many think, it wasn’t called “pop” because of the bright colors and simple designs, but because the images in the art revolved around popular culture.

Two artists made this movement famous: Andy Warhol, a commercial artist, who is best known for his Campbell’s Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe pictures; and Roy Lichtenstein, who perfected the art of comic book illustration in his work.

Using techniques borrowed from both of these artists, students made their own pop art based on fruit.

A little history behind these famous American artists:

Became very sick as a child, often in bed – to pass the hours, he liked to draw.

His teachers noticed that he was very good at art, so they encouraged him to go to school for commercial arts. When he graduated, he moved to NYC and became very successful as an advertising artist – making ads for magazines and other publications.

It was during the 1960s that Warhol began to make paintings of famous American products such as Campbell's Soup cans, Coca-Cola, as well as paintings of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Troy Donahue, and Elizabeth Taylor.

He began making silk-screened prints – a process in which you can make one pattern and then print the same one thousands of times, because he wanted to be able to mass-produce his art. In declaring that he wanted to be "a machine", and in minimizing the role of his own hand in the production of his work, Warhol sparked a revolution in art; his work quickly became very controversial — and popular.

The other most successful pop artist, Lichtenstein made his art in the style of comic books, using “Benday dots” – the kind used to mass-print comics – to create shadows, highlights, and colors in his art.