Poetic Art Masterpieces

Creative Writing And The Visual Arts…Poem-Its

©2012 Tom Palumbo/AIM Consultants

Poetic Art Masterpieces

The Poem-It

While teaching a unit on dinosaurs, I hesitated in deciding what I wanted from my students for their short and long term projects. One

of my students (Alex) asked, “Should we Poem-It?” “Poem-It?”, I said…and from that point forward, we had coined a new phrase and

had a year-long, running joke about poeming things.

Poetic Art Masterpieces is one of the many examples in our Poem-It Program. What people, places, and things can you put in quatrain

form similar to the PowerPoint topics that follow?

Comic Art Masterpieces

The Poem-It

We have over 100 Batman, X-Men, Avengers, and other comic book covers that students introduce and critique in poem form.

Comic Art Masterpieces, also, is one of the many examples in our Poem-It Program. What comics and super heroes can you put in

quatrain form similar to the topics in the PowerPoint that follows?

Animal Art Masterpieces

The Poem-It

We have worked with Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Federation, and other organizations that protect animals and endangered

species. What strange and unusual animals and insects would your students like to introduce in poem form from their studies?

Animal and Insect Art Masterpieces is a natural extension to our Poem-It Program. What animals and insects can you put in quatrain

form similar to the PowerPoint that follows?

Music Art Masterpieces

Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Jennifer Lopez would make good poem critiques and studies for your students. What music favorites would your students like to introduce in poem form? Don’t forget to review

your favorite artist’s song lyrics on www.elyrics.net

What ideas from the music world can you put in quatrain form similar to the PowerPoint that follows?

Poetic Art Masterpieces

If as they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” then surely we can find a few words of our own to say about these art masterpieces. Our poetic format is A, B, A, B. Try coming up with a descriptive format of your own to share

your art thoughts with your peers.

Poetic Art MasterpiecesCreative Writing Ideas

If you are in a creative writing class and your teacher doesn’t want you to describe the painting in a poem, here are four ways you could comment

about each picture on the Powerpoint slide: a little vignette about the artist; a description of the period of time when the painting was painted; the fashion and furniture of the period; or the events and happenings in

the painting itself. If you ever had taken a class of children to an art museum, you would know they always want to know what is the story in

the painting, not the story of the artist and his/her school of painting.

Poetic Art MasterpiecesCreative Writing Ideas (Primary Grades)

Pick a painting that would appeal to young children like ‘The Banjo Player’ or ‘Construction Equipment’. Have the class give you words that they

see in the painting, the subject’s thoughts, or would describe the painting. Stop after ten words and ask the class to pick five that we can

put in sentence form. We place the words around the picture and then the student writes the sentence beneath the picture. On another day, five

words are picked and we find a rhyming word for each of these words and place the rhyming pair around the picture. Writing a class couplet is next.

The Banjo Player/LessonBy Henry Ossawa Tanner

Sitting on his lap.Plucking at the strings.Grandpa’s talking music,And loads of other things.

The Drawing Hands

By M.C. Escher

This truly is The Amazing Race,

How will we know they’re done?

When we wager on a winner,

How will we know who won,

The contest.

Digger

By Simon Hart

I like my art simple,

As this painting surely shows.

My fascination has always been,

A steam shovel that goes and goes.

Simone In A Blue BonnetBy Mary Cassett

See if you can describe this painting, Simone, or Mary Cassett

in a couplet.

Person At The Window By Salvidore Dali

Now try your hand at the quatrain format (four lines A, B, A, B, or other rhyme scheme) that you read in the first slides. Concentrate on the painting or the girl’s thoughts while looking out the window.

Flood’s The Titanic

Try to write four ‘first thought’ lines about the tragedy and how you were saved; or your thoughts as you watched the Titanic go down from one of the lifeboats you were on. How you escaped the disaster is a great poem topic. Design a poetic or creative writing Powerpoint on Ships That Made History. Cars would be another poem book that would draw attention. The Poems of NASCAR has already been completed on the national market.

Healey’s Lincoln

The fate of a nation rested on his shoulders,

Was this a happier and earlier pose.

It shows the thoughts of a private man,

Family tragedy, great decisions…the legend grows.

Can you design a Powerpoint of four presidents, authors, poets, cities, famous women, or states in this form?

Mondrian’s Composition With

Color Areas

Here is a real challenge!!! Describe this painting in a Haiku or Tanka before designing one like it using your art skill, cut-outs, or computer graphics.

The Mona Lisa

By Leonardo Da Vinci

Sophisticates know her as the Giocondo.

We ponder her message, eyes, and smile.

Another thing that concerns us

Is the mystery of her missing eyebrow!!!

Egyptian Queen Ankhnes-meyre II and

her son Pepy II 2000 B.C.By Unknown

Can you write a five sentence acrostic about the statue with the lines ending in?:_______________E_______________G_______________Y_______________P_______________T

A Self Portrait

By Vincent Van Gogh

If you read his story,

You will find a very tormented life.

Did he cut his ear off,

For a friend, a lover, or a wife?

Self Portrait Pierrot and Harlequin

By Pablo Picasso

Take four artists with a self portrait in their portfolio similar to the one above. Under their self portrait put your favorite painting created by your featured artist.Now describe one painting or both paintings as you see on the left with a quatrain, haiku, or piece of prose.

Girl With A Pearl Earring

By Jan Vermeer

Did you ever wonder about the story in the picture,

And how it would be told.

Was Vermeer’s model’s life a simple one,

Or were her adventures quite bold?

Still LifeBy Frank W. Benson

Still Life just sits there, So how can I comment about fruit, flowers,

and pearls.I need action,

Bring on the Swashbucklers, Pirates, and Earls.

Boating

By Edouard Manet

Calm waters.

A clear day.

A beautiful friend.

Sailing.

George Washington

By Gilbert Stuart

Regal words are needed to describe this great man,

First in the hearts of all that can…

Enjoy their freedom.

The Single Sculls Champion

By Thomas Eakins

Rowers on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River,

Led by the champion Max Schmitt.

Eakins’ early operation drawings,

Had ‘Gross Anatomy’ critics in a snit.

Additional Subject Suggestions For Your

Poem-It Poetry Project

Create 10 Poem-Its in slide form for:

1. Sight-seeing sites and vacation destinations

2. A sports team’s or all-star team’s members

3. Female or male soloists

4. A television program best picks list

5. Famous women

6. Exotic animals or animals of prey

7. Clothing, shoes, or jewelry

8. Philadelphia’s Museums

9. Literature book covers

10. Monsters of fact and fiction