Keith Haring ART CAR

In this lesson, the students learned about the life and art of 1980's graffiti artist Keith Haring. The students read his biography and wrote obitituaries about his short life. Then the students created their own personal symbols inspired by the artwork of Keith Haring. After drawing their sketches, the students created stencils using acetate and Exacto knives. A Mercury Cougar was donated from the JTED Auto body program, and with the carpentry skills of Mr. Gage, all of the glass was replaced with plywood. The students used an oil based primer to create a white blank canvas out of the automobile. Then the students used brightly colored exterior latex paint to stencil their symbols all over the car. After outlining the symbols in black paint and adding the Keith Haring "action lines", the students imprinted their hands in black on the windows. Contemporary graffiti artist Shepard Fairey uses wheat paste and paper as his form of art. The students wheat pasted an image of Keith Haring made by Shepard Fairey onto the windshield of their art car.

The art car will stay on campus as a public piece of artwork.