PEACE DOVE: MIXED MEDIA

What does the corona virus mean to you? Are you scared? Are you sad about people dying?

The COVID-19 pandemic makes me think of Guernica, an enormous mural painted by the famous artist Pablo Picasso. Picasso painted the story of what happened in Guernica, a Spanish town that was bombed just before WWII. Many innocent people died, like with COVID-19.

Guernica (1937) - Photo from the book "And Picasso Painted Guernica" by Alain Serres

But Guernica is also a message of hope. Picasso painted a small, white poppy in the painting. Can you find it? He also painted a bird in the darkness. There are different opinions as to what the bird represents. Some say this bird is a dove. Some think it’s a pigeon. I think it looks more like a duck or goose. What do you think? Can you find the bird in Picasso’s painting?

Answers: (1) the small, white poppy is in the hand of the fallen soldier, holding the broken stick, and (2) the obscured bird is between the bull and horse heads, underneath the light bulb.

MATERIALS NEEDED

□  8.5 x 11 white photocopy paper
□  regular pencil
□  sharpie
□  glue stick
□  newspapers

CLICK on PAGE BELOW IF YOU PREFER TO DOWNLOAD STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS IN PDF FORMAT

STEP 1: SKETCH THE DOVE

YOUNG ARTISTS MAY SKIP STEP 1 AND PRINT A DOVE HERE

STEP 2: CREATE THE BACKGROUND

Tear newspaper text into small pieces - avoid pictures as much as possible.

Picasso read about the bombing of Guernica in a newspaper article and incorporated the image of newspaper text into the body of the horse in the form of short striped lines.

You are going to create a negative space by gluing newspaper around your dove, filling the entire background.

Add words from the newspaper that describe your dove: trust, love, etc. Glue them to your background.

Trace all pencil lines with a black sharpie - this will make your dove POP out.