Description of the Unit – It’s a fun experiment to introduce students this young to the concept of multiple perspectives. To approach this concept in a playful way, students created a Picasso-inspired oil pastel illustration of his beloved dog Lump.

Activity statement – For six years Picasso took care of a friend’s dachshund, named Lump. The pup quickly became a cherished pet to Picasso. At one point Picasso painted a simple line representation of the dog onto a dish made specially for Lump.

Using the books Picasso & Lump: A Dachshund’s Odyssey, by David Douglas Duncan, and Lumpito and the Painter from Spain by Monica Kulling, students got to learn about this sweet story.

My colleague, also an art teacher, came dressed up as Picasso and told the story as if the artist himself was in our classroom. The students were delighted. Later they observed and discussed some of Picasso’s Cubist paintings, breaking down into simple terms the way Picasso shifts perspectives of the subjects he paints. Kids exclaim they can see front, back, right side, left side of a person or object all at once. “The lady is all scrambled,” observed one student. Scrambled, indeed.

To play with this idea of multiple perspectives students created a Picasso-inspired oil pastel illustration of his dog Lump. Starting with a black oil pastel, students were directed to draw various elements of the dog—body, tail, legs, head, mouth, tongue, eyes, ears, nose—however, with each new feature, they had to turn their papers 90 degrees to the right, therefore culminating in the dog having all its features in various positions on the paper. Of course, you can imagine how much fun it was for the students to see the result. The desire for the dog to look a certain way was let go, and they embraced the way it turned out. Each segment of the dog was colored in a different bright color.

Goals – Students should…

Understand:

• What the word perspective means in this context

Know:

• What is meant when describing an image as having multiple perspectives

Be able to:

• Express, when observing a painting representing multiple perspectives, that this is what they’re seeing

Objectives – Students will:

Represent Lump in multiple perspectives

Resources and materials –

• The books Picasso & Lump: A Dachshund’s Odyssey, by David Douglas Duncan and Lumpito and the Painter from Spain by Monica Kulling
• Examples of Picasso’s Cubist paintings
• 9×12 Bristol or card stock white paper
• Oil pastels

Questions – (while observing Picasso’s paintings, specifically from his Cubist period)

• What do you notice?
• Are we seeing the front, back, bottom, top or side (of person or object)? Explain.
• What do you think about this?
• Why do you think Picasso is showing us different perspectives?

Evaluation – Did students:

Informal:

• Student questions
• Group discussions
• Oral responses to essential questions
• Elaboration and risk-taking
• One finished piece

• Drawing
• Kindergarten