Meet the Artist
FRIDA KAHLO
"I paint my own reality."
Our WebQuest will introduce us to the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo’s artwork is important. She showed her life history and her feelings in her dream like self-portraits. Artists show their thoughts, feelings and ideas in the artwork they create. Looking at art and thinking about art can help people learn about the world around them. Learning about Frida Kahlo will help us to create our own meaningful self-portraits in the art studio. Lets get ready to learn about the unique artist Frida Kahlo!
This learning experience will have two parts. The WebQuest and work sheet will get us looking and thinking. Answer the questions on the work sheet as you complete the WebQuest. The second part of this lesson will be creating a self-portrait in the art studio with oil pastels. You will need to draw yourself, a pet (or your dream pet), and a background that tells us about who you are. Let’s find out what to do step-by-step.
We will use the Internet to learn about the artist Frida Kahlo. Follow along on your work sheet, filling in answers as you go. Follow the directions closely in the WebQuest, take your time and have fun! It is exciting to learn about interesting artists! Here we go!
We are going to visit the Museum of Modern Art. There is a lot of wonderful art to look at here, but today we are going to focus on Frida. Use the arrow button to find Frida's self-portrait with her pet monkey.
Click on the painting to start the activity. 
Complete (1-8) on your worksheet.
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Frida Kahlo celebrated her unique beauty. She dressed in traditional Mexican costumes and wore ribbons and flowers in her long dark braids. Many women would want to change their hairy eyebrows, but not Frida! She took the time to add the details that made her distinctive in each of her paintings. |
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Frida liked to paint her eyebrows like the wings of a bird! |
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Learning about artists is fun! Look at some more of the surrealist paintings by Frida Kahlo. Click on the pictures to reveal interesting facts.
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Artists can...
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(12) What kind of pet would you like to have in your painting?
There are many more strange and wonderful paintings by Frida Kahlo that illustrate her thoughts, feelings and the life she lived. Many of her most beautiful paintings show her with her special pets.
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Notice how the tropical garden plants and Mexican plaster walls in the backgrounds help tell Frida's story in each painting.
(13) What will you choose for your background?
Great! You are almost ready to start making your self-portrait! Let’s look at how the teacher will judge your success in the evaluation.
Here is a rubric to check your success. A rubric is an assessment tool that helps students and teachers check for understanding after completing a project. Use the rubric to make sure you are reaching your goals.
Emergent Developing skills |
Proficient Satisfactory Skills |
Exemplary Outstanding Skills |
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| Computer Activities | I followed along during the computer activities with assistance to the best of my ability. | I completed the computer activities although I needed help staying on task. | I completed the directed computer activities independently within the allotted time. |
| WebQuest Worksheet | I left questions blank or did not follow directions to the best of my ability. | I answered the worksheet questions to the best of my ability. I asked for help when I needed it. | I gave thoughtful and complete answers to each question. |
| Self-Portrait | I rushed through my planning and art making. I needed many reminders to include my self-portrait, my pet and a background in my picture. I was helpful during clean up. | I took my time planning, drawing and coloring my work. I created my self-portrait, pet’s portrait and background to the best of my ability. I helped clean up. | I was thoughtful with my planning and used work time wisely. I did my most professional drawing and coloring. I cleaned up my area and helped put away shared art materials. |
This WebQuest introduced you to the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. How do artists use their art to communicate? Think about how she shared her life, thoughts and feelings in her artwork. Learning about Frida’s life, allows us to look deeper into her self-portraits. Looking at her self-portraits helps us learn more about her thoughts and feelings. Use what you have learned about sharing your thoughts and feelings in your own self-portrait!
Read to learn more about this interesting artist!
Frida Kahlo the Artist Who Painted Herself By Margaret Frith, illustrated by Tomie dePaola
Frida By Jonah Winter, Illustrated by Ana Juan
Frida Kahlo By Carmen Lenero, Illustrated by Camila Mesquita
Frida Kahlo (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists Series) By Mike Venezia
Not all of Frida’s oil paintings were self-portraits. She painted surrealist pictures of places she visited, still life paintings and portraits of other people too.
See Frida Kahlo's paintings.
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/kahlo.html#images
Research more about Frida Kahlo.
http://www.eyeconart.net/history/frida-y-diego.htm
http://www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/worksofart/monkey.html
http://kancrn.kckps.k12.ks.us/rosedale/EightArtists/Kahlo/Kahlo.html
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/kahlo_frida.html
Learn and Play Games about Mexico http://www.elbalero.gob.mx/index_kids.html
Mrs. Alexandra Viola Benton created this WebQuest for educational use. Information on WebQuests can be found at http://www.internet4classrooms.com/using_quest.htm and http://webquest.sdsu.edu/
All links were working and appropriate at the creation of this WebQuest. Please preview before sharing with students and email me if you find any breaks. Thank you. abenton@potsdam.k12.ny.us
The animated clip art is free and can be found at www.gifs.net and www.gifanimations.com.
The Frida Kahlo Worksheet