Ms. Holmstead and Ms. Nosal’s combined English and art lesson on Georgia O’Keefe, an American icon, focused on two things. The first was to create a pastel drawing of a flower in the classic O’Keeffe style. The students went through the steps of “zooming in” on a part of a flower, outlining the major shapes, and then adding color and texture. The second was to discuss and write about the meaning and inspiration of art. First, we went through a biography about O’Keefe life and artistic development. Then we talked about who gets the final say on what the work means (the artist, the critics, or the public) and whether or not it changes if the artist is alive or dead. We also discussed the role of nature and sexuality in O’Keefe’s paintings. Then we compared two of O’Keefe’s iris paintings to two of Van Gogh’s iris paintings to discuss color, technique, mood, and historical context. Finally, the students picked one of the six provided O’Keefe paintings and did some creative writing inspired by that painting.