a recycled landscape "don't pave paradise!" lesson plan

Collage made from magazine clippings helps students learn
 about color, perspective and recycled materials. Also an excellent
 exercise for learning about Impressionism. Note. the
 original photo is at the top left corner.

Title: A Recycled Landscape: “Don’t Pave Paradise!”

Topic: How Artists Relate To The Land, environmentally friendly artworks

Goals & Objectives:

• Students appreciate understand connections between art and nature.
• Students create an original artwork that communicates the both the theme of nature and environmental preservation.
• Students understand how cultural beliefs are connected to nature.
• Students represent color theory and depth perception in an original artwork.

GLEs:

PP.1.A.HS Level 4 Select and apply drawing media and techniques that demonstrate sensitivity and subtlety in use of the media, engagement with experimentation and/or risk taking, and informed decision making.

PP.1.B.HS Level 4 Communicate ideas about subject matter and themes in artworks created for various purposes. Create a series of original, related, functional artworks that communicate a personal idea.

EP.2.B.HS Level 4 Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork. Use shapes expressively to communicate ideas

EP.2.D.HS Level 4 Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork. Use textures expressively to communicate ideas.

EP.2.E.HS Level 4 Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork. Use color expressively to communicate ideas.

EP.2.F.HS Level 4 Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork. Use value expressively to communicate ideas.

AP.3.A.HS Level 4 Analyze and evaluate art using art vocabulary to interpret the meaning of the work. (subject, theme, symbolism, message communicated)

Missouri Show-Me Standards:

                  • (VA1) FA1 – Artists communicate ideas through artworks by selecting and applying media techniques and processes, subject matter, and themes.

                  • (VA2) FA2 - Artists communicate ideas through artworks by selecting and applying art elements and principles.

Grade: 9^th – 12^th

Length of Class Period: 55 min.

Frequency of Class Period: 5 days a week

Time Needed: 5 class periods

Facility & Equipment Requirements:

• One computer lap top
• Room with good lighting
• Large tables, approximately ten, each seating four students
• Two sinks
• Dry erase board
• Drying racks
• Cabinets for storage
• Projector for viewing computer video, CDs and DVDs

Resources Needed:

• Power Point about landscape artists
• Music about environmental issues. I will play these selections during studio time.
• Youtube video about recycled art works
• Paper shredder 

Materials Per Student:

• A selection of magazines, any type (4-5 magazines per student, provided by art dept.
• Scissors
• A photograph, drawing, printed image from the internet or magazine photo of a landscape that the student has selected for personal preferences
• One 22” x 28” poster board
• MOD PODGE or watered down glue
• Old paint foam brushes
• Large zip lock bag for shredded paper

Vocabulary/Terminology:

1. Background – the ground or parts, as of a scene, situated in the rear
2. Center of Interest – an emphasized area of the composition
3. Collage – technique of creating a work of art by adhering flat articles, such as paper, fabrics, string or other materials to a flat surface such as canvas whereby a three-dimensional result is achieved
4. Depth of field – the area in front of and behind the focused point that is sharp
5. Foreground – the ground of parts of a scene nearest to the viewer
6. Foreshortening – a form of perspective where the nearest parts of an object or form are enlarged so that the rest of the form appears to go back in space
7. Horizon line – a level line where the land or water ends and the sky begins. A horizon line is used to attain the perspective of depth. (Vanishing points are typically located on this line.)
8. Landscape – a painting, drawing or photograph which depicts outdoor scenery
9. Middle ground – represented space between the foreground and background
10. Mosaic – an art medium in which small pieces of colored glass, stone, or ceramic tile are embedded in a background material such as plaster or mortar.
11. Movement – the path that our eyes follow when we look at a work of art
12. Seascape – a painting or work of pictorial art that depicts the sea or a scene that includes the sea
13. Vanishing point – the point on the horizon in the distance where two lines seem to converge and visibility ends
14. Recycling - the act of processing used or abandoned materials for use in creating new products
15. Environment - relating to the surroundings

Motivation- Looking and Talking Activity:

1. Hand out to the students cut and scored parts of a larger landscape poster (choose a famous landscape painting)
2. Ask them questions about the cards like: What do you think of this image?, Do you like it or dislike it?, What stands out about it to you?
3. Does it have a good design or sense of balance?
4. Then ask the students to flip their card over to read the number.
5. Have the students match their numbered pieces to the larger graph on the board so that the original image is reconstructed again on the board.
6. Give them some masking tape so that they can recreate the poster successfully.
7. Ask more questions like: Now what do you think of the whole picture?
8. Are there any new elements apparent in the reconstructed landscape?
9. Present the Power Point and talk about the perspectives each artist represented might have had about nature.
10. At the end of the presentation talk about the importance of preserving nature by keeping it clean. Also talk about the importance of recycling and how this ultimately protects the environment. Relate these concepts to our contemporary lifestyles and philosophy.

Step-by-Step Studio Activity Specifics:

• Students will be encouraged to use all types of paper recyclables in their collages.
• Students will shred and paste papers according to color schemes.
• Students will be encouraged to invent textures and shapes that communicate the elements of a landscape.
• After cutting and pasting for several days. Students will then be allowed to finish their work properly with MOD PODGE or watered down glue

Health & Safety Concerns: There are no health and safety concerns for this project.

Special Needs Adaptations:

Modifications for the hard-of-hearing or deaf student:

• Student will be seated closer to instructor so they will be better equipped to hear instructions or read lips
• Student will be provided with written instructions so that they read about the discussions and demonstrations
• The instructor may use a amplification devise provided by the school or student’s parents

Cleanup Time & Strategy: Students will be instructed to put away art materials neatly in their containers, clean off their tables, and recycle their trash two minutes prior to dismissal.

Assessment: I will be using an informal assessment for this project. I should discuss with students their projects daily and listen for their comprehension of the criteria and the appropriate use of the vocabulary.

All photos, articles and lesson plans are copyrighted by Grimm 2011 

"Things You Have to See to Believe: This unusual man makes a fashionably bold statement by recycling old materials into clothes!"