Vincent Willem van Gogh ( March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art as a result of its vivid colors and emotional impact. Suffering from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life, he died largely unknown at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Van Gogh did not begin painting until his late twenties, most of his best-known works dating from his last two years. In less than a decade, he produced more than 2,000 artworks, consisting of around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches. His work included self portraits, landscapes, portraits, and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.
Van Gogh spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers, traveling between The Hague, London and Paris, after which he taught for a time in England. One of his early aspirations was to become a pastor and from 1879 he worked as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium where he began to sketch people from the local community. In 1885, he painted his first major work The Potato Eaters. His palette at the time consisted mainly of somber earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid coloration that distinguished his later work. In March 1886, he moved to Paris and discovered the French Impressionists. Later he moved to the south of France and was taken by the strong sunlight he found there. His work grew brighter in color, and he developed the unique and highly recognizable style which became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888.
The extent to which his mental illness affected his painting has been a subject of speculation since his death. Despite a widespread tendency to romanticize his ill health, modern critics see an artist deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence brought about by his bouts of illness. According to art critic Robert Hughes, Van Gogh's late works show an artist at the height of his ability, completely in control and "longing for concision and grace". Art Lessons About Vincent Van Gogh:
Admiel Kosman, Treading toward sanctity. Musings and meditations on close to a century's worth of discussions occasioned by Van Gogh's series of paintings of worn shoes. Was the artist's statement primarily aesthetic, or political, or was it religious?
Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972), usually referred to as M. C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations.
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American artist. Born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O'Keeffe first came to the attention of the New York art community in 1916, several decades after women had gained access to art training in America’s colleges and universities, and before any of its women artists were well known or highly celebrated. Within a decade, she had distinguished herself as one of America's most important modern artists, a position she maintained throughout her life. As a result, O’Keeffe not only carved out a significant place for women painters in an area of the American art community that had been exclusive to and is still dominated by men, but also she had become one of America’s most celebrated cultural icons well before her death at age 98 in 1986.
Her abstract imagery of the 1910s and early 1920s is among the most innovative of any work produced in the period by American artists. She revolutionized the tradition of flower painting in the 1920s by making large-format paintings of enlarged blossoms, presenting them close up as if seen through a magnifying lens. And her depictions of New York buildings, most of which date from the same decade, have been recognized as among the most compelling of any paintings of the modern city. Beginning in 1929, when she first began working part of the year in Northern New Mexico—which she made her permanent home in 1949—O’Keeffe depicted subjects specific to that area. Through paintings of its unique landscape configurations, adobe churches, cultural objects, and the bones and rocks she collected from the desert floor, she ultimately laid claim to this area of the American Southwest, which earlier had been celebrated primarily by male artists; the area around where she worked and lived has become known as “O’Keeffe Country."
The Dessert: Harmony in Red, 1908, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Henri Matisse. 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter. Matisse is commonly regarded, along with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, as one of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture. Although he was initially labelled a Fauve (wild beast), by the 1920s he was increasingly hailed as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. His mastery of the expressive language of color and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.
Title: “An All American Berry Pie” ceramic version
Topic: learning to work with clay, sculpture
Grade: 3rd grade
Length of Class Period: 55 min.
Frequency of Class Period: once a week
Time Needed: two class periods Goals & Objectives:
Students will model clay with control.
Students will build upon past knowledge in order to craft an original, three-dimensional artwork.
Through observation, investigation and discipline, students will create an art object demonstrating the use of the elements and principles of design.
Students will use ceramic vocabulary when referring to the processes of shaping clay objects.
GLEs:
Strand I: Product/Performance for Sculpture, Ceramics, Other Media
A.2. Select and apply three-dimensional media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas and solve challenging visual art problems.
Grade 2 - Manipulate paper to create low relief (e.g., curling, folding, tearing, and cutting), Modeling with clay or a similar material:, Roll coils: flatten material into a slab
Grade 3 - Manipulate paper to create forms (in-the- round), Cut a symmetrical shape from a folded piece of paper, Modeling with clay or a similar material:, Create applied and impressed textures
Strand II: Elements and Principles – Form
C. 1. Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork.
Grade 2 - Identify and use geometric forms: sphere, cube, cylinder, and cone
Grade 3 - Identify and demonstrate sculpture-in-the-round
Strand II: Elements and Principles – Texture
D. 1. Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork.
Grade 2 - Identify and use actual texture
Grade 3 - Identify and use invented textures
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
Kiln for firing ceramic masks
Resources Needed:
Sample for the chalkboard or interactive whiteboard. (I will attach below)
Pattern for ceramic pie shell. ( I will attach below)
Tips for beginning potters by Murry's Pottery. This video collection is appropriate for very young students. Murry shows basic techniques, child appropriate language, kind voice, secular presentations, excellent visuals and explanations. (15 videos)
"Blueberries For Sal" by Robert McClosky. If you don't own the book, you may view the story on youtube here.
Materials Per Student:
A paper towel
Amount of clay approximating the size of tow tennis balls per student is used for the modeling of this object. The first ball is rolled out into a slab by the instructor in advance of the actual project, and the second ball is used by the students to create berries for the pies.
A variety of clay printing and modeling tools (wood chips, shells, pencils, clay stamps, etc...)
Each student will need one burlap place mat to keep his/her working space clean and also to prevent clay from sticking to their counter space while he/she works
A bowl or cup to keep berries in while students work.
A shallow dish filled with very little water should be put in the middle of each table for students to dip their fingers into and drip small amount of water onto their clay pieces while they are attaching berries to their pie “shells” and to other berries.
Activity Prior To The Lesson? Teachers may read aloud “Blueberries For Sal” by Robert McCloskey or they may also choose to share an interesting article about pies from the internet, a letter, or childhood memory with the students.
This ceramic project is also a wonderful addition to a homeroom literacy activity that is planned around “Blueberries For Sal.” The ceramic versions of the following project can be accomplished with salt clay just as effectively. Because salt clay is normally baked in a regular oven; art projects made with it may be taught by those teachers whom do not have access to a fancy kiln.
Step-by-Step Studio Activity Specifics:
Prior to class the teacher will need to roll out clay ceramic slabs. I’ve included a pattern for students to use for cutting out their pie pieces with a plastic knife.
Students will need to roll out approximately 30 to 40 blueberry-sized balls or approximately 30 cherry sized balls each per one clay pie slice. The teacher should give each student a bowl or cup to keep their clay berries in while they work. This will eliminate some confusion over “rolling” berries during this exercise.
The teacher will then pass out to students the supplies they need to begin the assembling of their ceramic pies.
The teacher will demonstrate to the students how to cut out the paper patterns, place these on top of the rolled slabs and cut around each pattern.
Students will then observe the teacher first before assembling their own pie.
Stack berries along the edges of the larger triangle slab, leaving approximately one inch at the flat end of the triangle free from berries. This end will be shaped upward and pinched together with the shorter triangle after the berries have been secured in the first step.
The berries should always be stacked using the methods I have discussed in previous ceramic projects. Poke holes or slashes into the clay, add little drops of water and then press each berry firmly into place. This allows the ceramic clay to properly “bond” itself to the clay you are sculpting.
Students only need to stack berries on the outer edges of pie slices that will be visible. Add a moist towel to the inside of the pie so that when the top of the slice (smaller triangle) is attached, it will not collapse inward. This towel will burn up during the firing of the pie in the kiln.
The students may then slash the outer edges of the top triangle, moisten and press down the top onto the berries. Then lift the back edge of the lower triangle up and pinch it into place with the top triangle. Create this seal with a fork or a nice pinched edge.
Students may add fork pricks into the top of their ceramic pies to “mimic” the steam holes of an actual pie.
Some students may add whipped cream or additional berries to their pies to make their pies look fancier!
After the ceramic pies have been fired, give each student a small set of watercolors to paint their creation.
Add touches of clear glossy sealer to the berries to make them look real if you’d like. I even let students paint on white glitter glue on the top of their pies. This looks like sugar.
Clay Vocabulary:
pinch - to form clay between the fingers and the palm
coil - a rope-like formation of clay
slab - a evenly rolled or pressed layer of clay
bisque - is clay that has been fired but not yet glazed
ceramics - are objects created from stoneware, porcelain or terra cotta
clay - soil, water and sand
fire - is the name for the heat that is used in a kiln
glaze - a glass paint used on pottery
kiln - a special oven used for hardening clay
greenware - pottery that is not yet fired in a kiln
leather hard - the hard condition of clay when it is almost air-dry
score - roughen the clay's surface so that a bond may be formed between two surfaces
sculpture - a three-dimensional art work
slip - a liquid clay used to glue two pieces together
texture - press into the clay surface with objects to create a pattern, design or rough surface
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
Modifications for the student with limited vision or blindness:
Students will be allowed to observe samples of art projects with their hands and for extended periods of time
Students will be provided with safe tools and one-on-one guidance during a demonstration of the project
The project may be slightly adjusted to accommodate the student’s limitations or for safety reasons
Student will be given ample time to exist classroom before large crowds gather outside of the classroom.
Modifications for students with mild brain injury:
Students will be provided with duplicate instructions for home and school. Student will not need to remember to carry home materials to review.
Students will be given ample time to exist classroom with a pre-determined aid or peer before the official end of a class.
Instructor will provide for parent e-mail communication concerning the progress and needs of their student.
Student may be given special seat assignment in order to enable his participation in class appropriately. Specific peers may be better equipped to articulate projects visually for this student.
Health & Safety Concerns: There are no health and safety concerns for this project.
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: The teacher will grade the studio assignment and worksheet according to a rubric included with the standard grading charts of the district.
Student samples of ceramic pies
Side view of ceramic pies
Grimm's pie pattern for ceramic pie project
All articles and lesson plans are copyrighted 2011 by Grimm
Topic: Recycling, Environmental Themes in Art, Contemporary African Culture
Goals & Objectives:
Students will learn about the nature of recycling through the telling of a story about a small African boy who builds his own toys from the materials he asks his relatives for in the village where he lives.
The goal of this project is to introduce 4-6 graders to environmental themes and contemporary African culture. Through the classroom discussions stimulated by “Galimoto’s Game,” students will make comparisons between what they are capable of manufacturing themselves to what children in Africa produce from similar reusable materials.
This unit is designed to serve as a precursor to many future activities in the classroom. It is a playful introductory exercise. Students should not be expected to craft excellent studio projects. They should explore, cut, paste, and tear apart the supplies. During this session they are learning to manipulate materials that they will use with greater aptitude in future art projects.
Manipulating 3-dimensional objects takes a host of experiences in order to establish confidence in young students. This exercise will also prepare students to think about how they may proceed to develop sculpture in future classroom experiences.
It is important for American students to draw analogies between themselves and students of different countries and communities of different ethnic/cultural diversity. This helps them to comprehend that they live in a global community where they must adapt to the differences between themselves and others in order to peacefully occupy the same planet and indeed the very same neighborhoods. This simple lesson in culture teaches students that they have similar interests to children of their own age in a country far away. It develops in students a greater understanding of a common identity and purpose.
National Arts Standards: Visual Arts (5-8 grade) - Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Achievement Standard -
Students know and compare the characteristics of artworks in various eras and cultures
Students describe and place a variety of art objects in historical and cultural contexts
Students analyze, describe, and demonstrate how factors of time and place (such as climate, resources, ideas, and technology) influence visual characteristics that give meaning and value to a work of art
Show-Me Standards for Missouri Schools: In Fine Arts, students in Missouri public schools will acquire a solid foundation which includes knowledge of
process and techniques for the production, exhibition or performance of one or more of the visual or performed arts
the principles and elements of different art forms
the vocabulary to explain perceptions about and evaluations of works in dance, music, theater and visual arts
GLEs- Strand I: Product/Performance – Select and apply three-dimensional media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas and solve challenging visual art problems for Sculpture, Ceramics or other media.
Sculpture, Ceramics, Other Media
·Combine simple forms to create a complex object/form (in-the-round)
Strand I: Product/Performance - Communicate ideas about subject matter and themes in artworks created for various purposes.
Theme
Create an original artwork that communicates ideas about
The Environment
Functions of Art in Culture
Personal Identity
Strand III : Artistic Perceptions – Investigate the nature of art and discuss responses to artworks
Aesthetics
Discuss and develop answers to questions about art, such as: Who decides what makes an artwork special, valuable or good?
Length of Class Period: 55 min.
Frequency of Class Period: once a week
Time Needed: three 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
"Galimoto" by Karen Lynn Williams.
Education Resources Needed:
“Galimoto” by Karen Williams
5-6 Question Sheets for village captains
“Toys and Tales with Everyday Materials” (Spiralbound) by Sudarshan Khanna and Gita Wolf by Tara Publishing. This book is not necessary for this particular assignment. It compliments the unit. In it teachers will find a host of simpler toys that younger students can make for this unit instead of manipulating a more elaborate toy from the materials that we have suggested. In other words, the toys described in this volume will work for K-3.
Materials Needed:
Masking tapes (one role for every two students)
Elmer’s school glue (one bottle for every two students)
Variety of bright tissue papers (many colors, two or three sheets per student)
Newsprint/Newspaper (approximately four Sunday papers)
Scissors (one pair per student)
wire/pipe-cleaners (wire for much older students, pipe-cleaners for younger students – ten or twelve stems)
plastic mesh (Children use chicken wire in Africa but I have chosen to use plastic mesh from Home Depot to eliminate some cuts and pricks!)
foil (two roles of aluminum foil per class of 30 students)
cardstock or old cardboard (one to two cereal or cracker boxes per student)
Vocabulary Words & Definitions:
cooperation – the practice of working with someone else peacefully
environmental – relating to the surroundings
recycle– the act of processing used or abandoned materials for use in creating new products
“Galimoto” – means "car" in Chichewa
persistence- continuance of an effect
sculpture- the art or practice of shaping figures or designs
resourceful- able to act effectively or imaginatively especially in difficult situations
compromise- a settlement of differences
found materials- scraps found and used in unconventional ways
design- organization or structure of formal elements in a work of art
Motivation – Looking and Talking Activity: The students will be introduced to the projects unique object through the reading of the book “Galimoto” During this reading they will be seated to the front of the classroom so that every student may see the pictures and hear the instructor’s voice properly. This particular book describes “how” a galimoto is made by a small boy named Kondi. Then the class will play the Galimoto Game. This game helps them gather their art supplies in such a way as to reinforce the actions of Kondi in the storybook.
Class Discussion: “A Galimoto Game” This game combines topically relevant questions with the acquisition of supplies. Create around your art classroom five small stations (village homes) where each child must visit in order to acquire a different recyclable for this art project. We have chosen the five items listed below for our project. Teachers may choose different items according to whatever supplies they may have at their disposal.
Assign five students (village captains or relatives) from your class to be in charge of each station. Each of these five students must ask a question(s) from the list below of every student remaining in the classroom. Encourage the students to be thoughtful in their answers. When the visiting student has answered the question he may then collect his or her alloted portion of the recycled material from each station. Students should answer a total of five questions at five different stations in order to accumulate the resources needed to construct their toys. After the students have collected their supplies, each person may then return to his or her desk and begin the studio project. Tools such as: scissors, markers, rulers etc.. will already be made available at each table in the art classroom.
Questions for constructed response assessment should be printed and distributed to every student in charge of supply stations. Teachers may wish to give only one or two of these to each game captain/relative. Print the list or parts of it prior to the discussion and bring it with you to class. Teachers will need to hand out as many lists as there are team captains.
Why did Kondi need to go to so many different people in order to find the supplies he needed to make his toy with?
If you were going to make a toy at home, what kinds of recyclable supplies would you collect in order to make it?
What is more valuable, a toy that you purchase at a store, or a toy you build yourself?
Can you list three different materials that Kondi collected to construct his car with?
What types of tools would you use to make and shape a recycled toy of your own?
Which one of your family members would know the most about where you could find throw away materials to build a toy with?
Did Kondi’s family have confidence in his ability to make a car from recycled parts?
What surprised you the most about Kondi’s handmade toy?
How long do you think it would take you to build a handmade toy car?
What was the most important ingredient used to by Kondi to construct his toy car?
Do you think that there are people who would value a handmade toy over a store bought toy? why?
What kind of toy would you make if you lived in Kondi's village?
What are some other kinds of objects that you have seen people make out of recyclable materials?
What kinds of smaller parts will you need to build first before combining them altogether to craft the final toy project?
Step by Step Activities:
After playing “Galimotos Game,” students will then return to their assigned seating to manipulate their materials into a toy of their own design. The teacher will need to observe the class to predetermine whether or not to continue the project for another class period.
The teacher will then demonstrate the different stages of building a galimoto similar to the examples she has shown to the class.
Students will wrap their wire human figures then set these aside.
Students will then wrap wire pipe cleaners around paper tubes to create wheels.
Students will attach these wheel shapes to either pre-constructed bike forms or they may choose to design a different galimoto of their own.
Modifications for Students With Special Needs -
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
Modifications for the student with limited vision or blindness:
Students will be allowed to observe samples of art projects with their hands and for extended periods of time
Students will be provided with safe tools and one-on-one guidance during a demonstration of the project
The project may be slightly adjusted to accommodate the student’s limitations or for safety reasons
Student will be given ample time to exist classroom before large crowds gather outside of the classroom.
Modifications for students with mild brain injury:
Students will be provided with duplicate instructions for home and school. Student will not need to remember to carry home materials to review.
Students will be given ample time to exist classroom with a pre-determined aid or peer before the official end of a class.
Instructor will provide for parent e-mail communication concerning the progress and needs of their student.
Student may be given special seat assignment in order to enable his participation in class appropriately. Specific peers may be better equipped to articulate projects visually for this student.
Health & Safety Concerns: We suggest that pipe cleaners or coated electrical wire be used with this project. Plastic mesh may also be used as a safer substitute for wire mesh to prevent cuts.
Cleanup Time & Strategy: Cleanup time for this project will take approximately two to five minutes. Have a number of bins or paper bags set up at the front or back of the room that are clearly labeled according to the recyclable you wish the students to return to that particular bin. Tools, tape and glue may be returned to the shelves and drawers the teacher has assigned them to.
Internet Bibliography:African Innovations In Recycled Toys and General Information About Recycling in African Countries
