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A Project of the StateWide Art Partnership: Springville Museum of Art, Utah Arts Council, Utah State Ofce of Education, and Springville City
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Secondary Lessons
NON-TRADITIONAL FULL-BODY PORTRAITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 55 FACE PROPORTIONS: Full Front and Prole (through 3rd Grade) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 59 FINGERPRINT SELF-PORTRAITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 67 EXPRESS YOURSELF! Creating More Expressive Self-Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 75
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Georges-Pierre Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte; Paul Signac: Breakfast, Georges Seurat, Detail From La Parade.
PHOTO FACE WITH FEELING Dorothea Lange, Young Migratory Mother; Edward Weston, Photograph of Tina Modotti, PEOPLESELF: THE REAL ME, Expressive and Realistic Self-Portraits Howard Kearns, Self Portrait; Rembrandt, Self-Portrait in Cap A WAYNE THIEBAUD POINT OF VIEW: Contour Figure Drawing Wayne Thiebaud, Three Prone Figures, Ballroom Trio III, Ballroom Figures #1, Two Kneeling Figures, Two Men Walking THE FACE AS FORM: Pastel Portraits Wayne Thiebaud, Player; Wayne Thiebaud, Two Paint Cans; Wayne Thiebaud, Dark Candy Apples; Wayne Thiebaud, Betty Jean; Wayne Thiebaud, Two Men Walking
Secondary Lessons
FACE PROPORTIONS: Full Front and Prole Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait 1665 FINGERPRINT SELF-PORTRAITS Easter Island Head Moai Rano raraku EXPRESS YOURSELF! Creating More Expressive Self-Portraits
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1. 2. 3.
LOOK UNTIL YOU CAN SEE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT. DRAW WHAT YOU SEE. YOU LOOK WITH YOUR EYES, BUT YOU SEE WITH YOUR MIND.
LOOKING TO SEE: When we talk about Life Drawing or Figure Drawing or Portrait Drawing we tend to focus on subtle technical skills with the pen or pencil. It is true that learning to create value scales and shading techniques are essential in developing adequate drawing skills. These are basic skills necessary to succeed in drawing, painting or sculpting. The real skill necessary to draw from life is the ability to see what one is looking at. IF YOU CAN SEE IT, YOU CAN DRAW ITor sculpt it or paint it! This may seem obvious, but it is a subtle and evasive skill. Most of us confuse seeing with looking. Looking is done by pointing the eyes at a thing and taking a moment to register what it is as a generic concept and nd its classication and plug it into a memory or a symbol or a recognizable icon that somehow makes sense with what we already know. This does not mean the same thing as SEEING. Seeing is an intellectual process and is done with the mind. Seeing means TO UNDERSTAND, to comprehend, or to know. Can you SEE what I mean? If you can see what you look at, it means that you understand the thing you are looking at. If you can see what you look a,t then it is very easy to draw the specics that you are looking at because you understand them. Life and portrait drawing is simply reproducing what one sees. The difcult part of this is the SEEING, not the drawing. Detail from Camille Seated by Robert Barrett 1
What is the hardest thing to draw? If you poll your class or any group of any age it will usually be the same thing. The hardest thing to draw is PEOPLE. The hardest part of a person to draw is the face. The hardest part of the face to draw is the eyes.
kinds of faces possible in a childs environment. It is probably a good survival strategy to recognize the difference between your mothers face and a saber tooth tigers face. Exhaustive research seems to bear out the idea that our brains are built in such a way as to help us see from birth the specic proportions and placements of details of the human face. If this is true, why then do we say that the most difcult thing to draw is the very thing with which we are most familiar? We stare at each others faces constantly. We stare at our own face daily. We talk to and interact with THE FACE. So why is the thing we know best about others considered by most people to be the most difcult to draw or render in art?
What is the most recognizable thing in our lives? For most people the answer is PEOPLE. People seem to be the most recognizable thing in our visual environment.
What part of the person do we spend the most time looking at? Most students readily agree that it is the HUMAN FACE. What part of the human face do we tend to focus on? That would be the eyes. The eyes are the expressive center of the face. By reading the expression in the eyes and face we can understand the full emotional content of what someone is talking about or doing. We are hardwired from birth to recognize a human face from all the similar 2
Could it be that since everyone is relatively astute at recognizing the human face and we are all experts on the human face, that the face drawing is the rst and easiest kind of art to criticize when we look at our own or anothers work of art? Everyone is an expert on what the human face looks like. If everyone knows what the face looks like, and it is the easiest Details from, upper left, Ruth: the Listener by William Whitaker, left, A Compromise of Freedom and Control by Connie Borup; and above, Village Girl in the Snow, Arkadi Plastov
LETS FACE IT: Contour Drawing: Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of Looking To See What You Are Looking At by completing a series of contour line drawings of the FACE. Materials: Black Ball Point Pen and drawing paper. Process: Our goal here is to have students gain condence and skill at drawing what they see. We will start with a continuous line contour drawing of the students own hand. We start drawing the face by practicing the Look to See idea on our own hand because the hand is accessible and does not stimulate the nervousness that staring at a fellow students face usually precipitates. Demonstrate to students what a hand gesture is and some of the limitless variations that dont include obscene hand gestures. I usually approach the issue of obscene hand gestures as obvious, redundant, derivative, unimaginative, clichd, and worst of all, BORING. It seems like something that any self-respecting artist would want to avoid. Also encourage students to avoid the at open hand. It is also boring. It is the only way we never actually use our hand and is in fact a symbol not a reality. The open, ve ngered hand is a wonderful symbol and can be used in many projectsjust, not this one. Encourage students to not all do the same gesture. Point out that when one creates his or her own gesture the student can determine where the ngers go, how many ngers are visible, and what view of the hand and ngers are displayed. It is O.K. to experiment. So, nd an easy gesture that you want to do. Students should be given a piece of good paper (copy paper should work). Fold the paper into quarters. Have students draw the fold lines in to create a page with four same-sized rectangular spaces. We call these spaces thinking spaces. When the paper is ready, have students hold up their non-drawing hand and tell them to look at it until they can see it. Point out some features they may not intuitively notice like wrinkles and folds, shadows, hollows, bones close to the skin, blood veins and other discoloration, nails and dirt. When students are convinced that they can see their hand, have 3
Detail from New Bloom by Trevor Southey thing to criticize in artwork, then the reason we feel some anxiety about drawing the face is really an issue of courage and condence. THE FACE IS THE HARDEST THING TO DRAW BECAUSE WE ARE AFRAID TO BE CRITICIZED! If you are already insecure about your drawing skills and nd it difcult to take criticism, then you can use the excuse of it is hard to avoid trying and thus being criticized for your efforts. If you believe you cant, then you are probably correct. If you believe you can, then you are equally correct! Most of the skills in art have to do with condence, tenacity, and perseverance. These lessons are designed to increase condence and to eliminate some of the self doubt in the production of art. Here are some Lessons and Exercises that emphasize the LOOKING TO SEE approach to Life Drawing. All of this is to help students gain condence, observation skills and rendering skills.
them use a black ballpoint pen to draw the contour (edge, outline, border) of their hand. This should be one continuous, unbroken line. The continuous line contour demands that students develop a strategy to get to all parts of the hand without lifting the pen. This demands some careful looking rst. Remind students to include both interior and exterior contours. Include as much detail as you can see but do not lift the pen from the paper. The nished drawing should be one single entwining contour line.
hand. Let the eyes follow the contours at the same rate the pen is drawing the contours. Think of the eye as being the pen. The pen automatically makes the exact mark that the eye is looking at. This is a terric lesson to use as a starter and attention getter. It does not need to take long and can be repeated often. When some level of prociency is gained Hand Gesture Contour Drawing. with this process it is time to move on to the face. It is harder for most students to concentrate on a fellow The reason we start with the hand is to give students face but after defusing the giggles and jitters students a chance to practice looking and seeing they can do it. Even very young students can gain with the distractions of the model. Have students some skill in the continuous line and blind contour try different gestures. Have students do the same drawing. Have students trade off with neighbors. gesture 4 times and time their drawing. Go from Try taking turns. Try both students drawing at the several minuets to only seconds. After students are same time (especially in the blind drawing). Try comfortable with the idea of a continuous contour drawing friends. In my class, we do these quick drawing have them try Blind Contour drawing. exercises each day as a warm up. The students are This is the same as before but without looking at used to it and comfortable with the visual invasion. their pen or paper. This is going to be difcult for The contour drawing project can also be done with young students because everyone starts off getting still life and even with landscape if you take the lost on the paper. The hands will come out confused, students out side to draw from nature. We do a tree distorted and overlapping in awkward ways. It is project every spring and always start with contour ne to nd the humor in this but be careful of it only drawings starting with leaves then move to branches being funny. As students work on this idea they and nally to the whole tree. The contour drawing will increase in skill. Teach students to concentrate does not need to take a long time. intensely on the contours and edges they see in their 4
As students become more experienced with seeing what they look at, their skill and sensitivity exponentially increase. All beginners, at any age start out the same, as beginners.
Notice that the drawings become increasingly detailed and complex as the ability to see new visual cues increase. The contour drawing is not necessarily a nished project but it is an important step in portrait drawing because it helps concentrate on the, Looking to See skill agenda. 5
Sources: Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain, by Betty Edwards. The Book of Hands, by George Bridgman. Heads, Features and Faces, by George Bridgman. How to Draw Heads and Portraits, by Jose M Parramon. Assessment: For young students we use a quantitative assessment tool. This means that if the student participates in and completes a project, he or she will receive full credit. There is no qualitative evaluation until fourth or fth grade. There is a FINISHED criterion written on the board and repeated frequently to keep students on task and moving forward. The reward for completion is The Next Project. This only works if the assignments and projects are designed to be self-instructive and the teacher is condent that participating in the projects has a built-in learning outcome.
4. The bottom lip is about half way between the bottom of the nose and the chin. 5. The space between the eyes is about the same size as the eye itself. 6. The width of the nose is about the same as the space between the eyes. 7. The width of the mouth is about the same as the space between the pupils of the eyes when they are looking straight ahead. 8. The ears are approximately from the eyes to bottom of the nose or to the top lip. Ears are much bigger than most guess and just keep on getting bigger as you grow older. When students have furnished themselves with a frontal face map, have them work on the prole. Students must use a classmate model because with young students the prole is not hardwired into the brain. The prole view is evasive, so look at a neighbor and ask: what part of the prole sticks out the furthest, which part recedes the furthest; what shape does the eye and mouth appear to be from the side view; how is the ear different in the prole for the frontal view? Remember to draw eyes, nose and mouth form the side view not the frontal view.
The following examples are 5th grade attempts to work out all of these issues.
After the prole, students should map out a view in the third space and in the 4th space try to get the head to look up or down. It can be frontal, or prole, or view but the head should be tilted up or tilted down. 8
A 3/4 view I have found that the best way to get students to learn something new is to have them ask. If your instruction is a direct response to a students question, your answer has meaning to the student and a place in the students memory for the information to be stored. When we give an assignment to do a thumbnail sketch of a face in prole or a face looking up or down, wait until someone in the class asks, How? Then, when you demonstrate on the board, the students will be watching with the intent of answering their own questions. Heres an example of faces done in various views. Notice that this example also shows face mapping. Show some blocking in techniques; but mostly, students will learn from observation. Make sure their model is using a view. Have students look closely to see how close to each edge of the face the eyes are. Notice that as the head looks up or down the relative position of the eyes raise and fall. The next issue the students will be concerned about is how to draw details. The answer is to look carefully and see. It is appropriate to show the students what you see in the detail of the eyes, nose and mouth but they must learn to see it. Sources: How to Draw Heads and Portraits, by Jose M. Parramon. Drawing and Learning About Faces, by Amy Bailey Muehlenhardt. Drawing Book of Faces, by Ed Emberley. 9
children have a larger art vocabulary than the parents. This is gratifying. We also play this game with Landscape, Portrait, Still Life and Design.
Leonardo da Vinci, Possible Self-Portrait, c. 1530 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image: Possible_Self-Portrait_of_Leonardo_da_Vinci. jpg Variations: Most of the curriculum in our art program is literacy based. That is, we try to use vocabulary as a building foundation for further research and ideas. Try starting with the youngest students (kindergarten) and have them look through books identifying the frontal portrait, the prole portrait, the prole portrait and the up and down looking portraits. They get it. It is universal. They all feel success; success in the arts. We all know that success breeds success and we are attracted, for the most part, by those things in which we fell successful. Remember that success is not found in what one does but rather it is found in how one feels about what one has done. I have had amazed and grateful parents call to say that their kindergarten 10
Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-portrait in a cap, with eyes wide open, etching and burin, 1630
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image: Rembrandt_aux_yeux_hagards.jpg a manner that also reects the feeling depicted in portrait face. Now it is research time. Use books and poster prints and the postcard images provided by the Springville Art Museum and search through these historical archives to nd examples of faces that show feeling. As a student nds a printed portrait that shows some emotion, have them show it to the rest of the class and let the class discuss how this particular artist showed feeling in the face of his portrait. Notice and point out: lines, shapes, colors, textures, values, compositional elements and any other visual devices and techniques that help the artist imbue the portrait face with emotional content and feeling. It is O.K. if students dont agree on what feeling the art print expresses. At this point give students the time and space to render this 11
project. These students have already done the Lines Can Show Feelings project in which they render a feeling by using the abstract quality of a line to show that feeling. The best way to show emotion on a face is to use lines and textures that show that feeling also. The expression on the face is important of course and it helps to have friends act out a facial gesture to observe the emotional quality, but do not overlook the impact of using angry lines to show anger and curious lings to show curiosity. The examples in this lesson are pen and ink drawings on good drawing paper. FACES SHOW FEELINGS: ILLUSTRATIONS
The Obvious. Art is not about tting in; it is about nding something important to say and learning to say it well.
BEWILDERED by Sam, 6th grade. Assessment: While this is not a traditional assessment, the students will get an idea of how well they pulled off the assignment by polling the rest of the class. Our classroom is divided into four worktables of about 10 students each. We do a little game to see if the other tables can gure out what the feeling in each drawing was. This is also a time to exhibit the work in the room. Cover up the written feeling (paper and tape) and set them up on the wall. Each table is to cooperatively gure out what the feeling is. This takes the onus from being the exclusive provenance of the artist and allows it to be shared with the whole class as they are being tested on their ability to perceive feelings as well as the artists being tested on the ability to render feelings. We always start by showing some famous 12
BORED, by Alexis, 6th grade. To get students to move beyond the big U for a smiley face, use fellow students as models. Notice that no ones mouth actually looks like a U when they are smiling. Also point out that there are many kinds of smiles and only some a happy smile. Try to get students to avoid Happy, Sad and Mad as their chosen emotion. These become clich and trite. A very good lesson to learn in art is to Avoid
INFURIATED by Tanner, 6th grade. portraits and have students guess what the emotion in the face might be. Try, Franz Halls, Boy With A Lute; Dorthea Langes, Migrant Mother, California, 1936; Lee Udall Bennions, Snow Queen: Portrait of Adah, 1992; Leonardo Da Vincis, Mona Lisa; Edvard Munchs, The Scream; and any of the SelfPortraits by Van Gogh, Gauguin or Rembrandt. Variations: Some other lessons that help students learn how to imbue feeling and emotion into face portraits are: 1. The Halloween Pumpkin Face. Have students design and draw and color and paint jack-o-lantern faces which show different feelings. Have classes or groups see how many different emotions and feelings can be captured this way. This makes a good Halloween decoration for the hall. 2. Cartooning is a great way to learn how to put feelings into characters. Try having students invent their own cartoon character and assign a list of different feelings. These can be done as thinking 13 EXCITEMENT by Andrea, 6th grade space thumbnail sketches and then choose one for a large nished product. The secret in drawing funny faces is to rst know how to draw faces with the right proportions and placements. A funny face is funny, not because you just made up a bunch of silly things but because of the way the artist changed, twisted and perverted the real human face. Just a bunch of scribbles with an eye is not funny but a normal face with a huge bumpy nose and crossed eyeballs is funny. Humor is a learned condition, not hardwired in the brain. Humor is dependent on cultural nuance and sensibility.
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Detail of Snow Queen, by Lee Udall Bennion with illustrations by Tyler, 6th grade This is a nice person. She likes toys. She likes striped dresses. She looks like a quiet person. I think her favorite color is red. I would like to go to her house to play because red is my favorite color too. This was dictated to another student by Dakota, who is in the rst grade.
It looks like he might be a little depressed. He must he hungry. He might be poor. He has no shoes. He has patches. He looks like he might be a little scared of the artist painting him. His facial expression looks like sad and depressed and thinking about something all at the same time. I wonder what he is staring at. Written by Ben, 5th grade. 16
This picture is a copy of one done by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It is called, The Theatre Box or in French it is called La Loge. I think she is worried about something in the play she is going to. She looks nice to me. She looks like she is famous because she has on nice clothes and her face and hair is all done up. She looks very rich. She looks in-between; she could be mad and nice at the same time. I think she is mostly happy. I like her. She seems like she has a good personality. Observations by Brogan, 4th grade.
Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin This is a very aggressive guy. It looks like he was a leader because hes on a horse. He looks like a strong person. He also looks kind of angry right now. I dont think I want to mess with him. Observations by Chandler, 5th grade.
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Detail of New Bloom by Trevor Southey She looks a little bit sad. She might be lonely because her husband might be dead. She looks old. That might make her sad too. She looks like a nice person but I wish she would smile. Observations by Sarah, 3rd grade. We have included some drawings from the famous face project. They seemed to t here. We also continue the famous face with a painting project. Variations: This project does not need to be done with Utah artists. We used images that the Springville Art Museum own so we could photograph details legally. We have also used the facial portraits to write poetry, Haiku, and short stories.
Sources: All of the poster images here are from the Springville Art Museum and are available for all schools in Utah. They are also included on the packet CD as are a variety of other images from the Springville Musuem of Arts collection.
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Here is a dialogue written by Cassidy, a 6th grader. She put the self-portraits of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin next to each other and imagined this dialogue exchange:
Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were sitting at the breakfast table in France discussing their artwork and their future plans: Vince: You use all the wrong colors Paul! It does not look real. Paul: You use big ugly brush strokes in everything. It does not look like a real place or a real person because everything is lumpy and bumpy. Vince: I dont care if it doesnt look real because I am more interested in painting a feeling and an idea instead of a person or a place. I just want it to feel right. Paul: Well I dont care about the colors because every color has its own feeling and that is what tells the real story not just a picture of something. Vince: Well, I guess we both are more interested in feelings than pictures of the things we paint. Paul: Yes! Yes! It is all about the feelings and I feel like moving to a new country. Somewhere far away where no one can nd me. Vince: Well thats alright with me. Oh! By the way, have you seen my straight razor around? I have a hot date tonight.
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Vincent van Gogh Self-Portrait 1889 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image: Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_109.jpg choose from. A fuller bibliography will be included at the end of this lesson. Once the students have decided on a specic image, they need to write down the name of the artist, the title of the work, date if possible, and the book or source of the print. The next step is to do a sketch of the portrait. This is a way for students to really concentrate on what they can see in the original work. By trying to draw the picture, they will look carefully at the details and subtleties of the work. We chose to do the nal project in watercolor. 21
are helpful are: the color wheel, color relationships and schemes (complementary, monochromatic, and analogous), color blending. Help students understand that we dont mix colors in the color pans or on the paper but in a mixing tray. Most watercolor sets have a mixing tray for the lid but an extra mixing tray (any smooth plastic surface) is a good idea. Demonstrate some watercolor techniques like wet wash, wet on wet, dry brush, dropping in, glazing and paper resists. Also make sure the students know how to choose the right brush for the right job (a large brush for large general areas and small brushes for specic details) and have a choice of brushes beyond the one in the paint set. I recommend that if you use Crayola
It could also be done in tempera paints, acrylics, or oils. This project can also be done in any other medium and in any style as an interpretation of the original work. We left it up to the students to decide if they wanted to copy the work accurately or to interpret the work. For this lesson we will focus on those who want to learn how the original artist did it! Help students attend to issues like size and proportion, value and shading, and subtleties of color. Using both the small sketch that students made and the original image, have students draw (ball point pen is a good option for drawing or for going over the pencil sketch to increase value and contrast, which are always an issue with new watercolor artists). When a reasonable drawing has been achieved, it is time to watercolor. It is always a good idea to help young students resolve some of the issues of watercolor before they start on the nished project. Some studies and exercises that 22
brand watercolors, you use the square pans called Educational half pan plus watercolors rather than the cheaper oval pan washable watercolors. The oval pan sets are not very good paint and do not include a primary blue color, but they do wash out. A good rule of thumb to use when selecting a medium for students is to ask yourself, What famous artist uses this particular medium and why not? Give students enough time to obsess on this project. Have some less aggressive projects ready for students to work on as they nish while they are waiting for the rest of the class to nish. When the painting is complete, each student will do a writing exercise about his or her work and the artist the student is studying. If the students know that they will be expected to write about the famous face, they usually slow down and arent in such a
hurry to be the rst one done. It is unfortunate that most elementary students would much rather make pictures than write stories. The reality is that they are both the same thing only using different languages and different alphabets. The visual language of line shape color value and texture is the same as the literate language of spelling, punctuation, lexicon and grammar, in its intent, content and substance.
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These are the questions that need to be addressed in your famous artist report: 1. Who? (name and title of artwork) 2. When? (birth-death and any other signicant dates) 3. Where? (country or area where from, any travel movements and where the bulk of art was made) 4. What? (style and medium and motif) 5. How? (techniques) 6. Why? (artists meaning) 7. So What? (Your interpretation of meaning) 8. Choose one work of art by this artist and use the Hamblen Critical Model to write a critique. (please use an illustration)
Variations: The obvious variation on this project is to use a different medium. This process can be done with any medium. We have done this with tempera paint on matte board, pointillism using marker pens, pen and ink with colored pencils and more. Another way to use this project is to have the class divide up into small groups representing the several famous artists in your art history curriculum. Each member of the group then nds a work by that artist and uses it as a study base to produce his or her own work. Notice how hard I am trying not to say copy, but I guess that is what I actually mean. Armed with each member of the groups picture, the group should then create a poster dealing with the life and times of their chosen artist. Students should then mount an exhibition in the hall of school gallery that shows their version of the artists work and their poster, documenting the famous artists life. 24
Famous Artists
famous artists name. They are hard bound and are less than $8.00 each with educators discounts. The quality is a little better than the previous series. This is the one I use the most. What Makes A___________?, by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fill in the blank for each book in the series. They are inexpensive, softbound and really beautiful. The drawback is that there are only six artists in the series so far. There may be more but I have not found them. Utah Art, Utah Artists, by Swanson, Olpin, Poulton, and Rogers. As you know, Utah art is heavy on the landscape and lighter on the portraits, but this is a terric softcover book with beautiful images and short, succinct writing. Women Artists, by Nancy Heller. This too is a softbound volume with many hundred illustrations of works by women artists. As the father of ve daughters I am tired of all famous artists being white, 25
Sources: Any book of famous art work will work well for this project. Make sure that the images have the artists name, title of the work, medium and date for each printed image. Here are some books and sets of books that are inexpensive and attractive: Getting To Know The Worlds Greatest Artists, by Mike Venezia. This series has about a dozen volumes, each on a different artist. They are well illustrated with salient information and very affordable. The Barnes & Noble series on Famous Artists, by Christoph Heinrich. Each book in this series is titled by the Left: Lee U. Bennion, Self in Studio 1985 SMA Collection
European, male painters. This book dispels the myth. The Worlds Greatest Art, edited by Dr. Robert Belton. This is a 10-inch square format book of over 500 pages. The illustrations are not very large but are nicely printed with interesting information printed and a good index of both the artists and the titles of the artwork. It is printed by a British company called STAR FIRE.
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Famous Faces Continued
watercolor by Janelle, 6th grade, after Portrait of a Young Woman, 1480 by Sandro Botticelli.
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Another variation on this lesson is to focus on a specic time or place or style. We did an interesting project focusing on Utah artists only. Utah art and artists are one of the best kept secrets in Utah. Our art heritage is second to none in the United States. Here are some images of our Utah Artists project:
This is a portrait of the Utah artist, John Hafen, painted by Utah artist Mahonri Young. On the left is the original painting photographed from Utah Painting and Sculpture by Swanson, Olpin, and Seifrit. The middle illustration is a pen and ink study by Sara, 6th grade. The image on the right is the nished watercolor by Sara. The pen and ink work is an important part of teaching students to see what they are looking at.
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Watercolor by Annie, 6th grade, after Balldassare Castiglione, by Raphael Annie wrote: I dont know who this Balldassare person is but when I saw the painting I really liked the way he painted the eyes. The eyes didnt exactly look very real but they made you want to stare at them. So I did. The hardest part for me was the shadow by his nose but it looks pretty good anyway. I didnt do the eyes as good as Raphael but he had more practice. Annie, 6th grade
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Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, by Georges-Pierre Seurat in 1884 1886.
Process: Show students as many of Georges Seurats pointillist paintings as you can nd. Seurats most famous work is La Grande Jatte. In fact it is probably the only one that most artists and art teachers know. Here are some other ne works by Seurat. The Yoked Cart, Une Baignade, Asnieres, and Bec du Hoc. Also look for Seurats stipple like portrait drawings. They are wonderful value studies. Look up Paul Signac, Henri-Edmond Cross, and Valho Bukovac as other ne pointillist painters. 29
Pointillism is a style of painting is which small distinct points of color create the impression of a wide selection of colors including tints and shades as well as a full pallet of secondary colors and intermediate colors and neutrals. This project can be used for learning color, color blending and color theory. We are going to use this style of color applications for learning how to paint the human face. The next step is to practice mixing colors with marker pen by placing dots adjacent to each other. I use a worksheet for the younger students and the older students make their own.
This work sheet can obviously be used for any medium to practice using the three major color schemes.
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After students have worked on face mapping and contour drawing, we will use the four- space thinking page to make some thumbnail sketches of our selves. We are going to make Self-Portraits. A self-portrait is a work of art that depicts the artist who makes it. We call this The Picture Of The Only Person You Can Never Look At. Interestingly, each of us is the only person in the world that we can never accurately observe. Even in mirrors and photographs it is not you in the same way others can observe you. The mirror is at and backwards and most photos are much too small and render a living, breathing, three-dimensional creature as a static two-dimensional artifact. So how do you draw yourself? Here are some hints. Since you know some of the distinguishing characteristics of yourself, use them. Use the length and color and style of your hair, the color and shape of your eyes, the clothes you are wearing. Use a mirror but remember that it is backwards. Use photographs but remember that it is not you but only something that reminds you of yourself. Dont be afraid to have fellow students critique your sketches and tell you how close you have gotten. In this exercise we have fellow students assigned to be our eyes watching us to help guide us in our choices. For younger students I will frequently use a cam-corder to lm a student with a prolonged close up of each students face from many different angles. Students love to look at themselves, so this becomes an exciting Look to See project. We then spend some time pointing out the specic details of each individuals face; all participate. When the sketches are nished, have students either choose the best one or mix several ideas together to make one light pencil drawing of themselves. They should do this on good paper. Students should then use colored marker pens to begin rendering themselves in pointillist color. Have friends and neighbors continually give advice as to the accuracy of the self portrait. Some students object to advice. You can be the coach or just let the students work on their own.
A few technical pointers and hints should be given to students as they begin working: * Use one color at a time. * Push lightly so the tip of the pen stays small and doesnt atten out with use. * Slow down: rapid tapping with the pen turns the dots into dashes and little c shapes. * Slow down: each dot should be placed, not just randomly splashed on. * When mixing colors, put the dots adjacent to each other, not on top of each other. * Smaller dots make better color mixing and more detail. * When you get tired and bored, stop and rest for a while. Have another project to work on. If you keep making dots without paying real attention, the project will suffer. Take a break now and then. There is no prize in art for fastest. The image on the right is a detail from a Seurat painting, showing the individual dots of color. The image is worth downloading because its big, more than 10 x 16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Seurat-La_ Parade_detail.jpg
Variations: These portraits are actually part of a larger project in which we rst did thumbnail sketches of the four visual art motifs: Landscape, Portrait, Still Life and Design. We dene a design as, Lines, Shapes and Colors that dont make a picture of something else. We also make Value Borders with pen and ink. We do this for the learning in pen and ink but primarily as a frame when we do mass exhibition (not to be confused with Gallery exhibitions). Another variation is to use colored paper dots. I have seen this done with sticky dots but we just use a small hole paper punch and ll containers with small colored paper dots. The students love doing this and we use this work process to learn to organize colors by warm and cool, tints and shades, primary, secondary, intermediates, and neutrals. The little dots are then stored in Ziplock baggies. Glue sticks are use to apply the dots. White dots are used to create tints rather that leaving white paper showing through. Cover the entire paper with dots. Sources: George Seurat: Masters of Art, by Pierre Courthion; Pointillism in Black and White, by Richard Kessler: Seurat and the Science of Painting, by William Homer; Seurat (Basic Art), by Taschen. Paul Signac, Henri-Ecmond Cross and Vlaho Bukovac. Web Sources: http://www.dl.ket.org/webmuseum/wm/paint/auth/seurat/honeur/index.htm http://www.abcgallery.com/S/seurat/seurat.html http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/seurat/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Seurat-La_Parade_detail.jpg
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, by Georges-Pierre Seurat in 1884 1886. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Georges_Seurat_-_Un_dimanche_apr%C3%A8s-midi_ %C3%A0_l%27%C3%8Ele_de_la_Grande_Jatte.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Henri_Edmond_Cross_001.jpg
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Choose an appropriate background. Let each student choose his own but help the students choose something neutral. Children tend to want interesting backgrounds that compete with the subject for Process: Show the students some examples of primary interest. Help them avoid this. Students close-up portrait photography. Some photographers should practice with their models to make sure that to look at are: Dorthea Lange, Edward Weston, the models are prepared and wont freeze up when Gordon Parks, Man Ray, Margaret Bourke-White, the camera is on them. Show the students: 1. Where Richard Avedon, Robert Altman, and Annie the exposure button is. 2. How to hold the camera Leibovitz (Some of these photographers did nudes. still, especially while pushing the button. 3. How to If you use a search engine, instead of books, and get close enough to crop out most everything except you want to avoid the nudes, you can change the face. Use good principles of composition. It the lter on the search engine you use to Strict may be necessary to help some of them hold the Filtering.) Each of these photographers is well camera still while shooting. This may seem a bit 35
Young migratory mother, originally from Texas. By Dorothea Lange April 11, 1940 http://www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/1930-census-photos/
intrusive but very young students might think, still means, dont move too much. Like they think be quiet means dont talk a lot. So gently hold the camera hand still while the student is taking the picture. It usually only takes once for them to get this vision of stillness. We are talking about Kindergarteners here. Older students may not want your help. There is still a learning window even in blurry failure. Learning what not to do and how to not do it are as important in art as in the rest of lifes experiences. We are not going to belabor the how to part of this lesson. Just make sure you can import these images into iPhoto or Photoshop or even something like ClairisWorks. You can do this on regular copy paper and make the prints as small or large as is needed. We print on the school work rooms black and white laser printer. We print four images to the page. We did every Kindergartener in our school, about 150 students, without any signicant cost. Here are some Kindergarten examples:
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Variations: Theoretically all portrait photography is a variation or extension of this project. This project can be extended by having students do value drawings of this feeling or paint a version of their photograph. Of course, the best extension is to exhibit all of the work with a short written explanation about the process. For Kindergarten, it is easy to have students dictate to the teacher who types it into the computer. The student then O.K.s the writing and chooses the font and color. We want students to own their ideas as early as possible. Here is an artists statement by a Kindergartener. It was dictated to their Kindergarten teacher and then printed to accompany their artwork in the hall gallery.
SHY by Lucy, Kindergarten Notice that these photo we taken very close to the subject. This cropping was done with the camera not in the computer. We used the computer to increase the contrast and sharpness. The rest is done in the camera by the student photographer. It should also be noted that the students name is that of the artist photographer not the name of the model. Sometimes we put the models name in the title like, HAPPY KEVIN. We want to focus on the artist not the subject. It is an important lesson because is only slightly about the subject matter but much more about the artist and the medium and the intent. Assessment: We process this project like many others we do with very young students. We play a guessing game of sorts. Students take turns showing their portrait photo to the class. Students then take turns guessing with the feeling or emotion is. The feeling is written ahead of time on the back. I keep a record of the original feeling the student was trying to capture. Sometimes the artist changes his or her mind. This is all right. It is a good thing when the student recognizes that the artwork is obviously about something other than what was intended. This is a good lesson for many adult art students to learn. SAD by Phoebe, Kindergarten Phoebe said. This is my friend. She is not really sad. She is just acting. I like it because it looks sad to me and lots of kids said so. We always address the question: DO YOU LIKE IT? WHY?
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Miriam, 5th grade. Squeeze mode. intensity, temperature, tint and shade, brightness scale, sharpness and exposure. The picture can be rotated, cropped and retouched. This is the learning window. Make sure that students understand the vocabulary. It is the standard vocabulary in photography and carries over in to other visual art medium. When the student photo is composed, it is time to print. We usually print a 5X7 size, but it can be bigger or smaller. Use a color printer and a whole new window of learning about color theory is opened up. Remember that a variety of paper will have an interesting effect on the way the photo is printed. Use your imagination. The students will. Now it is time to mount the photo on the portfolio. We always put an original border around the portrait and a hand-lettered nametag. This may not seem like a very in-depth learning project, but ask yourself if you know what color saturation is and how to explain it. Students will learn this concept and many others just by using the idea. Make sure they are exposed to more than just the obvious. 39
TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE, by Dianna, 4th grade. Mirror mode. We have mounted several exhibits with this work. When we do, each student must do an artists statement about the photograph. We have done some thematic exhibitions such as Group Portraits, I Wish I, and Guess Who This Is? It is really amazing how easy it is to occupy students attention when the subjects are themselves. Dont hesitate to have teachers do this also. One of the most talked-about exhibitions this year was one we titled, Teachers Framing Teachers, Not Just Another Pretty Face. It was difcult, but we got them all. 40
More Examples:
The last step in this project is to mount the photo booth picture onto the students portfolio. Students are encouraged to make a border to mount the picture on, but it is optional if the student explains that it detracts from the photograph. We want some sort of hands-on creation to accompany the digital print. We are looking for personal ownership. But, sometimes, it does detract. 41
Notice the handmade borders and nametags. This helps the students feel some ownership of the project rather than just letting the machine do their artwork. 42
National standards: 1. Media, techniques, and processes- Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories 2. Structures and functions- Describe how different expressive features and organizational principles cause different responses 3. Subject matter, symbols, and ideas- Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning. 4. History and Culture- Demonstrate how history, culture, and the visual arts can inuence each other in making and studying works of art 5. Characteristics and merits- Describe how peoples experiences inuence the development of specic artworks 6. Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines- Identify connections between the visual arts and other disciplines in the curriculum. Key Terms: Abstract Realistic
Expressive Portrait
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Personality Trait
Materials: Self-Portrait Images Variety of Materials Paper Camera/Heart Cutouts Shrek Video or DVD Attached Resources Assessment tools/strategies Resources: We are all alike . . . We are all different. Chelton Elementary School Kindergarteners; Scholatstic: New York, New York: 1991 Lee Udall Benion, Snow Queen: Portrait of Adah, 1992. James T. Harward, Boy and Cat: My Little Son, Heber James, 1910. Springville Museum of Art Rembrandt van Rijn, Self Portrait, 1665 and Rembrandt van Rijn, Self Portrait, 1630 see also, the CD le, Postcards of Self-Portraits Procedures: 1. Motivation: Emotion Activity. Provide the students with many different expressive selfportraits. Pass out a variety of personality traits on note cards( i.e. silly, scared, happy, energetic, timid, adventurous, serious, friendly, forceful, etc.). In pairs, have the students attach their notecard to a portrait that matches their trait. Have each student identify a personality trait they have. Brainstorm how this can be achieved through using different elements of art and media. (Experience) Teaching tip: Older grades can use the Celebrations of Diversity worksheet. (Attached) Use this activity as an opportunity to introduce new terms. You may need to tell the younger students what their word is. 2. Compare and Contrast: Explain to the students why artists create self portraits. Discuss how artists use portraits to help dene themselves. Compare the Kearns portrait to a Rembrandt portrait. Draw a large Venn Diagram on the board. Compare and 44
Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait in Cap, 1630 contrast different aspects of the portraits on the board. Also show the students the Benion and Harward reproductions. Have the students do the same activity for these two art works. 3. Expressive Self-Portrait: Select one personality trait from the board and as a class, brainstorm how to portray this personality trait in a self portrait. Discuss the expressive qualities of line, color, shape and form. Also discuss the impact of color and choice of medium. Refer back to the reproductions for examples during the discussion. Have the students select a personality trait they want to develop. Have the students expresses this trait in their own Expressive Self-Portrait. (Experience) (P) Teaching tip: Let the students select any media to use for their self-portrait. They also can select the size and format for their portrait. Explain to the students that personality traits can change and they chose to develop certain traits. Introduce aspects of abstraction as part of the expressive self-portrait. 4. What are they trying to say? Pass out
expressive self-portraits to groups of three or four children. Have the students share with the class what they think the person in the portrait is thinking, feeling, or what they might say if they were in the room with us. Was the artist successful in expressing certain traits? (Explore) (Interpretation)
Teaching tip: Be careful while teaching realism to not make the students think that realism is more important than expressionism. This lesson works best to have the students do the expressive self portrait before the realist self portrait. 6. Which is better? After students have completed both portraits, have a discussion with the class. Have a realistic portrait hanging on one side of the room and an expressive portrait on the other. Have students stand in the corner next to the corresponding picture as you ask questions about them. Questions may include: Which style was easier to make? Which style do you like to look at more? Which style would your mom like better? Which style is worth more money? Have several students share their responses as they move from corner to corner. Which one represents you more accurately? (Conceptualize) (A) 7. Continuum: Give each table three examples of self-portraits. Give them a cutout or picture of a Camera (realism) and a Heart (expressionism). Have the students place their portraits somewhere on the continuum. 8. Closure: Shrek Expression: Show the students a video clip from the movie Shrek. Talk about Shrek and Fionas struggle over appearance. Why was this a struggle for them? Ask the students what they can do to be expressive in their appearance. Do they have a favorite cartoon character that represents them? Is there a favorite color they wear a lot? Discussion may include other aspects of clothing and hairstyles. (Conceptualize) (VC) Assessments (F=Formative, S=Summative): 1. C and VC: Class discussion-individual participation/observation (F) (S) 2. A: individual/group participation and teacher test on continuum (F) 3. AH andP: Oral Learner report with teacher (S) 45
5. Realistic Self-Portraits: Teach the students the correct placement of features on a realistic face (see the attached handout). Show the students several realistic selfportraits. Have the students create a stepby-step drawing of a face as the teacher draws a face on the board. This can serve as a template that the students can use tracing paper for their nal drawing. Have the students draw a nal realistic drawing. (Apply) (P)
Standard II
Element: Varied Principle: Function:
Standard III
Subject Matter: Portraits Symbols: Ideas: People-Self
Standard IV
History: Portraiture Culture: (Visual Culture): Shrek, Clothing, Hairstyle
Standard V
Characteristics (Aesthetics): Realism/ Expressionism Merits (Criticism): Interpretation
Standard VI
Arts: Media Arts Drama Other: Literature
Assessment Strategies for People/Self Lesson Learner Report: (formative) 1. What personality trait are you trying to express? 2. What medium did you select to achieve your goals? 3. Were you successful in illustrating your selected trait? 4. What did you struggle with? 5. How can I apply what I am learning to other subjects? 6. Did you like abstract or realistic better? 7. Which portrait was easier? 8. Which of the two images do you feel most accurately represents the real you? Why? 9. What did you learn about yourself during this lesson?
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because legs are longer than arms, that the elbow and the knee divide the arms and legs in half, etc. Lesson: Show the image Three Prone Figures, and discuss the following questions: What do you see in this painting? Whats different about this painting? Why do you think the artist painted the gures lying face down? How do you feel about this painting? Show some of Wayne Thiebauds other paintings of gures. Ask: Do you think these paintings were done by the same artist? What makes you think that? (If the students havent picked up on the unusual composition, show works of other artists that contain gures, and discuss their composition as compared to Thiebaud). Ask students to compare the Thiebaud pieces with those showing more traditional genre 47
scenes. Ask whether Thiebauds pieces could be called genre scenes and have students explain their reasoning (there is no right or wrong answer). If the students are old enough to understand the terms, explain static and dynamic. If the students are too young for these terms, explain the concepts. Discuss Thiebauds style of painting. (Here again comparing other artists styles may be helpful). You may want to discuss what style is and show examples of extreme differences in style. You can also have students look at how Thiebaud uses paintvery thick, rich layers of paint. Activity: Step 1 - Get a student volunteer to stand at the front of the class and show the relationships of size among various parts of the body, and measure lengths to emphasize proportions. Have the student make different poses and point out the relationships of one point (part) to another. Explain contour drawing to the students, if they do not know what it is, and demonstrate how they are going to draw just the outline of the body and dont need to draw details (hair or buttons or pockets, etc.) Pass out the large pieces of drawing paper and pens. Explain they will be doing several drawings on this piece of paper.
enhance it with additional lines using colored pencils and tracing over the pen lines. When they have Get a student volunteer to pose. Have the model completed the drawing, they can color in the gure face away from the class so the students will only be with the colored pencils and add a few details such drawing the gure from the back. Discuss with the as clothing lines and colors. class some of the contours they should notice such as Cut out and save this drawing. where sleeves, collars or pants stick out or end. Give the students only two minutes to do three or Step 2 - Discuss how they have drawn the back of four drawings as practice warm ups. the gure so now they will have to decide what their gure is looking at. Then have them evaluate their own drawings. Show: An example of a painting where the gures Are you drawing the arms and legs long are facing out. enough? Ask: What do you think this gure (s) is looking at? Does the pose look natural? What do you Show: Three Prone Figures need to do to make it look more natural? Ask: What are these gures looking at? Is it a real contour drawing that only shows Are there any rules as to what you can decide the outline? your gure is looking at? (if necessary discuss appropriateness) Have the students do three or four more drawings, Is it ok for ne art to be humorous? and this time, give them three minutes. Then have them choose the one they like the best Pass out the other drawing paper and whatever even if it is one from the rst group and have them media you have chosen for the students to use and 48
have them draw whatever it is that they want their gure to be looking at. Before having them glue their gure on their whatever their gure is facing drawing, review Wayne Thiebauds unusual composition and encourage the students to think carefully about where they are going to attach their gure. Assessment: Discuss with the students what they have learned from participating in this art project. *proportions of the human gure *contour drawing *artistic composition,etc. Teacher evaluation: Assess the class as a whole on whether the students were able to grasp the concept of composition and try something different, reecting their understanding of the uniqueness of Wayne Thiebauds compositions. Discuss why they chose what they did for their gure to face. What does this say about them as an individual? How is choosing what the gure in the drawing is seeing different from having the gure face out? How did they feel about having to think about the composition of their art? Did it make them uneasy, or did they like it? Why? What was the hardest part of this project? What was the most fun? Extensions: What is it about this project that might help us to understand how other people might have a point of view that is different from ours? Why is it important for us to realize this? In your social studies lesson, use examples of art that reects the point of view of the people you are studying.
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coming to conclusions, listing their support for those conclusions, reconsidering and reinforcing or changing their minds. Divide the class into small groups and pass out small copies or show large images of Wayne Thiebauds work. Have the students in their groups discuss Thiebauds statement about being a painter or an artist. Ask the students to discuss the following points: 1. Why do they think Thiebaud considers himself a painter, rather than an artist. 2. Do they believe Thiebaud is a painter or can he be considered an artist. They must dene artist and give a list of reasons why Thiebaud qualies or does not qualify as an artist. They must come to an agreement as a group. Allow each of the groups to make a brief presentation, giving the reasons for their decision. Make a list of the reasons on the board in two columns: Is an Artist; Is a Painter. Allow students time to discuss their ideas. 51
person. They should start by drawing in the main shapes using light colors and then gradually adding smaller areas of darker colors to model the face and hair. Have the students stop periodically and evaluate their drawings/paintings upside down. Turning the artwork upside down will help the students see the artwork as an overall design and help them avoid the pitfalls of worrying about the face looking right. Have the students design an exhibit that includes labels for the artworks and an brief explanation of the problem/assignment. Have the students nd a place to display the artworks. Use the rubric on the following page or design your own to suit your classes particular goals and criteria. Art Criticism: Now that the students have had a variety of experiences relating to Wayne Thiebauds work, have the students re-examine his work and their reactions to the work. This can be a class discussion or you can have the students write a brief statement about how they feel about Wayne Thiebauds work in light of their experiences learning about him, his art, artists whose work he admires, his ideas about being a painter, and having created a portrait using some of Thiebauds approaches to painting. Assessment: If you have had the students write down their feelings, have them turn in the writing. Evaluate the writing and insight as +, , or . For younger classes, use a checklist for participation and have the students evaluate their own participation and thinking by circling the face they think represents their effort and the quality of their contribution.
Wayne Thiebaud, Betty Jean Ask the students, as individuals, now, whether they still believe their groups decision was correct or whether they have changed their mind. Have students indicate on a paper what their vote is and two reasons they have or have not changed their mind. Art production: Have the students look again at some of Thiebauds work and pay particular attention to the way Thiebaud has lovingly created the forms with very rich paint. Read the following description of Wayne Thiebauds style: Wayne Thiebaud looks at the objects and people he paints as objects by themselves, not as related to anything around them. He uses slow-moving strokes to model the forms. Thiebaud concentrate[s] on the discipline of painting and his formal concerns (shape, line, space, color, etc.). Steven A Nash, in Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective Assign students to create a portrait in pastel, trying to think of the portrait as a simple form, not as a
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Artworks that Thiebaud admires: Jean-Baptiste Simon Chardin, Still Life with Glass Flask and Fruit c. 1750 Jean-Baptiste Simon Chardin La Brioche (Cake) 1763 Jean-Baptiste Simon Chardin, The Silver Goblet Jean-Baptiste Simon Chardin Water Glass and Jug c. 1760 not copyright free http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/c/chardin/ index.html Giorgio Morandi, Natura Morta (Still Life), 1956 http://english.mart.trento.it/UploadImgs/303_ Giorgio_Morandi___Natura_morta___1956.jpg Giorgio Morandi, Still Life 1960 Giorgio Morandi, Still Life (The Blue Vase) This is a great image but not copyright free. You can get a copy for personal use in your classroom from the following website: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/morandi/blue_ vase.jpg.html John Peto, Still life with Mug, Pipe and Book 1899 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:JohnPeto-001.jpg John F. Peto, Still Life with Hat, Umbrella and Basket Also not copyright free: http://www.ajkollar.com/gallerypics/Peto_Market2. jpg
Jean-Baptiste Simon Chardin, Still Life with Glass Flask and Fruit c. 1750 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:JeanBaptiste_Sim%C3%A9on_Chardin_029.jpg
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A possible Rubric: Notice that you can add any specic skills youre working on such as lling the whole page.
Name Assignment: Pastel Portrait Great Job! 3 pts Nice Job! 2 pts
Date
I kept the design simple I used rich colors My portrait lled the whole page I wrote a complete label I was careful I cleaned up Total Grade What I like best about my portrait is
Needs Work! 1 pt
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Peer- Evaluation: Name of the students evaluating the piece: Name of the group being evaluated: Is the gure in a dynamic pose and is it interesting to look at? Does the collage cover the complete gure? What is the strongest part and what area of the gure could be improved? Please explain. An assessment rubric is included on the next page
The idea for this project was sparked by the online web page called the Incredible Art Department lesson plan by Mark Andersons the Moveable Murals. Variations: Older students could use some thing more permanent like plywood to create the shape of the gure. Younger students could just complete a head or upper part of the body. Sources: Romare Beardens Collage, Pittsburgh Memory, 1964, and Hannah Hch Das schne Mdchen (The Beautiful Girl), 1919-1920 are good examples. Romare Bearden, Pittsburgh Memory http://www.nga.gov/feature/bearden/170-025.htm Romare Bearden, Return of the Prodigal Son http://www.albrightknox.org/ArtStart/Bearden_l.html http://www.michenermuseum.org/exhibits/bearden.php
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Excellent
Good
Average
Needs Improvement
Rate Yourself
Teachers Rating
Student Reection:
Teachers Comments:
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5. What is the time difference between the 2 paintings? What has changed in those years? 6. How are portraits done today? 7. Before the camera was invented, how were portraits done? 8. When was the last time you had a portrait done? With your family? 9. Did you like the way you looked? 10. Can portraits be changed to make the person look better? 11. How is this done with photography? How is it done with painting? 12. Do you think it right that portraits should be altered to make a person look better? Is it then a lie? 13. What is so important about looking better? 14. Why would an artist paint a portrait of himself?
graph themselves (not trace the print-out unless a student is really struggling). The adult human face is represented by a circle and another half which makes an oval and which can be divided into third parts. Continue modeling for students by drawing dotted, horizontal lines that show this division of thirds. This is called the Rule of thirds. The face is also divided in half vertically with a dotted line. Wait for students to mimic you with their drawing. Circulate to help students get this concept. Continue This vertical line is called the Y axis, and the horizontal line that divides the circle is called the X axis. The point where Y and X cross should be between the eyebrows. Draw eyebrows on the X axis and draw vertical lines from the eyebrows to the bottom of the circle for the nose. Stress that nose lines go into the eyebrows, not the eyes, which is a very common mistake with beginning learners. Another common inclination is to diminish the nose and nostrils by drawing it too small. (Japanese pop culture Anime characters have little or no nose at all) The middle section contains 3 important organs for the senses; eyes, nose and ears. Draw a foreshortened nose with nostrils, center bulb and anges. (Foreshortened means you have shortened the lines of an object so it looks like the object projects in space.) Draw almond shapes for eyes underneath the eyebrows. Stress leaving an eyes thickness between the brow and the eye. Off to the side of the drawing, draw a large eye including corner tear duct, upper/lower eye lids, iris, pupil, reected spot of light, and eyelashes. Give students time to draw eyes in the right position and circulate in the group to catch incorrect placement. Draw the mouth line rst in the lower third of the face. Draw it closer to the nose than the bottom of the chin. Draw the little loop that comes down from the nostrils and creates the bow on the upper lip. The width of the mouth line should not exceed imaginary lines that can be draw vertically from the pupils of the eyes. Draw lips with upper lip bow. The last features to add are the foreshortened ears, which look like skinny letter Cs and must occupy the space on the side of the head between the X axis and the bottom of the nose and the neck. The neck 60
Drawing Activity 1: Pass out 9x 12 drawing paper, pencils and erasers, and print-outs to all students. Students with Full Face Graph print-outs on desks or tables will watch while you draw the graph on the board or overhead. (A full-size copy of the graph is included at the end of the lesson.) Students then model the teacher by drawing the
should be as wide as the face and vertical lines come down from the ear lobes. Finish the bottom of the neck with a large curved U shaped line. It looks so much better than leaving 2 vertical lines dangling or drawing a straight, horizontal line connecting them, which is what beginning learners will do. The upper third of the face has no sensory organs, only the forehead and hair. Beginners will want to diminish this area because there is nothing important up there, but resist that and insist they do not put eyes in the forehead above the X axis. Draw a hairline with a dotted line close to the top of the forehead. Demonstrate a few ways to draw hair for boys and girls.
now looks dirty, but it will look natural when the details are darkened. Next, using an eraser, students will erase out the forehead, the top of the nose and top of nose anges, the tops of cheekbones, the upper lip (except where the nose creates a triangular shadow on the upper lip), the protruding lower lip and the top of the chin. Next, have students smooth the edges of the erased areas so that the change from gray to light is gradual. Students should go over the eye and eyebrow details with heavier pressure on the pencil, so the details are darker. They also need to shade the hair by adding light gray strokes and dark gray strokes of the pencil.
Shaded Face: When the students have completed a line drawing with pencil, they should shade in the face with the side of a sharpened pencil and cover the whole face, lips, eyes, ears, and neck with medium gray pencil strokes. This general shading assumes that light is coming from above. Then with nger or shading stumps, students should smooth out the pencil strokes by going in the opposite direction until there is a smooth gray tone on the esh parts of the drawing. Students may complain that the face
Drawing Activity 2: Model for students the drawing of graph and facial features of a prole face again using 9 x 12 drawing paper, pencils and print-outs of the Prole Face. Drawing Activity 3 (and assessment): On new sheet of drawing paper, students draw either a full face or prole face starting with the graph and correctly tting the facial features in the correct places. This drawing can be expressive in that students can create a male or female face with unique hair styles and 61
appropriate details. Emphasize that this is not to be a cartoon and that facial features need to be correct, not left out or exaggerated. The teacher may show slight gender differences to help students with their drawings. Shading the face in very general terms may be modeled for students as well and be part of the assignment. Display completed works on a wall and conduct a critique by asking students the following questions: 1. Which drawings did the best job of using the graph correctly by putting features in the right place? 2. Which drawings have eyes that look natural? Nose? Mouth? Hair? Shading? Etc. 3. What did you learn by doing this drawing? Drawing Activity 4: Self-portrait drawing using mirrors. In this activity the students will use what they now know of facial proportions and draw their own face by looking in the mirror. Use the same materials: pencils, erasers, and 9 x 12 drawing paper, but now each student needs a mirror that can sit on a desk by itself. The students should be encouraged to use the circle graph rst, and draw the general shapes lightly and then draw their own features in the correct places. This work can be extended to include color and or shading. Again, place nished works on a wall and conduct a critique by asking questions. Sources: Any good basic, beginning drawing book about portraiture or anatomy. Variations: Color can be added with colored pencils or crayons to the assessment drawing. Also, personal symbols can be drawn into the negative spaces. Extensions: Self-portrait drawing from mirrors or digital black and white photocopies, with white chalk pencils on black paper. Expressive self-portraits can be painted with tempera or acrylic after a lesson on color and human emotions. 62
Abstract/Cubistic self-portraits can be done with pastels after the manner of the early 20th century cubists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Man with a guitar http://artchive.com/artchive/B/ braque/man_guit.jpg.html http://artchive.com/ftp_site.htm See Analytical Cubism Stylized self-portraits can be created in colored pencil after the manner of contemporary illustrators or cartoonists. Students can create self-portraits based on any signicant historical style such as Fauvism.
Non-Objective self-portraits can be done with no facial features at all. Instead, students will create an abstract picture using only colors, simple shapes, and marks that reect the students internal, emotional state of being. Advanced: Once students have a good understanding of facial proportions, they can create portraits using unusual points of view: 63
All the student examples in this lesson are from The All-State High School Show at the Springville Musuem of Art, 2008
J. Alden Weir, Portrait of Robert Hoe byu.edu Visual Culture: Have students bring in copies of recent family photo portraits and display them and ask questions like; 1. Why is everyone smiling? 2. Why do we want to be seen smiling? 3. What would happen if the faces reected their true feelings? Alice Neels family portrait of her daughter and 3 granddaughters as featured in Scholastic Art and Man magazines, issue, March 2001 would be a good work to look at and compare to the formal photo family portraits. Another possible comparison is John Singer Sargents painting The Daughters of Edward D. Boit, which can be found at http://www.artchive.com/artchive/s/sargent/sargent_ daughters.jpg
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is primarily up-close, large-scale faces of people he knows. Early in his career he made careful airbrushed portraits that were photorealistic. After suffering a crippling accident, he is now conned to a wheel chair and is not as able to use his arms as he used to be. He still paints large-scale portraits but rather than make them photorealistic, he creates them from a grid where each square in the grid contains abstract designs up close, but from a distance makes up the face. Chuck Close has made hundreds of different portraits this way. One of the variations of techniques hes used is making a portrait out of repeated ngerprints. 67
A good video to show could be Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress. The following list are some good websites with Chuck Close images and they include some of his ngerprint ones which are harder to come by:
http://www.paceprints.com/artistportfolio/artistportfolio. asp?aID=18&UID=1853 http://www.chuckclose.coe.uh.edu/learning/ TeacherPacket_Viewing.html http://www.barbarakrakowgallery.com/contentmgr/ showdetails.php/id/313
Or just do a google image search for Chuck Close. Art Criticism: Display Big Self-Portrait, 1967-68 to the class (it is Chuck Close, shirtless, with a cigarette in his mouth. This portrait was airbrushed during his photorealistic days)(ttp://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1998/close/). Using this image you may do one of three things (either writing in student journals or have a class discussion): 1. Describe this person. What kind of thoughts might be going through his mind? What could his personality be like? What time of the day is it? What might his name be? 2. How is this photo different from your traditional portrait photo like one you would get done in a studio, or for your Senior photo? (hes not wearing a shirt, his hair isnt combed, he has a cigarette in his mouth, the lighting isnt good, the angle is not right, hes not smiling, etc.). Then tell them it is a self-portrait; the artist depicted himself this way. Why would someone want to portray themselves this way? What is a more honest portrait, one like this, or one taken at a portrait studio where your hair has been combed perfectly and you have a posed smile on your face? 3. Ask students to compare and contrast this portrait with a photo of an Easter Island Head statue. How are they similar and how are they different in looks, purpose, and creation? Remember that Chuck Closes portrait is 107 x 86. How does viewing a face at such a large scale inuence the viewers reaction to it? (Easter Island head http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Image:Moai_Rano_raraku.jpg) In Packet
http://gloriana.wordpress.com/2007/03/
Aesthetics: Discussion#1: Show the students a Chuck Close portrait (one of the grid-based ones), and a photomosaic poster image. (http://www. picturemosaics.com/ or http://www.bigmosaics. com/photo-mosaic-1132-example.html) Ask them to compare and contrast these in as many ways as they can. They are very similar in some ways (its a large image made up of smaller squares) but what is the biggest difference? Photomosaics are made through a computer program, but Chuck Close creates and makes decisions without the aid of a computer. Are photomosaics art? Are Chuck Closes portraits art? Discussion #2: Show the students the National Geographic photograph Woman from Kabul.( http://www.sites.si.edu/images/exhibits/In%20Focus/ pages/Caged-Goldnches_jpg.htm) Does this count as a portrait? (you cant even see her face). Have the students defend their different opinions. Does this portrait have any deeper meanings or symbolism in it? The bird cage on her head can be a representation of the freedom women have in that culture. Try to come to a conclusion of what the denition of a portrait is, or have the students decide for themselves.
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Discussion #3: Show the students an image of Marc Quinns Self, (http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/ features/kostabi/Images/kostabi5-24-16.jpg) a cast self-portrait made of the artists frozen blood. Have them guess what it is made out of. After you have told them it is the artists own blood, ask the students, What does this add to the meaning of the self-portrait? Does this make it cooler, or grosser? Should a line be drawn for what materials can be used for art? (If you wish, you may tell them of, or show them Marc Quinn self-portrait made of his own poo.) Studio Production: For a warm-up to their self-portrait assignment, have them create a collaborative portrait where each student is in charge of only one square from the grid that makes up one big picture. This can be prepared on Photoshop. Pick any photo and divide it up into however many squares you want to, using the lines you can drag out from the rulers on the side of your window (I did it 8 squares across and 10 down). Then copy and paste each individual square into a new window, save them, and print them out as large as you can. Label each square with a code so that you know where that square goes in the grid. I numbered my columns and lettered my rows, just like in battleship. So a square might have a label such as C5. Give the students a blank square of paper (I made them 9x9) and one of the printed, enlarged squares from the grid.
Once the squares have been enlarged and isolated from the grid, they are less recognizable, so students wont be able to tell whether they are working on an ear, eye, nose, or who-knows-what. This is very important, and what they learn from this exercise will help them make a successful Chuck Close portrait. Give them an ink stamp pad and their assignment is to ll their blank piece of paper with ngerprints, BUT they have to try to match the values in the printed square from the bigger picture. So in the darker areas the students will put more ngerprints and/or have more ink on their ngers when they print, and in the lighter areas they will have fewer ngerprints and/or less ink on their ngers when they print. Make sure that when they are done, they write the code on the back of their ngerprinted square paper. If done right, the squares can be taped up on a wall in the right order, and they will reveal a large ngerprint portrait. This should go fairly quickly and should take one class period. Some students might be able to do more than one. I let them repeat squares too, just as long as they stayed busy, and that way I had repeats of some squares, and I could pick the best ones. While the students work on this exercise, take them aside one by one to take their picture. I put up a white sheet of butcher paper so that the background would be light, and show shadows (if any). Remember to zoom in pretty close to their face the same way Chuck Close does. If they were camera shy, I let them do a view, so they didnt have to stare at the camera. Do not use a ash; its important to have natural shadows. I printed out their photos in black and white at 4x 6. The rst thing they need to do is draw a grid on their photo. The boxes should be x giving you 8 boxes across the top and 12 boxes down the side. The best way to do this is to make marks every half inch along the top AND the bottom of the photo, Then make a line connecting the marks with the ruler. Same for the two sides (Youd be surprised how many students try to eye-ball it). A good precise grid is the rst step to getting a good enlarged reproduction. If the grid is messed up, start over; theres no point in going on. 69
The grid should then be duplicated on the large 24x 36 paper. This time the boxes are 3x 3, but you still have 8 boxes across the top and 12 down the side. As with the grid on your photo, the easiest way to do this is to make marks every 3 inches along the top, bottom, and two sides, then draw a line connecting the marks. Make sure you make these lines very lightly so that they can be easily erased later, or hidden by the ngerprints. Once they have the grids made, the students may start ngerprinting. Take it a square at a time. It is wisest to start from an edge. Most students started from the top, completing one row and then moving onto the next. For storage purposes and to keep it cleaner while working, each student was given a sheet of butcher paper about 45 long. This was kept behind their 24x 36 paper so that they could make ngerprints right up to the edge of the paper and print on the butcher paper too. When it was time to put it away, the students simply rolled their photo and their ngerprint portrait in the butcher paper and put a rubber band around it. The students names were written on the outside of the roll for quick recognition. 70
Tips: 1. Keep in mind that your rst ngerprint after pressing on the ink pad will be the darkest and the following ngerprints will get lighter as you go. Use this to your advantage. Also remember that the pressure you put in your ngerprinting will also affect the darkness and lightness of the ngerprint. 2. Use the butcher paper for any test ngerprints or to get excessive ink off your nger. 3. Remember: you are imitating the value you see in each individual square. Thats all it is. Dont be fooled by knowing you are making an eye or a nose. If you try too hard to make it look like what you know you are working on, then chances are you are going to goof it up. Stay on the mission of just copying the values as you see them. Trust in that. Even though it doesnt look like a nose or mouth in that one square, it will when you step away and combine it with the other squares, if youve copied the value right. 4. Some students found it helpful to cut a x window in a piece of paper with an x-acto knife so that they could place it over their photo and focus on one square and its values. It helps with the mind game explained in tip #3.
Assessment:
Craftsmanship
Value Accuracy
The values in the ngerprint portrait match the values in the photo. No cartoony outlines of eyes, nose, mouth, or edge of face. Student consistently put forth genuine effort. Used class time wisely. Came to the teacher for help and advice. Total points possible: Student examples:
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Effort
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Variations: Doodle it You can do the exact same concept on a smaller scale, but the students doodle in every square in order to copy the values from the photo. Close doodling and sketching appears dark, and farther apart doodling appears lighter. You can enlarge a 4x 6 photo on to a 12x 18 drawing paper. See photos 6 9. Watercolor it You can do the same thing in color. Have the students focus on a square of the grid at a time and make a watercolor wash trying to imitate the values and colors in the photo. Paint it Do it just like Chuck Close does. Use acrylics or oils. Its easier if you stick to black and white.
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To the students: Use the following worksheet to plan your expressive self-portrait. Brainstorm several possibilities. Be creative and imaginative in your choices. If you invest a little time imagining the possibilities, it will help you begin your artwork. You can still modify or change your plan as you get into your work, but planning will help you overcome the blank canvas or paper. Right now anything is possible so go create. 75
Period _________________
Example Flamboyant Bold, curving and diagonal, thick and thin Bright, uorescent, reds, purples, greens Curving and free owing, large to ll most of the space Full value range but most light with some dramatic darks Wide variety of patterns and textures, maybe some actual textures Close (in-your-face kind) with the face front and center Figure would appear rounded, full
Neutrals and grays, maybe even cool colors Curving, possibly even dissolving into the background (wallpaper) Mostly mid tones to light without much variety Subtle, small texture, mostly just at surfaces with some little patterns Vast space with the gure small in the distance Flat, close, almost cut-out or cartoon-like
Soft pastels on top of a Oil pastels dipped in white monochromatic watercolor tempera paint before they at wash are applied 8 x 11 cold pressed 16 x 16 bright blue watercolor paper gure construction paper with the placed vertical gure dead center Seen from slightly above as Mostly prole with the face if the gure were smaller lifted, maybe even seen then the viewer slightly from below as it was oating Maybe a small pet or toy Some sort of musical instrument such as a tambourine The gure would have Possibly the whole gure downcast eyes and slightly would be portrayed in a humped shoulders dancing, moving gesture Paula Modderson-Beckers Miriam Shapiros Moving Self-Portrait with Flower Figure The tight, closed posture The bright, owing with the head slightly patterns and the thick turned down brushstrokes
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Some examples from The All-State High School Art Exhibition at the Springville Musuem of Art 2008
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Excellent 3 pts How successfully is your key idea expressed? How well do the lines contribute to the key idea? How well do the colors contribute to the key idea? How well do the shapes contribute to the key idea? How expressive are the values? How well do the textures help convey your idea or add interest to the artwork? How effectively were you able to convey the sense of space you wanted? How effectively did you convey your chosen sense of form? How well did the choice of media convey your key idea? How successful was your choice of support? How well did your choice of viewpoint contribute to the overall idea of the artwork? How well did the objects or symbols you used contribute to the key idea? How well did other artistic considerations help you convey your ideas? How successful was the aspect of another artists work in conveying your ideas? What is your overall evaluation of your self-portrait? What is the most successful aspect of your self-portrait? What would you change, and how? What ideas could you use in further exploration?
Average 2 pts
Poor 1 pt
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Wayne Thiebaud, Two Kneeling Figures 1966 oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches Collection of Paul LeBaron Thiebaud
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the early 1960s will gain broader perspective on his accomplishments. Those who think him a traditionalist will notice peculiarities that set him apart from the crowd. Those who gravitate toward seductive surfaces will have their appetites whetted. Those who prefer a more cerebral approach to art will be appeased by the paintings tight underpinnings, not to mention an abundance of abstract tendencies by an avowed realist.
One quality of Thiebauds works many people acknowledge is the honesty and directness with which he treats everyday subjects. His paintings are about objects that are not symbolic, but real. The techniques Thiebaud developed painting still lifes carries over into his gurative work. The gures are stiff and posed against nondescript backgrounds, WTIII
WAYNE THIEBAUD: I just see them as sort of magical objects and interesting and. . . very, very interesting objects to work on because of the color. I mean, a big round globe is so beautiful and its really a kind of orchestration of circles of all kinds. But its also very sensuous, I think, and it offers wonderful opportunities for painting something like, almost like a bouquet of owers. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Youve said before that you dont consider yourself an artist, what do you mean? WAYNE THIEBAUD: Well, isnt it something for other people to make a decision about? I think its just like, as I say, its like a priest referring to himself as a saint. Maybe its a little too early or hes not the one to decide that. Its decided apart from you and thats the way it should be. Its. . . Being an artist I think is a very rare thing. There arent very many people who achieve that and I think we ought to keep it as a golden special word so that it. . . It doesnt get all gummed up or dirty or too usual. It has to be special. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: So what do you say when people say what do you do? You say, Im a painter? WAYNE THIEBAUD: A painter and then sometimes they ask me to paint, paint their house. (Laughter)
Wayne Thiebaud, Player 1981 the people themselves objects-isolated, structured geometric shapes. After being content to paint the same subjects over and over, in the late 70s, Thiebaud turned to landscapes: Complex composites of multiple vantage points, these paintings read like abstract networks of horizontal, vertical, and curved elements intersected by bold diagonals. (Janet Kuter) Wayne Thiebaud does not consider himself an artist, but rather a painter. He likes to make a clear distinction between the two. The following excerpt from a conversation with Elizabeth Farnsworth illustrates Thiebauds perspective. The two had been discussing Thiebauds subjects: ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What about the gumball machines? We shot a series of them and youve been painting them for a very long time-the penny machines. What do you like about those? How do you see them?
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The same role as always: to be sensitive to what his general world is and to express it with some real ability and craft, and awareness that enhances and doesnt (make) ignoble the tradition. But also, hopefully, to develop some new visual world that we havent seen or havent seen in the same way. And I think thats always going to be surprising. It may not be a great revolutionary idea. Thats something that the art historians often seem to think needs to occur. Its quite a less complicated idea, not a matter of invention but of some kind of personal resolution. As you would say in poetry, nding your own voice. . . . Painters will always try to do that and pursue it with conviction. [Available at http://www2.sacramento.com/features/ 060400thiebaud.html] Thiebaud also said: Painting is more important than art. . . People say paintings dead. Fine. Its dead for you. I dont care. Painting is alive for me. Painting is life for me. [http://yp.washingtonpost.com/E/E/ WASDC/0001/90/66/cs1.html] In his essay for the catalog of the retrospective in San Francisco, Adam Gopnik describes Thiebaud as a modest but not minor painter. Gopnik says he is as major as his themes: desire, disappointment, dessert, etc. These universal themes and the richness of Thiebauds paint handling have garnered him a place in America, as well as places in the major museums of American art. Sources: http://sheldon.unl.edu/HTML/ARTIST/Thiebaud_ W/SSI.html http://www..muni.cz/~toms/PopArt/Biographies/ thiebaud.html http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/janjune00/thiebaud_6-30.html Grolier Encyclopedia http://www.artchive.com/artchive/T/thiebaud/ thiebaud_reservoir.jpg.html
[The entire text of their conversation is available at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/janjune00/thiebaud_6-30.html] In another conversation, this one with Victoria Dalkey, Bee Art Correspondent (Thiebaud on Thiebaud Published June 4, 200), Thiebaud explains his vision of the role of a painter in the coming (21st) century:
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Art Criticism: Show the class the examples of George Inness landscapes and give a very brief biography of him. (See end of lesson) Draw a large Venn diagram on the board and ask the students to nd ways the two painters landscapes are the same and ways they are different. Students can talk about lines, colors, shapes, and other art elements as well as art principles such as, emphasis, unity and proportion. They can also talk about overall impression, amount of Realism, etc. Have students identify ways each artist has expressed himself, personally, in his landscapes. Then allow students to choose their favorite landscape. Very young students WTVII
to express in their landscape. Exhibit the landscapes with their labels in an appropriate place in the school or the community. George Inness, Indian Summer Landscape, 1894. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Image:George_Inness_002.jpg George Inness, Lake Albano, 1869 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Image:George_Inness_001.jpg George Inness, The Lackawanna Valley, 1855. http://upload.wikimedia. org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/ George_Inness_003.jpg
George Inness, Indian Summer Landscape, 1894. can simply vote by putting their colored square in front of their favorite piece and saying why they like it best. Older students can use the voter page and explain their reasons. You may want to allow the students time to share their preferences with other students. Studio: Remind students of the ways the class identied that Thiebaud and Inness made their landscapes personal. Give students a piece of copy paper and have them fold it in half and then in half again so they have 4 thinking spaces. Before they begin sketching, they should identify some words that describe how they view or feel about the land or city where they live. Keeping those words in mind, students should make one possible sketch of their landscape in one of the 4 squares. Students should evaluate the sketch and try a slightly different version that might better express their feelings and ideas about where they live. Students will make 2 more sketches.
When they have chosen the best sketch, they can use a pencil to very lightly sketch their landscape on a large piece of paper. Then students can nish the George Inness, scanned from an engraving in the 13 landscape using the colored medium of their choice. July, 1867 edition of Harpers Weekly. When nished, students should title their landscape http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:GeorgeInness. and write (or have the teacher or an older student JPG write), a brief statement about what they were trying WTVIII
George Inness, The Lackawanna Valley, 1855. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/George_Inness_003.jpg George Inness was born May 1, 1825 in New York. He had 12 brothers and sisters. When he was 14 he got to study with a traveling painter for a while and later he studied with several different artists and at the National Academy of Design. When he was 26, he got to go to Rome and then Paris, to study painting. While he was in Paris, the artists of the Barbizon School inuenced him. These artists created moody paintings with dark colors and loose brushwork. When Inness came back to America, he was paid to create paintings that would show how the railroad was growing. The Lackawanna Valley painting is from this group. As he grew older, Inness created paintings that often showed a broad panorama, with clouds above, like the painting Lake Albano. And even later in his life, Inness was inuenced by spiritual ideas about nature and his paintings became softer and more abstract and focused on a smaller, more intimate scene. Indian Summer is this kind of painting. The painting shows a couple of men in a eld with cows; the colors are rich but there isnt any strong contrast. The shapes of animals, men, and trees are easily recognizable, but softened. This kind of painting is called Tonalist. Inness said that art should cultivate the artists spiritual nature.1 But he also believed artists should know how to use color and create strong compositions that are based on reality. Sources: A Painter on Painting, Harpers New Monthly Magazine 56, page 461. February 1878. Bell, Adrienne Baxter. George Inness and the Visionary Landscape. 2003. ISBN 0-8076-1525-0. Cikovsky, Nicolai: George Inness, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1985. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Inness accessed 3/16/08
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Wayne Thiebaud, Watermelon Slices, 1961 does the thick, rich paint have on the way we view the items he has painted? How would the artwork be different if the cakes and other items were painted with very thin paint, maybe with the canvas showing through? 2. Demonstrate sketching a piece of food on the board. Break the food down to its basic shapes, for example, a piece of pie would start with a triangle. 3. If possible, bring or have the students bring some real food objects so the students can get the sense of a three-dimensional object. This means the foods would need to be able to last several days. Have the students pick a food to sketch. They should make several sketches with variations, and then choose the sketch they feel has the best composition. (Optional: Have the students draw a shelf under the food to give the food a sense of ground.)
4. Have the students draw their sketch into the painting surface lightly, so that any pencil marks do not show through, because their backgrounds will be white. WTXI
5. Now have your students clear their area and cover the table with newspaper or any table cover. Before students start to paint, demonstrate how to use the paint with the additive to create rich, thick colors. (If you have not worked with acrylic additive, you will need to experiment with it before demonstrating to the students.) Students will start painting; make sure they have the textured medium or thickener for their paints. They may need to try out the paint to become familiar with how it acts. 6. Have them try different painting tools to get different types of textures. 7. The paintings may take a while to dry, depending on the thickness of the paint. 8. You may want to repeat the painting process to get thicker work. 9. After those pieces are dry, assess the work using a rubric, and have the students look at each others work by having a walk-around. (Place work on the tables or walls, and make it like a gallery or museum tour around the room.) Assessment: Student Self-Evaluation Checklist: (Student-friendly language) ____ I brought a piece of food or an image of a food. ____ I repeated the image of the food more than once. ____ I created texture in my work with thick paint. (Add any other criteria that t your class and the assignment.) For older students, use the rubric on the next page. Other Sources: Kinder Art Lessons (Sweet Stuff Lesson) Variations: Use junk food or healthy foods to tie in the idea of health. Repeat objects other than food, ex. childhood toys, and look at how the subject changes the meaning. WTXII
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LE MENU
1. EAT, ART, OUT!
A Game of Aesthetics
Lesson plan Eat, Art, Out posters for categorizing The Great Cake Debate worksheet Colored photos of food art (CD)
2. A Delightful Treat
Powerpoint Presentation about Wayne Thiebaud
Presentation on CD
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2.Wayne Thiebaud- (born Mesa, Arizona, November 23,1920) is an American painter whose most famous works are of cakes, pastries, boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks. His last name is pronounced Tee-bo. He is associated with the Pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, however, his works, executed during the fties and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists. He has also been seen, due to his true to life representations, as a predecessor to photorealism. Thiebaud uses heavy pigment and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-dened shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in his work. (6) Motivation: Show students a real, yet plain-looking, cake. Show students a real, yet very artistic-looking, cake. Show students a smushed, and very yucky looking piece of cake. Show students a sculpture of a cake. Show students a painting of cakes by Wayne Thiebaud. Lead a discussion about the differences and similarities of the cakes. Have students discuss whether they would consider each cake something to EAT, something that is ART, or something that is neither and should be thrown OUT! Learning Tasks: 1. Display three posters for categorizing artworks, EAT, ART, and OUT! They can be coated with Velcro dots or have a pouch for holding photos of artwork.
EAT= Something that is NOT art, and should be eaten. ART= Something that may or may not be eaten, but should
DEFINITELY be seen as a work of art.
OUT=
Something that should not be eaten, nor considered a work of art. Throw it out! (Posters at end of lessons)
2. Prepare photos of food: paintings of food, actual food, sculptures of food, food arranged in a display or exhibit, etc. There are some very interesting examples of art and food available on the internet! If desired, place a Velcro dot on the back of each photo for easy placement onto posters. 3. Explain to students that they will be looking at pictures which all relate to food somehow. Each student will get a few pictures to place in the category they feel is most appropriate. Remind the students that there are no wrong answers! One of the best things about art is that there is room for many different opinions! They should, however, be able to give a reason to support their decision. 3. Let each student explain one of their choices as they are categorizing their picture.
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4. Have students complete The Great Cake Debate worksheet for assessment. (At end of lessons) EXTENSION ACTIVITY: 1. Pick something out of the EAT or OUT sections. 2. Ask students if there is anything that could be done to those items to make it t into the ART category. A few good questions to suggest for young students: 1. What if Vincent van Gogh had signed it? 2. What if someone painted on it? 3. What if an art director in a museum puts it in an exhibit? 4. What if we frame it? 5. How would you change it to make it art? Important Thoughts: Since this is an exercise in formulating individual opinions about the nature of art, it is important to create a comfortable, non-threatening atmosphere in which students can explore and express their own thoughts and feelings about art. It should be emphasized to the students that there are COUNTLESS opinions about what makes something art and NONE of those opinions are wrong. They are just what they suggestopinions. Students should be reminded not to laugh at another students viewpoint. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion especially when it comes to art! Assessment: .Verbal explanation of opinion through EAT, ART, OUT activity. Completion of The Great Cake Debate worksheet.
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Vocabulary: 1. Pop Art- Art in which commonplace objects (as road signs, hamburgers, comic strips, or soup cans) are used as subject matter and are often physically incorporated in the work. 2.Wayne Thiebaud- (born Mesa, Arizona, November 23,1920) is an American painter whose most famous works are of cakes, pastries, boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks. His last name is pronounced Tee-bo. He is associated with the Pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, however, his works, executed during the fties and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists. He has also been seen, due to his true to life representations, as a predecessor to photorealism. Thiebaud uses heavy pigment and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-dened shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in his work. (6) 3. Sculpture- A three-dimensional work of art. 4. Symbol- Something that stands for or represents something. Motivation: Show students several common symbols that they would easily recognize. Examples: American Flag, Statue of Liberty, McDonalds Arches, Nike Swoosh, etc. Explain that these images represent our culture here in America. They are popular images. Show the food art of Wayne Thiebaud. Ask the students how his paintings of pies and gumball machines might represent our culture. These, too, are popular images in our country. This is called pop art because it depicts such popular images. Extention Activity: Show students a Coke can and compare it to a less recognizable drink can. Ask them to determine which represents pop culture more effectively and why. This can also be done with many other items, such as sports logos, clothing, etc. Learning Tasks: 1. Show students several delicious works of art by Wayne Thiebaud. Discuss the different patterns, shapes and colors in his cake designs. 2. Instruct students that they will be creating miniature cakes out of clay for a bakery display case similar to the art of Wayne Thiebaud. 3. Have students use colored pencils or crayons to sketch ideas for their own cake designs. Remind them that they are miniature cakes- about the size of a quarter or less. 4. Divide students into groups of about four students each. 5. Each student will design his or her own cake(s). 6. Each group will construct a bakery display together, using each students cake sculptures.
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7. Students will receive several colors of clay per group and clay tools, which can also be toothpicks, forks, etc. 8. Students will also receive items for arranging a display case such as: small wooden discs for plates or spools of thread for cake stands, etc. They can also use paper and other materials to create their own, unique bakery environment. 9. Bake clay according to directions on packaging. (Usually about 30 minutes @ 275) 10. When all groups are nished, have a bakery walk where all the students get to see the different bakeries. 11. Suggestion: Clay confections (after baked) could be glued to magnets and hung on a local fridge BECAUSE, what is more representative of American pop culture than hanging a kids artwork on a fridge? Assessment: .Students will be graded using cake scoring rubric. Inter-Disciplinary Connections: .MATH- Have students create paper cakes and cut them into 4-8 equal pieces. Students can then use their cakes to study fractions. .LANGUAGE ARTS- Have students create an advertisement for their bakery, describing in detail, one of their most delectable cakes. .SOCIAL STUDIES- Have students describe what another countrys food display case might look like. Example: Japan might display sushi. Adaptations: Special Needs Students Students who struggle with ne motor skills can color or paint the Make Me a Cake handout instead of sculpting a cake out of clay. Cutting Costs Salt dough can be used instead of polymer clay. Further Extensions: Students can make their own cake paintings and drawings. Students can make edible art by frosting a graham cracker canvas and using a toothpick to carve (or paint) their canvas. Ceramic students can make larger cakes and frost them with glazes.
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Resources: 1.Brown, Kathan. Wayne Thiebaud. www.MagicalSecrets.com/artists/thiebaud. Crown Point Press. 2. Haber, John. No Time Like the Present, Haber Arts Reviews, NY. www.haberarts.com/thiebaud. 3. Nash, Steven A. Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective, 2000. 4. Smithsonian. Archives of American Art; Wayne Thiebaud, Memories and Delights. 2001-2002 5. Susan Goldman Rubin. Delicious: The Art and Life of Wayne Thiebaud, 2007. 6. Wikipedia, The Internet Encyclopedia.
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