Week Three Falk September 9-13

Falk September 9-13

Monday, September 9th

Today was the first day that I taught a full lesson to a class.  For the Fourth graders I created a lesson plan that revolved around layering, collage, and narrative. I introduced the lesson by tying together what they did the previous class, color mixing, in with layering. We had an artistic conversation and talked about the last class while also using new vocabulary. Next I read them the book Colors by Karen Heller. The book talks about printing techniques/vocabulary, tint, shade, hue, color composition, cool tones, warm tones, and more.  The book shows examples of layered artwork with cellophane. The students genuinely enjoyed the book and were extremely intrigued by the layered cellophane paper, which was a perfect precursor to the rest of the lesson.  Next we talked about Picasso who was known for cubist abstract artwork and creating collages.  We talked about collages and all of the possibilities with layering.  Next I introduced Michaelangelo and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling Paintings.  We talked about how he created layers with the painting medium and took him over 4 years to create.  The entire ceiling also tells a narrative with the layers of paint. This was also a perfect Segway to explain to the students that they will be creating their own layered collages and telling a narrative with what they create. I showed them my teacher example and went through my creating process and the materials I used.  I also showed them what the artwork looked like when placed on the light box. Because I used transparent and translucent paper this gave the artwork a new appearance. Around the room on white sheets of paper was tape, colorful tape, scissors, cutup warm and cool colors, markers, acetate, colourful cellophane, colourful construction paper, and colourful tissue paper. They were encouraged to move and create around the room as individuals or with one another; however, they were given explicit instructions that they did need to use at least one piece of acetate, one piece of cellophane, and one piece of construction paper to give their artwork different layers and dimensions.

Wednesday, September 11th 

Fourth grade 

Layers Collage & Narrative

All art has layers. Some artists create artwork that has more diverse layers or aspects that are or are not visible beneath its surface. Artists are always adding different layers into their artwork.  Creating these layers takes time. Maybe they are creating a mixed media piece and need the glue to dry before they can add another piece of the collage.  Maybe they are creating a sculpture and need to create a metal base before they can add the fabric layer. Lastly, maybe they are creating a painting and need the paint to dry before they can add the next layer.  Some artists even add new layers onto another artists previous work; therefore, collaborating with one another. Layers create dimension, tell a story, and convey emotion. Layered elements in an art piece can stimulate creative conversation and intellectual thought or speak to individuals on a personal and emotional level.

Art tells a story about different time periods, cultures, societies, genders, races, religions and more. Art explains the history of all these different concepts. When looking through artwork, a viewer can see from composition, concentration, and style of the story the artist was trying to tell or the movement this piece belongs to. Every piece of art tells a story; therefore, students need to understand how they can create a story or explain their emotion, culture, society, time period, race, religion, or gender through the different layers of their artwork.

             

ART / ARTIST(S)  OF RELEVANCE

Pablo Picasso

• Abstract
• Cubism
• Collage

Michelangelo

• Multifaceted artist
• Sistine Chapel ceiling painting
• 4 years
• Narrative
• Layers

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS

This lesson connects the arts to reading, writing, and history. The students will begin the lesson with a group discussion where we introduce several vocabulary words that include: collage, abstract, transparency, translucency and opaque.  They will learn what these words mean and how we will use each word differently in our art practice.  Then we will read three separate books. The first book “Colors” will create a provocation for color, different types of paper, and printing in layers. The second book is a biography and short story about Pablo Picasso.  This reading will introduce us to the concepts abstract, cubism, and collage. The third book is about Michelangelo and it will spark an educational conversation about painting in layers, creating artwork over a period of time, and creating a narrative in art. The last two books will also relate our art lesson to history by discussing famous artists in history and the time period that they were from.

Lesson Overview

For the class “Material Exploration with Layers” the students will create artwork that focuses on layering and storytelling. First they will have an artistic and intellectual conversation about how artists use layers with one medium or with mixed medias.  We will look at examples of artwork that has extremely apparent layers with one or multiple mediums and we will also look at artwork that has layers that may go unnoticed or overlooked.  We will discuss how these layers are used to create a whole composition, but also how each layer has it’s own purpose or part of the bigger story.  They will be shown an example mixed media piece that has layers of tissue paper, cellophane, acetate, markers, paint, and lace. Then they will be able to explore these materials on their own to create a multilayered mixed media art piece. They will be told and therefore weary throughout their art making that when they have completed their mixed media material exploration they will write a 3-6 sentence story about what they have created.  This story should explain the multiple layers of the art-piece or the process.  This will tie together the real and the imaginary/fantasy. Knowing that they will create a story based off of the artwork will encourage them to slightly plan out what they want to create while still allowing their art making process to be spontaneous and fluid. Creating a story based off of the artwork will coerce each artist to reflect on their artwork and give the piece even deeper meaning that what can be seen with the eyes.

Friday, September 13th 

Third Grade 

IG IDEA

The Circus

ART / ARTIST(S)  OF RELEVANCE

New inventions helped to lower the costs of poster production, which led to the circus poster golden age. Alois Senefelder in 1978 invented lithography, which completely changed how circus posters were made. Senefelder created a “grease” crayon made of wax, soap, and lampblock that he then wrote with on a limestone plate. The non-image area was dampened with water so that when the oil-based ink was rolled on it would only adhere to the crayon. A paper was then laid onto the limestone block and pressed. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries during the circus poster “golden age” the posters were created by a team of artists who each contributed a different artistic aspect such as creating the letters, colors, portraits, or animals. These artists had to work together to turn the poster into a cohesive artwork. It was not until the 20^th century that talented artists were creating the entire poster themselves.  Roland Butler, Maxwell Frederic Coplan, and Charles Livingston Bull were famous circus poster artists and designers. Circus and entertainment posters were of big business in the late 19^th and early 20^th century and Strobridge & Company was the most well known and successful working with Barnum & Bailey Circus and later the Ringling Brothers Circus. A lawsuit between printing companies led to the ruling that a circus poster is a work of art and protected under the same copyright laws as a painting or sculpture. With advancements in technology and changes in society, circus posters were no longer needed by the 1970s; however, now they hold a high esteem in art history. Today, artists of the 21^st century are still creating art based around the circus. Artist Mary Beth McKenzie created a series of 13 monotypes, paintings or drawings that are printed on paper, that are bold and expressive much like the circus itself.  The monotypes were put in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) in 2005 and depict scenes from the Big Apple Circus when it came to New York in 2002.

Maxwell Frederic Coplan (1912-1985) was famous for his photography, capturing many extremely notable figures of his time.  He also spent a lot of time traveling with and capturing the Big Top Circus, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. In 1945 he published a book on circus pictures. He most often shot with a Reolleiflex camera.

Charles Livingston Bull (1874-1932) in 1914 created one of the most iconic circus poster images of all time- the leaping tiger. He was an American wildlife illustrator and taxidermist.

Strobridge & Company, based in Cinciati, Ohio, was one of America's most famous Lithography printing firms. The company was founded in 1847 by Elijah C. Middleton as a bookstore and stationary, and was initially focused on steel and copperplate engraving. The company eventually became world famous for its colorful, detailed, high quality designs, and by the turn of the century was the largest producer of circus, theatre, and magic posters in North America.

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS

This lesson will intertwine with reading, history, and language arts.  Students will engage with reading as we present two different books to the class about the history, production, life-style and performance behind the circus.  They will also learn about the history of lithography and how circus posters were an extremely important part of circus history; therefore, how they were printed, manufactured, and distributed is a principal part of our lesson. Additionally, they will learn about artists in history who photographed and illustrated for the circus. They will also focus on language arts when we discuss creating titles for our circus posters.  They will use illustrative words to bring a sense of narrative to their circus poster composition.

LESSON OVERVIEW

This lesson will be all about the circus: the animals, humans, performances, posters, fantasies, and movement that the circus represents. We will have intellectual and artistic conversation about the circus and all of it’s facets with the introduction of clips from The Greatest Showman, a beloved and exciting movie that the children already know, and clips from real life circuses. After discussion, students will be given time to transform conversation and ideas onto white paper with black ink pens.  They will fill their pages with circus animals, people, actions and performances.  These sketches will be an initial introduction to what the children know or believe about the circus, but will also be used a reference for later projects in the circus unit. Students will then be directed back to group discussion where they will learn about the history of circus posters.  They will learn about the invention of lithography and how it led to the circus poster golden age.  They will learn about famous circus poster artists and photographers. They will look at images of famous circus posters.  This will lead to conversation about the style of circus posters.  They will discuss the colors and patterns that appear on the posters.  They will discuss the composition and layout of circus posters. We will look at various examples and expand upon the examples and one another’s ideas.  They will be given a large white poster paper and will be a shown a teacher example.  They will be instructed to create a large middle circle, to leave space for the main figure(s) for their poster and surrounding the circle they will be instructed to create their own unique design and a title for their circus.  This instruction and planning will teach them about composing a poster and using style and design features that are circus inspired. We will close the class with discussion about composition, pattern design, title, and color scheme.  We will begin to talk about what the center focus of our circus poster will be.  Examples include fire breathing clowns, tight-rope-walking elephants, juggling monkeys, acrobatic flying humans, and more.  We will discuss how to give humans animal-like qualities and how to give animals human-like qualities.  We will discuss combining fantasy and the real. We will discuss performance art and movement in artwork.