Step 1 - Introducing the Winslow Homer Slideshow Guide

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2 Step 1 - Introducing the Winslow Homer Slideshow Guide MOTIVATION BEGIN READING HERE Would you like to be famous someday? For what would you like to be famous? Do you think it would be fun to be famous? I want you to imagine you are a famous artist. How would you feel about your privacy? Would you agree to be interviewed and photographed? Would you love or hate the attention? Today we re going to investigate the life and art of famous artist, Winslow Homer. Listen carefully and see how Winslow Homer felt about his privacy, and think about how you would feel if you were a famous artist. Click Start Lesson To Begin 1. SLIDE WINSLOW HOMER WITH HAT Click Audio SCRIPT: I feel outraged if a reporter asks me personal questions - that s only my business and nobody else! No one has the right to know about my personal feelings, and they better not ask! I would never think of writing about my life. I hate autobiographies and can t imagine why anyone would write everything about themselves for perfect strangers to read. It takes a lot of effort, but I try to keep my private life just as private as I can. In fact, I get terribly embarrassed when admirers come to visit my art studio. I don t even like my fellow artists to be around me -- especially if they comment on my pictures -- good or bad. In fact, once I found out my father was coming for a visit. I fooled him, though. I hung a sign outside my studio door that said, coal bin. That confused him, and he went away! I demand first and foremost uninterrupted time to paint. Every summer tourists come snooping around looking for me. To protect myself and my valuable time I put up signs -- Mr. Homer is not at home. And this sign really worked: Beware of snakes and mice! End Audio Continue Reading That s how Winslow Homer felt about his privacy as a famous artist. Would you feel that way or would you like the attention? Click Next To Change Slide 1 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

3 2. SLIDE LATE 1800s From looking at the photograph of Homer you can see that he was always well dressed. Notice the fashions of the late 1800s. And imagine buying a man s suit for a total of $10.00! Homer was very fashion conscious and often ordered new clothes from the best clothing stores in New York City. He was so successful as an artist he was able to afford many luxuries like expensive clothes and travel. Homer was considered good-looking as a young man with his handlebar mustache. Now that you have seen him and heard him, let s meet him by learning more about his life and his art. But remember, we don t know a lot of details about his life, because he was so private a person. Be sure to listen carefully, because at the end of the presentation we re going to play a game. - Click Next To Change Slide 3. SLIDE SHARPSHOOTER - BLACK & WHITE Homer was born on the east coast of America in Boston, Massachusetts. His first job as a young man was as an ILLUSTRATOR for the most popular newspaper of the day, Harper s Weekly. Because the camera was so newly invented, newspapers would send artists instead of photographers to cover news events. Homer s illustrations in the papers were popular from the beginning, and the newspaper sold many copies whenever Homer s pictures were included. He was busy illustrating the terrible war that was taking place between the North and South called the Civil War. Do you know who was president during that war? (ABRAHAM LINCOLN) But his illustrations were not typical battle scenes. His first pictures were of young ladies writing letters or sewing clothes for the soldiers. While traveling with the army of the North for the newspaper, he sketched everyday camp life instead of drawing spectacular scenes of battle. He was far more interested in painting soldiers sitting around campfires in the evening than in painting them when they were fighting. This slide shows one of his illustrations from a newspaper. He would sketch the picture and transfer the lines to a block of wood. Then someone would carve out all of Homer s lines in the block of wood with sharp tools. Then it would be inked and paper would be pressed to print the picture. This was called a WOODBLOCK PRINT. They were always in black and white, as you see here. What is this soldier doing? (HIDING IN TREES READY TO SHOOT ENEMY SOLDIERS) He is fighting for the army of the North. What clue did Homer draw that lets us know he is going to spend a long time up in the tree? (WATER CANTEEN HANGING ON TREE BRANCH) Homer s Civil War illustrations were so popular that he decided to redo some of them in oil paints. This drawing was the first one he did in oils. Let s take a look at the painting. Click Next To Change Slide 2 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

4 4. SLIDE SHARPSHOOTER COLOR How is the oil painting different from the woodblock print? (IN COLOR, NO WATER CANTEEN) The painting was placed on exhibition to sell. He told his older brother that if it did not sell, he would give up painting and take a full-time job at a newspaper. His brother secretly bought the painting. Homer didn t discover this until many years later. When he did find out, Homer was angry and refused to speak to his brother for weeks. By that time in his life, however, Homer was a popular artist. His brother s trick had worked! Do you think an artist paints about the same way throughout his life? Homer changed quite a bit, and you are going to help us find out about those changes. Click Next To Change Slide 5. SLIDE - HOMER S SUBJECTS Here is a chart to help you. Let s look at it together: Youth - When he was a young man, Homer painted Americans having fun and enjoying life. He showed the warm memories of his childhood days having fun out-of-doors. His early work was done by woodblock printing. Middle Age - Homer began painting men and women, rather than children. He showed them struggling against the strong forces of nature. His pictures began to tell stories, and they showed serious situations. He switched to oil paints. Old Age - He painted the sea and outdoor life, as he enjoyed it in his later years, camping, fishing, and hunting. He showed nature in beautiful watercolor and oil paintings. As you see all the slides of Homer s artwork, it is your job to decide into which category the picture fits. When I show you a new slide, tell me which category you think that picture was created during: Youth, Middle, or Old Age, on the chart. Look again at the categories before we go on. - Click Next To Change Slide 6. SLIDE HIGH TIDE (Category Youth) Can you determine into which category this picture falls? If you show #1 you are correct. What are these girls doing? (SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN) Have styles of bathing suits changed much from the late 1800s? Notice, they even wore bathing shoes! Homer illustrated and painted his girlfriend several times in the early 1870s. He wanted to marry her, but as an artist he didn t have a steady income to support her. So he remained a bachelor throughout his life. See if you can guess which girl in this picture was his girlfriend. If you guessed the girl seated on the beach fastening her bathing shoe, you were correct! This was an illustration printed in black and white on a woodblock. - Click Next To Change Slide 3 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

5 7. SLIDE - SNAP THE WHIP (Category Youth) The children are playing a game called Snap the Whip. Have you ever played this game where children line up, run and try to snap the children at the end of the line? Where are they? (AT SCHOOL, ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE) As you can see, the children Homer painted were not just little angels sitting still for portraits in their best clothes. He showed healthy children full of energy and adventure. Have you ever heard of the famous American author, Mark Twain, who wrote books like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? He was writing his books at the same time Homer was painting this picture. Twain showed humor, he showed everyday life. He showed country people in his books, just like the boys in Snap the Whip or the boys sailing swiftly through the water in the next painting called Breezing Up. Click Next To Change Slide 8. SLIDE - BREEZING UP (Category Youth) What is the FOCAL POINT of this painting, the part you notice first? (BOYS IN SAILBOAT) Do you see how the dark colors of the boat and boys CONTRAST with the light colored clouds and waves? Do you see the second sailboat off in the distance? Is it a larger boat? (YES) Even though it looks smaller because it s so far away, it is a much larger sailboat because of its extra sails. He originally painted this larger boat closer to the smaller boat. Sometimes artists will make changes to their paintings after they are completed. Homer moved this second boat farther to the right, so it wouldn t be too close to the focal point. But he didn t carefully paint over his original spot, because we can still see a faint trace of the boat on the horizon line just to the right of the small boat. We can call it the ghost ship! - Click Next To Change Slide 9. SLIDE - LIFELINE (Category Middle Age) If you showed me #2 for middle age, you are correct! His paintings began to tell stories during this time. Homer lived near the ocean all of his life, and he loved to paint its excitement and power. He called this Lifeline. This painting was his first to be called a masterpiece. It sold on the first day of the exhibition to a woman for $2,500, which was a very large amount of money in the late 1800s when men s suits cost only $10. Can you tell what is happening in this painting? (WOMAN IS BEING RESCUED) The woman and the man who is rescuing her are the FOCAL POINT. Look carefully at the upper left-hand corner of the picture. Do you see the sail of a wrecked ship? Can you tell what caused the shipwreck? (CRASHED INTO ROCKS DURING STORM) Do you think the woman in the painting survived? You can t really tell, because her head is back and 4 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

6 her eyes are closed. Homer got so tired of people asking him that question that he painted the picture again and called it a new name: Saved! What is the lightest part of the picture? (SPRAY OF WHITE WAVES) Do you see how Homer placed the dark figures of the people in contrast to the white spray to catch your attention? - Click Next To Change Slide 10. SLIDE - VALUE The use of lightness and darkness in art is called VALUE. A color can have many different values. You can take a color like red and make it darker by adding a little black to it. For lighter values, you would add white to a color. With enough white, you can turn red into what color? (PINK) Homer was a master at using value in his work. Click Next To Change Slide 11. SLIDE - GULFSTREAM (Category Middle Age) Homer painted this while traveling in the Bahama Islands and Florida, which he did to escape the cold New England winters. Many art experts consider this Homer s greatest masterpiece and yet he was never able to sell it. Maybe people didn t want this dangerous, scary scene hanging in their living rooms. Why is the man in danger? (SHARKS, BIG WAVES) The wood mast that holds up the sails broke off, so he can t get back home. He notices a waterspout, which is a small tornado close by. If it reaches the boat, it will certainly capsize, and he would end up in the water with the sharks. Will he be okay? Homer gives us a clue that there is hope for the man. What do you see? (FAR AWAY SHIP MIGHT RESCUE MAN) Click Next To Change Slide 12. SLIDE - DEER DRINKING (Category Old Age) In his older years Homer changed from using oil paints. Can you tell me what MEDIUM was used to paint this picture? (WATERCOLORS) This painting captures a rare instant when a wild animal is caught in an unexpected pose. Do you think Homer painted it on the spot when he saw the deer in the woods? The picture could really have been painted only from memory long after the deer darted away, when he heard Homer nearby. Doesn t it look a little transparent or see through? You can still see some of the pencil lines that he used to sketch the picture first. Can you tell what time of the year it is, and how do you know? (FALL BECAUSE OF THE LEAF COLORS OF ORANGE AND YELLOW) He enjoyed going on fishing and camping trips with his brother. He would take his art materials, so he could paint the beautiful outdoors, and it was much easier to use watercolors, because they dried very quickly. In Homer s later years, he painted only in watercolor and became a master at it. 5 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

7 Click Next To Change Slide 13. SLIDE - ADIRONDACK GUIDE (Category Old Age) This mountain guide took Homer and his brother on one of their fishing trips. Where do you see horizontal lines in this watercolor? (OARS, REFLECTIONS IN WATER, BACK OF BOAT) He contrasts these strong horizontal lines with the vertical line of the man. Don t you think Homer used brighter colors in his watercolors than in his oil paintings? (YES) - Click Next To Change Slide 14. SLIDE - RIGHT AND LEFT (Category Old Age) Homer painted this a year before he died and a few months after recovering from a paralyzing stroke. He tackled the theme of hunter and hunted once again in a surprising way. This shows a vivid close-up of the hunter s target, two golden-eye ducks shot as they rise from the choppy water. The title is Right and Left. When a hunter saw the untitled canvas he cried out, Right and Left. That is the hunter s term for bringing down two birds with blasts from a double-barreled shotgun. His statement became Homer s title. Look closely; can you see the hunter in the boat? How can you tell he s hunting? (SMOKE FROM GUN, RED OF FIRING GUN) How did he create the focal point? (LIGHT AND VALUE) - Click Next To Change Slide 15. SLIDE - WINSLOW HOMER IN STUDIO Homer was such a private person that this is the only photograph ever taken of him in his studio. Notice the painting on the easel behind him. The shark painting he couldn t sell was already ten years old and still sitting in his studio. He had a view of the ocean from this studio. Homer continued to grow and change in art throughout his lifetime, as you have seen. He was very popular with the public and the art critics. He, however, detested critics and valued the judgment of ordinary people the most. He was considered the best American painter in the 1890s. Click the Next and read Pierre s final thoughts on Homer When complete, click Back To Units 6 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

8 Step 2 - Learning From: Winslow Homer Values Value is the scale of one color as it goes from lightest to darkest. Make a value scale with your pencil by filling in the boxes. Use the side of the pencil lead, not the tip. Make another value scale without using the boxes. Illustration in the magazines and newspapers of Homer s time were made with black lines only. He made black (lines very close together) and white (no lines) and all the grays in between using only lines. Create your own valeue scale using lines. Make your lines vertical. 7 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

9 Coloring With Value Color this picture using different values of one color. Show contrast by putting different values next to each other. Leave some areas white. 8 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

10 ARTIST PROFILE SLIPS The last few pages of this section contain the Art Activity for Winslow Homer. This step-by-step outline will be a guide for instructing your child(ren) through the activity. The parent/teacher should review all steps necessary to complete this project before beginning any work. Cut out the Artist Profile Slip below and attach it to the back of your completed art project. Winslow Homer (HOE-mer) - American ( ) American Native Winslow Homer, showed us what life in the United States was like in the late 1800 s. His superb mastery of value (light and dark) produced beautiful works of art through woodblock prints, watercolor, and oils. Art Activity Emphasis: Value (light and dark) Techniques Media: Ages 5-9 Torn Paper and Crayon Ages 10 - Adult Art Pencils Winslow Homer (HOE-mer) - American ( ) American Native Winslow Homer, showed us what life in the United States was like in the late 1800 s. His superb mastery of value (light and dark) produced beautiful works of art through woodblock prints, watercolor, and oils. Art Activity Emphasis: Value (light and dark) Techniques Media: Ages 5-9 Torn Paper and Crayon Ages 10 - Adult Art Pencils 9 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

11 Step 3 - Working With: Art Activity Instructions ARTIST Winslow Homer (HOE-mer) ( ) American ART ELEMENTS Value MEDIA Artist s Pencil VOCABULARY Value, realism, wood block print TECHNIQUE Value Tracing EMPHASIS Use of line and value VISUAL Artist Print: Spring Farm Work - Grafting SUGGESTED MUSIC Music from the 1800 s MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTOR AND CHILDREN One - 6" x 9" sheet of white construction paper One - 6" x 9" sheet of tracing paper One - 9" x 12" sheet of black construction paper One - 8.5" x 11" sheet of white scrap paper Artist Profile Slip Line Drawings One 4B (soft lead) pencil One 4H (hard lead) pencil 2" piece of masking tape Glue and erasers PREPARATION Place the Homer print where it can be easily seen. Set your demonstration papers on your work space. Make sure the pencils have been sharpened. SET-UP [ 5 minutes ] Distribute the following materials to each child: SUPPLIES: 4B pencils, 4H pencils, line drawings PAPER: White drawing paper, tracing paper, black construction paper, white scrap paper, and the artist profile slip. 10 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

12 ORIENTATION [ 3 to 5 minutes ] Today you will be creating a small Homer-style drawing using only values. Can you tell me what VALUE is? (LIGHT AND DARK) You will transform the lines from a line drawing into values. Homer was a master at showing value with line. His line drawings were cut into wood by engravers to make WOOD BLOCK PRINTS. The wood blocks could be set with type to print newspapers with pictures. In your Learning Packets, you studied some of the ways engravers show light and dark. (Show an example of value lines from the Learning Packet - page 7) Today you will trace these drawings without the lines! You will show only the values. Let s get organized so we can begin! ORGANIZE YOUR WORK AREA [ 3 minutes ] 1. Put your black and white paper out of the way. 2. Tear your masking tape in half. 3. Put your tracing paper over the drawing and tape it gently at the top corners. 4. Put your scrap paper, pencils, and artist profile slip to the top corners of your work space. USING ART PENCILS [ 2 to 3 minutes ] Pick up the light or hard-lead pencil (preferably marked 4H), and use the side to make a value scale from light to dark on your scrap paper. (Indicate which is the scrap paper.) Then pick up the dark or soft-lead pencil (preferably marked 4B), and do the same. Which pencil would you use to make a dark value? You will use the side of your dark, soft-lead pencil to make the darkest values. Since you will not be drawing any lines today, you will use the side (not the point) of the pencil lead. TRACING VALUES [ 30 minutes ] 1. Cover the bottom two thirds of your tracing paper with the scrap paper. 2. Starting in an upper corner, and using the side of the hard 4H pencil, press firmly over areas that are dark. Begin lightly and work towards darker values. It is always possible to make an area darker using the 4B pencil. It is difficult to make it lighter. 3. Try to keep your strokes all going in the same direction. 4. Press lightly over areas that are light. Leave some areas white. 5. Switch to the soft 4B pencil for very dark areas. 6. To check progress, place your scrap paper between your line drawing and your tracing paper. 7. When you complete the upper third of your value tracing, move the scrap paper down and continue working. The scrap paper protects the tracing from smears (it smears very easily)! MOUNTING TRACINGS [ 5 minutes ] 11 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

13 1. When your tracing is complete, glue it on the white paper: Center it on the white paper, and then use just a tiny dab of glue in each corner to hold it. Because the pencil smears easily, do not press on the finished drawing at all. Instead, place the scrap paper over the drawing before you press it down. 2. Center the value tracing on the black paper, and glue it in the same way. 3. Be sure to add your signature in the margin. MOUNTING THE ARTIST PROFILE SLIP [ 2 minutes ] (Profile slips for each artist are provided. They give a brief description of the artist, the technique, and the media used in the art activity. They should be mounted on the back of each art project after it is completed.) 1. Write your name on the front of the artist profile slip. 2. Using glue, mount the profile slip on the back of your artwork. 3. Encourage children to discuss their artwork with others using this artist slip of information. CONCLUSION Homer created many interesting and beautiful outdoor scenes, as you have done today with your many values. He loved to show people having fun outdoors. And now you have created wonderful "miniature Homers" by only using value. GUIDANCE Make sure students use only the side of their pencils. They should be concentrating on making values from lines, not tracing the lines. A few of the lines may be traced to show edges and to preserve REALISM, as a finishing touch. Example: Details on faces. EXTENSION To translate values into lines: Place tracing paper over newspaper or other black and white pictures. Secure with tape. Trace values with groups of lines only. Substitute primary pencils for soft leaded pencils (#4B) and use them for the dark lines. Substitute #2B pencils for hard leaded pencils (#4H) and use them for light lines. THIS CONCLUDES THE WINSLOW HOMER UNIT. 12 WINSLOW HOMER Ages 10 Adult MeetTheMasters Online Edition

14 Line Drawing for Winslow Homer, Ages 10 - Adult Art Activity

15 Line Drawing for Winslow Homer, Ages 10 - Adult Art Activity