Groovy Garbage: Flower Power!

Transcription

1 Groovy Garbage: Flower Power! Project Overview Using their knowledge of plant biology, students combined recycled materials to create their own imaginary plants. They then arranged these sculptures into an indoor garden for all to enjoy. During the process of creating their fantastic flora, students wrote a song about plants. Essential Question: What would our world be like without plants? What do plants need to thrive? Artistic Goals: 1. Students will understand the difference between 2-D and 3-D shapes. 2. Students will be able to create a sculpture that balances on its own. Curricular Goals: 1. Students will know many of the parts of a plant. 2. Students will understand the difference between a real and imaginary plant. National Content Standards Addressed: National Arts-Visual Arts K-4.1: Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes Students describe how different materials, techniques, and processes cause different responses. Students use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories. National Arts-Visual Arts K-4.6: Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines Students understand and use similarities and differences between characteristics of the visual arts and other arts disciplines. National Science NS.K-4.3: Life Science Processes Students understand the characteristics and life cycles of organisms, and the relationship between organisms and their environments. Part 1: Learning About Plants What is a plant? What do plants need to thrive? Activity 1: 1 Looking For Shapes Working in groups, students found shapes in pictures of plants. They drew the shapes they found and wrote observations in their sketchbooks. Inquiry Artwork: Peter Fischli and David Weiss, untitled (Flowers), Materials: sketchbooks, pencils, images of plants (see resources)

2 Activity 2: Observing Plants Students made a class list of what artists do when they draw from observation. They then went outside to draw plants in groups. Each group drew a plant for about ten minutes, and then switched to draw another plant. At the end of the session students began to share ideas about what plants need to thrive, and how people use plants for their class song. Materials: Sketchbooks, pencils, colored pencils, marker and flip chart paper Activity 3: Songwriting As a class, students wrote the lyrics to their song about plants. Referring to the ideas they brainstormed in the previous session, they discussed what plants need to thrive and how they affect our lives. Materials: large paper, pencils mä~åíë> têáííéåäóo åç Öê~ÇÉëíìÇÉåíëÑêçãmpNROI ïáíüíé~åüáåö~êíáëíj~êâaòìä~ pééíüéíêééëäóíüéêáîéêëáçé\ q~ää~åçöêééåiçüíüéóäççâëçåáåé qüéóüéäéíüéé~êíü qüéóüéäéâéééìë~äáîéi pçïü~íççéä~åíëåééçi tü~íççéä~åíëåééçíçíüêáîé\ t~íéêi qçüéäéíüéãöêçïìéëíêçåö pìåëüáåéi qüêçìöüçìííüéïüçäéç~óäçåö pçáä~åçåäé~å~áê kìíêáéåíë~åçå~êé mäéåíóçñåéïëééçë ^êéïü~íéîéêóéä~åíåééçëj qçqeofsb> Part 2: Learning about 3-D 3 shapes How do we transform 2-D images into 3-D images? Activity 4: Recycling To prepare for building their artwork, students looked around their own classroom and in classrooms throughout their school to collect recyclable items. They also searched their neighborhoods and homes to add to their collection. They found items such as cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, and egg cartons. Materials: recyclables EpéçâÉåFaáÇóçìâåçïíÜ~ííÜÉãçêÉïÉí~âÉ Å~êÉçÑéä~åíëIíÜÉãçêÉíÜÉóí~âÉÅ~êÉçÑìë\ vé~üiíüéóã~âéçìêäáîéëäéííéêáåëçã~åóï~óëi ÑçêÉñ~ãéäÉW qüéóöáîéìëäçíëçññççç qüéóöáîéìëäçíëçññêìáí qüéóöáîéìë~áê qüéóâéééóçìüé~äíüóïáíüåìíêáéåíë qüéóöáîéìëïçççíçäìáäçíüáåöë qüéóûêéã~çéáåíçé~ééê vçìå~åäìáäç~íêééüçìëé qüéó~êéüçãéëñçêäáêçë qüéóã~âéíüéïçêäçäé~ìíáñìä qüéóûêéã~çéáåíçåäçíüéë qüéóûêéã~çéáåíçåü~áêë qüéóëãéääêé~ääóåáåé

3 Activity 5: Creating a Shape Museum Students compared the shapes in the plants they had drawn and the shapes in the recycled materials they had collected, making connections between 2-D and 3-D shapes. Students also looked at sculptures, and discussed how artists create three-dimensional compositions. Inquiry Artwork: Isamu Noguchi, The Cry, 1959 Materials: images, recyclables, sketchbooks, pencils Part 3: Imagining New Plants What imaginary plant could I invent that could contribute to the world I live in? Activity ity 6: Sculpture Practice Students explored building with the recycled materials in order to prep for their sculpture. Each student was given two pieces and asked to attach or transform them such as making the pieces balance, change in size or create a new shape. Next, students sketched the sculpture they had created in their sketchbooks. Materials: recyclables, tape, glue, scissors, pencils, sketchbooks Activity 7: Plant Design Students sketched their ideas for imaginary plants in their sketchbook. They considered the ways plants affect our lives, and designed a plant that would affect our lives in a new way. These imaginary plants were required to include at least two real plant parts (i.e. stem, flowers, leaves, etc.). Recommended time: one 45-minute session Materials: sketchbooks, pencils Activity 8: 8 Constructing Sculptures Students used recycled materials to create sculptural versions of their plants. As they worked, they experimented with several ways of attaching and transforming their materials. Before the sculptures were considered completed, they had to be able to balance, and had to hold together when shaken. Recommended Time: three 45-minute sessions Materials: recycled materials, tape

4 Activity 9: Final Touches After students completed their structures, they were introduced to another art material: colored tape. Students were given a challenge in which they covered an index card with this tape, attaching it in as many different ways as they could think of. After familiarizing themselves with the tape and how to use it, students covered their sculptures in selected colors that they felt corresponded to an element that that plant would need to thrive for example, one student used blue to symbolize water, and another chose yellow to represent sun. Recommended Time: three 45-minute sessions Materials: colored tape, index cards, scissors

5 oéëçìêåéë Books: Burnie, David. Plant. New York: DK Eyewitness books, Dorling Kindersley, Inc. Plants. New York: Dorling Kindersley, Web sites: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Guggenheim Resources: Arts Curriculum Online: A Guide to the Architecture of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Arts Curriculum Online: Cai Guo Qiang: I Want to Believe. arts-curriculum-online?viewcategory&id727

6 Sample Inquiry Plans Peter Fischli and David Weiss W Untitled (Flowers), Selection from portfolio of 111 inkjet prints, 29 1/8 x 42 1/3 inches each. Image also available at Inquiry script: What do you notice? What similarities and differences can you find between the two overlapping pictures? These pictures were taken by two different artists. One took pictures in a rose garden; the film was then rewound, and the other artist took pictures over the same film in a park. Which setting are you more drawn to, and why? Draw the flowers in one of these scenes, making sure to capture the shapes of all of the different plant parts. What new things did you notice as you drew?

7 Isamu Noguchi The Cry, Balsa wood and steel, 87 x 33 1/2 x 18 3/4 inches. Image also available at Inquiry Script: Sketch this artwork. What did you notice about the artwork as you drew? How do you think this sculpture was made? Looking carefully at the sculpture, try to imagine everything the artist might have had to do from beginning to end of this process. The artist was interested in nature, in particular (in this sculpture) in the wind. How might this interest have effected the choices he made as he created this piece?