Step 1 - Introducing the Frederic Remington Slideshow Guide

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2 Step 1 - Introducing the Frederic Remington Slideshow Guide MOTIVATION BEGIN READING HERE Do you know what a time machine is? Have you ever been for a ride in one? Would you like to take a trip today in a time machine? Let s get ready for take-off! Fasten your seat belts and strap on your helmets. I m going to push this button so our time machine knows to go backwards in time. How far back in time should we travel? That will be your surprise! And where will we land? That s your other surprise! Are you ready? Help me with the countdown in a quiet voice BLAST OFF! We re going back, back, back in time. Oh, I see so many interesting things, do you? We re passing the year you were born; we just passed the year your grandparents were born! Now we re entering the 1800 s, and I think I will stop us here. Hold on while I push the STOP button! It s the year We traveled back in time over years! Do you know where you are? It looks like we ve landed in the Old West! I see cowboys on horses. What do you see? (ANSWERS WILL VARY) I see something you haven t noticed. I see a man walking around who doesn t look like everyone else. He isn t dressed like the cowboys, but he isn t a Native American either. Instead of carrying a gun or a saddle, he has a sketchbook and pencil in his hands. He is very busy drawing everything in sight. Who do you suppose he is, and what is he doing? (HE IS AN ARTIST). The man s name is Frederic Remington, and he drew and painted pictures of the Old West. Do you think that would have been exciting? All his life, Frederic Remington was interested in the West, even though he lived in New York, in the East. He finally was able to go west when he was a teenager, and from that time it was the center of his life. If he wasn t living there, he was painting it. Would you like to see his pictures of the Old West? His art will show us what life was really like during that time. Click Start Lesson To Begin 1 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

3 1. CAVALRYMAN S BREAKFAST ON THE PLAINS What kind of Western characters do you see in this painting? (ARMY MEN) Can you tell what they are doing? (COOKING) It is morning and the men are making their breakfast. I want you to think of what you had for breakfast this morning. For breakfast everyday while these men were away from their fort, they had thick black coffee, greasy bacon, and perhaps a rock-hard biscuit or two. And that was it for the whole day, no lunch. Was your breakfast better than that? And I bet you re hungry again by lunchtime. To know what life was like for these men, Remington went on horseback and camped out with them. Picture Remington sitting around the campfire with these men, sketchbook in hand. He saw everything about their daily life. Look carefully at this picture, and tell me if you find the same things I do. I see bullets on the man s belt. I see a man smoking a pipe. I see a canteen to hold water. I see smoke rising from their campfires. What else do you see? (ANSWERS WILL VARY) Very good looking! All of those DETAILS that Remington was so careful to put in his pictures make the pictures look real. Do you think this looks real, like we re sitting around the campfire with Remington? (YES) Remington was a REALISTIC painter. Tell me if this next slide seems real to you. Click Next To Change Slide 2. HIS FIRST LESSON Is it natural for a horse to want a saddle and rider on his back? (NO) Here Remington is showing us a horse s First Lesson in having a saddle and rider on his back. Does he look like he is enjoying his lesson? (NO) Is the cowboy being very careful? (YES) Breaking a horse in without getting kicked is very tricky. Does the horse just stand there once the cowboy gets on his back? (NO) What happens? (BUCKS, LEAPS, RUNS) What little details did Remington paint into this picture titled His First Lesson? (ANSWERS WILL VARY) Is this is a realistic painting? (YES) Good for you! Remington loved horses and knew a lot about them. When he was a little boy his father trained horses. Frederic learned to ride when he was about your age, and always enjoyed horses. He also liked to draw pictures, and his favorite things to draw were horses, soldiers, and Native Americans. Look for Native Americans in the next picture. Click Next To Change Slide 2 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

4 3. SLIDE A DASH FOR THE TIMBER What do you think is happening here? (INDIANS & COWBOYS ARE FIGHTING) Who is in the most danger? (COWBOYS) Why? (OUTNUMBERED) Isn t this an exciting moment that Remington painted? How does it make you feel? He was a master at showing excitement and danger and inviting us in to feel that action. Let s look at all the realistic details he shows us. Are all the cowboys dressed the same? (NO) Remington painted the details of their clothing. Are the horses different? (YES) What do you see packed in the saddles? (PANS, ROPES, BLANKETS) Now let s look at the Native Americans. Can we see as many little details like we could on the cowboys? (NO) Because they are further away, we can t see detail. That is the way Remington shows us the Native Americans are in the BACKGROUND, and the cowboys are in the FOREGROUND. Do you think Remington was standing there drawing this dangerous, fast chase? (NO) He never really saw a fight in person. He would sit around the campfires with the cowboys late at night and listen to their exciting and dangerous adventures. In his mind he would change the words into pictures and then into sketches. Now I want you to look behind the people and action at the LANDSCAPE that Remington painted. Here, too, he painted realistic details of what the Western landscape really looked like. Can you describe it to me? (DESERT, FEW TREES, DRY, DUSTY, LOW FLAT MOUNTAINS) Remington was also very talented in another type of artwork. What will it be? Click Next To Change Slide 4. PHOTO OF REMINGTON S STUDIO He would later go back to his home in New York, a long way away, and paint the scene. To help him, he would bring home all kinds of Western things and surround himself with these objects. Listen as a friend describes Remington s studio where he painted. Click Audio Props hang on walls and litter the floor axes, clubs, saddles, bows and arrows, moccasins, head-dresses, lariats even a small Indian canoe. End Of Audio Continue Reading Can you see how Remington used all those props when he painted his pictures? Click Next To Change Slide 3 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

5 5. COMING THROUGH THE RYE Is this a painting? (NO) It is a SCULPTURE by Remington, but it has as many details as his paintings. He is as famous for his sculptures as he is for his paintings. There s so much excitement that it s fun to first let your eyes wander over the sculpture wherever they want to go. (PAUSE) Now let s study it more closely. Notice how each horse s head is held in a different position. Do they look like they are galloping very hard? (YES) Notice how the artist shows the powerful action of the horses legs. Above the horses, we see that the positions of the cowboys heads are just like the horses heads. If the horse s head is up, the cowboy s head is up. Look at each one to compare. Does this make you feel how much the horse and the cowboy worked together as one? A sculptor came to town to work on a statue of a general on a horse. Remington watched him work and became more and more interested. He had never tried to work this way before. The sculptor gave him some tools, and Remington worked all summer. Even in his sculpture, Remington made it look realistic with a lot of detail. Can you find the smoke from the shooting guns? Remington cleverly used a wire to show that smoke. Would you like to see a self-portrait by Remington? Click Next To Change Slide 6. SELF-PORTRAIT ON HORSE Here is a self-portrait by Frederic Remington. Remember I told you he didn t dress like a cowboy? Well, for this portrait he painted himself in Western clothes. Click Next To Change Slide 7. PHOTO OF REMINGTON He usually wore a huge red coat, tight riding breeches, and hunting boots like the English would wear. He was a big, heavy man with red hair when he was young. Everyone liked him with his big smile and love of the West. Aren t you glad he showed us what the West was really like? I think it s time we start our return trip back. Have you enjoyed your visit in the Old West with Frederic Remington? Let s fasten our seatbelts and put on our helmets. Get ready for take-off. Softly count with me, BLAST OFF! My dial shows the year 1920, 1950, 1980, I had better stop us quickly or we ll travel right past (CURRENT YEAR)! Thanks for being 4 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

6 such a good traveler on our time machine today. Did you enjoy your trip to Remington s Old West? You were an excellent time-machine traveler! Click the Next and read Pierre s final thoughts on Remington When complete, click Back To Units 5 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

7 Step 2 - Learning From: Frederic Remington Landscape Drawing A landscape is a picture of land. A landscape may have hills in the background. Draw some flat topped hills in this box. Use your pencil.a desert landscape may have desert plants in foreground. This cactus grows in the desert that Remington painted. Draw some hills behind it. Make them like desert hills. 6 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

8 Landscape Details Look at the shape of this cactus. It is like two of yours fingers Using your pointer finger and thumb, trace around them to make that shape. Thorns are short and sharp Draw cactus and add thorns. Thorns grow in groupings of 2 or 3 Remington painted the houses the Indians lived in. Look at the shape and details of the tepees Add 2 or 3 tepees to this landscape. Make them big in the foreground. Make them small in the background. 7 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

9 The last few pages of this section contain the Art Activity for Frederic Remington. This step-by-step outline will be a guide for instructing your child(ren) through the activity. The parent/instructor 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 the completed art project. Frederic Remington (REM-ing-tun) - American ( ) Remington painted pictures of the American Old West. He was a realistic painter who recorded details of a vanishing way of life. His beautiful landscapes and action-packed scenes help us to relive the Old West. Art Activity Emphasis: Realism in Western Landscapes Frederic Remington (REM-ing-tun) - American ( ) Remington painted pictures of the American Old West. He was a realistic painter who recorded details of a vanishing way of life. His beautiful landscapes and action-packed scenes help us to relive the Old West. Art Activity Emphasis: Realism in Western Landscapes 8 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

10 Step 3 - Working With: Art Activity Instructions ARTIST Frederic Remington (REM-ing-tun) ( ) American ART ELEMENTS Realism MEDIA Chalk, crayon TECHNIQUE Torn and cut paper, chalk, crayon detail EMPHASIS Landscape composition VOCABULARY Landscape silhouette, horizon line VISUAL Print: The Old Stagecoach of the Plains SUGGESTED MUSIC Music from the late 1800s or western Music MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTOR AND CHILDREN One 12 X 18 sheet of magenta construction paper Two 6 X 18 sheets of black construction paper One 3 x 3 piece of scrap paper (if using white liquid glue) Tissue or paper towel Artist profile slip Colored chalk Black crayon Q-tip (white glue applicator) Glue Scissors PREPARATION Construct an example to become familiar with the procedure. Place the Remington print and your demonstration papers horizontally where they can be easily seen. Arrange materials nearby. SET-UP [ 5 minutes ] Distribute the following materials to each child: SUPPLIES: Black crayon, colored chalk, Q-tip PAPER: One 12 x 18 sheet of magenta paper, two 6 x 18 sheets of black paper, one piece of 3 x 3 scrap paper, tissue, and artist profile slip ORIENTATION [ 5 minutes ] What did our artist, Frederic Remington, love to paint? (COWBOYS AND NATIVE AMERICANS) To make his paintings seem real, Remington painted the LANDSCAPE of the 9 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

11 West behind them. What was the land like out West? Was it cool and rainy, or hot and dry? (HOT AND DRY) What kind of plants grew there? (CACTUS, SCRUB BRUSH, GRASSES) Today we will make a silhouette landscape of the old West. What is a silhouette? (BLACK SHAPES AGAIST A LIGHTER BACKGROUND) Let s pretend night is falling on a Native American campground and get ready to begin! DEMONSTRATION AND ACTIVITY Have the students repeat each step immediately with their materials. ORGANIZE YOUR WORK AREA [ 2 minutes ] 1. Arrange your magenta 12 x 18 paper horizontally on your desk. (DEMONSTRATE) 2. Put two pieces of black paper under your chair. 3. Place the glue, Q-tip, scissors, chalk, crayon, and artist profile slip at the top the your workspace. THE COLORED CHALK Have you used colored chalk before? It is very dusty, like the desert! It needs to be used very carefully: 1. If you have long sleeves, roll them up! 2. Press very gently on the chalk, so that you won t make a lot of dust! 3. Each time you finish with a color, put it in the chalk container, instead of on the desk. 4. Use your tissue to wipe the dust off your fingers. COLORING THE SKY WITH CHALK [ 7 minutes ] (Demonstrate as you explain.) 1. Find the center of the bottom of your magenta paper. 2. Put a dot three fingers above that center point with your lightest color. 3. Working from light to dark, and using the side of your chalks, make a rainbow of color, starting small and getting larger, until you reach the top and outside edges of the magenta paper. a. Start at the center dot. b. Press gently on the side of the chalk. c. Use gently curved strokes similar to a rainbow. d. Set aside. 10 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

THE DESERT LANDSCAPE [ 7 minutes ] The desert has many interesting hills, mountains, and plateaus. What is a plateau? (A flattopped mountain) We will create an interesting horizon line by tearing.

12 THE DESERT LANDSCAPE [ 7 minutes ] The desert has many interesting hills, mountains, and plateaus. What is a plateau? (A flattopped mountain) We will create an interesting horizon line by tearing. What is a horizon line? (The line that separates the earth from the sky.) 1. Using one of your black 6 x 18 papers, we will only work with the top edge. 2. Keep at least one large flat space for a plateau, by not tearing that area at all. This will be for the tepees. 3. Start down about one hand from the top of your paper. 4. Hold the paper down on your desk with one hand and pull up on the paper with the other hand. The paper will tear in the direction you pull. So if you want your mountain to go up first, pull toward the top of the paper, if you want it to go down, pull down. 5. Turn your landscape over and using the Q-tip, put a small outline of glue around the outer edge. 6. Pick up your magenta paper and glue your black paper mountains onto it with the bottom edges and side edges matching. CUTTING AND GLUING TEPEES [ 7 minutes ] 1. Fold the remaining black 6 x 18 rectangle in half and cut along the fold. 2. Taking one of the 6 x 9 rectangles, fold it in half, and cut it in half. Using one 6 x 4. rectangle, fold it in half. 3. Using your scissors, cut a large triangle shape, keeping the bottom edge of the rectangle as the bottom edge of the triangle. Repeat with other 6 x 4. rectangle. There should be four triangles. 4. Separate and arrange one to four tepees on your plateau area. Cutting may vary sizes. Remind the students that objects become smaller in the distance. CUTTING AND GLUING CACTUS [ 10 minutes ] 1. Taking the last 6 x 9 rectangle, fold it in half, and cut on the fold. 2. Using your pointer finger and thumb, arrange them on the folded black rectangle to resemble a cactus. Trace around them with the black crayon, continuing the outline to the bottom edge. 3. Repeat with the other black rectangle varying the shape if desired. 4. Arrange them on your horizon line and lightly glue teepees and cacti in position, tucking the bottoms behind the paper mountains. 5. Remind the students that they do not need to use all of the tepees and all of the plant (cactus) shapes. 11 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

13 ADDING THE BLACK DETAIL [ 5 minutes ] 1. Using the black crayon, and remembering this is a silhouette, any outline detail can be added. 2. Make suggestions of poles coming out the top of the tepees, a fire, or other. What size would these details be? (SMALL, AS THEY ARE FAR AWAY) Let s keep this realistic in the style of Remington! 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 students to discuss their artwork with others using this artist slip of information. CONCLUSION Remington studied the Indians of the old West. Did the Native Americans like to have their pictures drawn? (NO) So let s sneak up on our Indian villages to peek at their campgrounds. Very quietly tiptoe to the sides of the room, so we can see your wonderful silhouette landscapes. GUIDANCE A good time to play the suggested period music is during the art activity. The MTM CD-ROM has music which can be played for each artist. To play the music, click on the Audio icon which can be found on the first page of each Artist Unit below Ages 10 - Adult. THIS CONCLUDES THE FREDERIC REMINGTON UNIT. 12 FREDERIC REMINGTON Ages 5 7 MeetTheMasters Online Edition

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