Class 1 Introduction The Sleeping Gypsy (Rousseau) Les Demoiselles d Avignon (Picasso) Project Ideas ARTWORK DISCUSSED: The Sleeping Gypsy by Rousseau PROJECT: 1. Write a Short Story. The children can write a short story about what is about to happen with the lion and the woman in the desert. Supplies: Lined paper and writing supplies. 2. Draw a dream scene. Have the students create a scene from one of their dreams or from their imagination. They can include a far-away place that they have never seen. (This can also be done for class 2, I and the Village by Chagall) Supplies: Colored pencils or Cray-pas and other drawing supplies. ARTWORK DISCUSSED: Les Demoiselles d Avignon by Picasso PROJECT: 1. Design Masks. Make masks from paper plates (available in the Learning to Look closet). The children can draw the faces in a manner similar to the manner in which Picasso painted the faces in the paintings. Take individual and group photos for the Learning to Look books.
Supplies: Paper plates, coloring supplies, scissors, and a camera 2. Cubist Collage. Cut up various body parts from magazines and bring them to class. Let the children sort through these and glue them onto paper to create their own cubist rendering of a person. Supplies: Cut-out body parts from magazines (about 10 12 items per child). Some spare cut outs may be found in an envelope located in an envelope in the Learning to Look closet. But, please do not count on this to be available. This project turns out well, but leave yourself adequate time to prepare. You will also need paper and glue-sticks.
Class 2 Surrealist Vision/Abstract Art I and the Village (Chagall) The Persistence of Memory (Dali) Broadway Boogie Woogie (Mondrian) Project Ideas ARTWORK DISCUSSED: I and the Village by Chagall PROJECT: Draw in Chagall s style. Have the students draw a picture of a favorite location. Have them change the colors of common objects into something more unusual (such as a purple house or a red tree). Have them think about the way that they are placing complimentary colors next to each other. Supplies: Colored pencils, crayons and other drawing supplies, consider using dark paper for the background and craypas.
ARTWORK DISCUSSED: I and the Village by Chagall, The Persistence of Memory, by Dali PROJECT: Draw a portrait. Have the children draw a portrait (or even a self-portrait ) by drawing various symbols of that person about a piece of paper. For example, a drawing of their friend could depict a soccer ball, a piano, and a blue house about the page. Supplies: Paper and drawing materials ARTWORK DISCUSSED: Broadway Boogie Woogie by Mondrian PROJECT: Make a Mondrian. Cut up in advance red, blue, yellow, paper rectangles of varying sizes. Have the children use the materials to create their own Mondrian-like collages. Supplies: White paper, pre-cut construction paper, glue-sticks. Some precut pieces may be available, but you may also need to cut some yourself. Do not leave the preparation to the last minute!
Class 3 Surrealist Vision/Abstract Art The Hunter (Miró) Mural (Pollock) Project Ideas ARTWORK DISCUSSED: Jackson Pollock paintings PROJECT: Make a Drip Painting. Lay plastic garbage bags or brown painters paper on the hallway floor for the children to work on. Mix tempera paint with water (2 tablespoons paint to 1 teaspoon water) plastic cups and mix until it is just dripable. Each child will receive one cup with one color of paint. Use 4 different colors of paint so that for every group of 4 students, each student will receive a different color of paint. Cut each piece of poster board in half. Lay out poster board halves on plastic, one-half piece of poster board for every 4 students. PROJECT: Divide the class into groups of 4 children and direct each group to their own piece of poster board. Give students in each group a cup with a different color of paint and a popsicle stick and/or plastic spoon for dripping the paint. Have the kids spend about 5-10 minutes dripping paint as a group onto their poster board. Take photos of the kids working. Leave the artworks to dry. They can be cut later into pieces for the project books. NOTE: Secure teacher s permission ahead of time to use the hallway or a multipurpose room for this project. SUPPLIES: Poster board, tempera paint, popsicle sticks, plastic spoons, and plastic garbage bags/painters paper (located in the Learning to Look closet). Bring a camera to take photos. ARTWORK DISCUSSED: The Hunter by Miró PROJECT: Draw a portrait. [THIS IS A REPEAT OF A PROJECT FROM CLASS #2.] Have the children draw a portrait (or even a self-portrait ) by drawing various symbols of that person
about a piece of paper. For example, a drawing of their friend could depict a soccer ball, a piano, and a blue house about the page. Supplies: Paper and drawing materials
Class 4 Matisse and Modern Sculpture Dance (First Version) (Matisse) Lobster Trap and Fish Tail (Calder) Project Ideas ARTWORK DISCUSSED: Lobster Trap and Fish Tail by Calder PROJECT: Design a Mobile. First the children can create odd-shaped cut-outs from construction paper. Then help the students punch holes through their cut-outs for hanging. They can select pipe-cleaners for each cut-out and cut the pipe-cleaners to varying lengths. One end of each pipe-cleaner should be threaded and twisted tight around the hold of a cut-out. The other end of each pipe-cleaner should be wrapped around and suspended from a wooden dowel. Once all cut-outs are dangling from the dowel, help the children to tie a length of string around the dowel for hanging the mobile. Point out to the children how hard it is for the artist to balance the items on the mobile so that it doesn t tip over when it hangs! Take photos for the Learning to Look books. SUPPLIES: Wooden dowels, pipe-cleaners, hole-punches, construction paper (located in the Learning to Look closet in a box of materials for this project), scissors, and a camera.
Class 5 [OPTIONAL] Review/Wrap Up Café or Museum Review game Review Ideas Review Game: The game as described here worked well for 5 th graders but may be modified for other grades as well. We recommend playing this game by classroom table or otherwise dividing the kids into teams. Using the modern art curriculum put the artists names on strips of paper and put the titles of the works of art onto strips of paper. Cover up identifying information that is included on the posters and place them around the room. Have the teams match up the works of art, the artist names and the titles. This could be done where each team is given two posters to do label or could be arranged so that all teams are labeling all posters. Compare results. A couple of variations could be that you add fake artist names and/or fake titles. You could also consider adding works of art that the older kids have seen in prior years as a reminder of what they have seen throughout the years. Café or Museum: Secure the use of a multipurpose room or the classroom or the hallway. Set up the posters and the kids projects. Consider whether to include food and/or whether to include parents in this activity. Volunteers could act as tour guides or kids could act as tour guides. A variation may be to make this a buddy class activity to show off projects.
OTHER: These projects relate to works no longer included in the curriculum. We left them in because they may give you ideas that you can incorporate into a project for the works listed above. ARTWORK DISCUSSED: Morning Glory with Black by O Keeffe PROJECT: Close-up of a Natural Object. Have the children draw and extremely close-up detail of a flower or do a grab-bag of other natural objects (eg. pinecones, seashells, leaves, etc.) from which the children can choose an object to draw close-up. Have them focus on the lines and shapes of the object s detail. Supplies: Paper and colored pencils. ARTWORK DISCUSSED: Starry Night by Van Gogh PROJECT: Landscape. Have the students create a collage of the scene. Use sheets of black or dark-blue construction paper as the background. The children can use additional
construction paper to cut out buildings and trees and glue them onto the background. The sky with swirls can be filled in with cray-pas Supplies: Construction paper and cray-pas from the Learning to Look closet, scissors, and glue-sticks. ARTWORK DISCUSSED: The Red Studio PROJECTS: 1. Interior Landscape. Have the children draw a favorite room from their house. Have them change the color and location of various objects and insert a new object if they wish. Supplies: Various coloring materials. 2. Draw a scene. Have the children select a piece of construction paper in red or the color of their choice. Have them draw a scene, outlining some objects and fully coloring others. Supplies: Construction paper and colored pencils.