Masterpiece: Orion leaving Space Station Artist: Robert T. McCall Concept: Acrylic Paints on Black Background Lesson: Futurescape Objectives: Vocabulary: Materials: A. Paint a space scene with light colors on black background B. Use imagination to create a futurescape. Realism, color, line. 9 x 12 Black construction paper Acrylic paints (must use Acrylic, not tempra paints) Brushes Trays for water Either tinfoil or paper or foam plates for paint-mixing Pencils ** Please Note ** Glue the bio sheet to the back of the paper before doing the project. ** Troubleshooting Thoughts ** You may need newspaper to cover the desk to help with clean up. Show the students how to wipe their brush with paper towel and then dip in water to clean between colors. Process: 1. View and discuss the art of Robert T. McCall. He paints mainly two types of artwork: paintings of future technology either in black outer space or in the colorful Arizona desert. 2. Notice the colors he uses. For this project we will concentrate on painting a scene with light colors on a black background. 3. Give each student a pencil and one piece of black paper. 4. Ask them to draw a Futurescape. It can be a city on another planet or moon, or a spaceship orbiting a planet; whatever they can imagine. Add planets, moons, stars, etc., to complete the painting. 5. Students paint their scene using light colors on top of the black paper. They can mix new colors on the foil or paper plates. Be sure to include white paint for the students to use to mix their paints. 6. Make sure they sign the back of the art. Hang and enjoy!!
4th GRADE--PROJECT #5 Artist: Robert McCall Masterpiece: Orion leaving Space Station Lesson: Spacescape/Black Paper/Acrylic Project Samples:
Art Masterpiece - Robert T. McCall (b.1919) In addition to being America's visual space historian, McCall has also sparked our collective imagination with regard to what may become our future history, by serving as conceptual artist for the entertainment industry. He has worked on such major motion pictures as Stanley Kubrick s 2001: A Space Odyssey; Star Trek: The Motion Picture; and Disney's The Black Hole. His artwork has been published in numerous national publications, including Life and Time magazines, and his work appears in world-class museums across the globe, including the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, both in Washington, D.C., and the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Art Masterpiece - Robert T. McCall (b.1919) In addition to being America's visual space historian, McCall has also sparked our collective imagination with regard to what may become our future history, by serving as conceptual artist for the entertainment industry. He has worked on such major motion pictures as Stanley Kubrick s 2001: A Space Odyssey; Star Trek: The Motion Picture; and Disney's The Black Hole. His artwork has been published in numerous national publications, including Life and Time magazines, and his work appears in world-class museums across the globe, including the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, both in Washington, D.C., and the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Art Masterpiece - Robert T. McCall (b.1919) In addition to being America's visual space historian, McCall has also sparked our collective imagination with regard to what may become our future history, by serving as conceptual artist for the entertainment industry. He has worked on such major motion pictures as Stanley Kubrick s 2001: A Space Odyssey; Star Trek: The Motion Picture; and Disney's The Black Hole. His artwork has been published in numerous national publications, including Life and Time magazines, and his work appears in world-class museums across the globe, including the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, both in Washington, D.C., and the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Robert T. McCall (1919- ) Meet The Artist: Robert McCall was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1919. As a boy he was fascinated with things that fly. He remembers looking through a telescope at moon craters and being blown away. He loved aircrafts and adventure stories and would sketch pictures to illustrate them in his spare time. After high school, he won a scholarship to Art College and then worked at Life Magazine illustrating for a series on futuristic space travel. Afterward, he was asked by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) to render an illustrated history of their efforts. Air and Space travel has been the focus of McCall s work for 40 years. Famous for his depictions and knowledge of space travel, McCall was asked to do a series of postage stamps regarding America s space history. He also worked as a consultant on the movies, 2001: Space Odyssey and Star Trek: The next generation. McCall created the movie poster for 2001 which was inspiring to Star Wars creators Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. (Show picture McCall did in 1971-looks very much like the Deathstar in Star Wars which wasn t released until 1977. Copy at IRC). In 1970, Robert visited Arizona with his wife (who is also an artist), Louise. They fell in love with Arizona and moved to Paradise Valley where they still live today. In fact, many of his futuristic paintings are set in the Arizona desert. Along with air and space flight, McCall also paints the future as he imagines it. Much of his art (especially the murals) are futurescapes, large pictures that reflect human beings building a clean, beautiful new world with the help of futuristic technology. Another reoccurring theme in his art shows a natural environment (like the Arizona desert) intertwined with elements of the future. Some of his futurescape murals can be found at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Disney s Epcot Center, NASA and the Challenger Space Center right here in Arizona. The Challenger Space Center features over 400 works of art by Robert McCall.
Art Masterpiece - Robert T. McCall One of the joys of being an artist is the freedom to create one's own world, and through the use of brushes and paints, to explore that world and participate in adventures of the mind that the real world could not possibly provide. Like the real world, these excursions of the imagination are fraught with inaccuracies of perception...it is rare that one glimpses through the veil of time even a hint of tomorrow' s reality, nor does it seem important to me, whether one's perceptions are right or wrong...the pleasure is in making the predictions and doing the work. Today we live a world filled with awesomee possibilities, both good and bad. The rush of technology is so rapid; to stay abreast of it has become more and more difficult. Our understanding of the physical universe continues to grow and astonish us with its marvelous complexity. To be an artist in these times of explosive change is, for me, a privilegee and a challenge. My goal is to document in my drawings and paintings a small part of this changing world and to anticipate in my work, the future that lies ahead.
Art Masterpiece - Robert T. McCall In addition to being America's visual space historian, McCall has also sparked our collective imagination with regard to what may become our future history, by serving as conceptual artist for the entertainment industry. He has worked on such major motion pictures as Stanley Kubricks' 2001: A Space Odyssey; Star Trek: The Motion Picture; and Disney's The Black Hole. His work ranges from classic U.S. postage stamps to NASA space flight mission patches to multi-story soaring murals, and all are a testament to the diversity of his work and talent. His artwork has been published in numerous national publications, including Life and Time magazines, and his work appears in world-class museums across the globe, including the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, both in Washington, D.C., and the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Through his art, and his book, The Art of Robert McCall, Bob has thrown open a door to the future. From his bigger-thanlife murals to inch-tall postage stamps, his art is the inspiration of imagination and embodies mankind's spirit of adventure. One of his most awe-inspiring images is found at the Challenger Space Science Center in the Center's six-story Space Rotunda, which is the centerpiece of the awe-inspiring facility. This 27,000- square-foot mural, entitled "Tour of the Universe" chronicles our collective cosmic history from the birth of the universe to humanity's ultimate journey to the stars. Bob McCall has been called one of America's leading visionary artists of the cosmos. The late science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, called him "the nearest thing to an artist in residence from outer space." Bob and his renowned artist-wife, Louise, are longtime residents of Paradise Valley, Arizona.
About the Art: Cosmic Birth is a whimsical title for a smaller spacecraft dropping from a larger ship. The landscape of this artwork was inspired by a trip the artist took to Canyon de Chelly (shea) in Northern Arizona. Questions: What do you see in this painting? What place has the artist shown in the background? (Desert) What season do you think it is-how can you tell? What does the artist show in the foreground? (Spacecraft) Would you ever see a scene like this? Where did the artist come up with this subject? (imagination) Do you usually think of spaceships in a natural setting? Where do you usually imagine them? (space). Where does it look like the artist would be when he painted this picture? (High on a canyon wall or in the sky). This is called a bird's-eye view. (Seeing from a point of view from an altitude or from a distance.) In landscapes, the horizon line for a bird's-eye view is usually placed very high in the picture. Where is the horizon line in Cosmic Birth? Can you see any repeating shapes in this picture? (Circles in spaceship and space station). Are they repeated in the background-why do you think that is? How do you think the artist feels about nature?