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LESSON Plans

DOCUMENTING TIME ARTFULLY 

Lesson Plan for High School, Art Foundations

Prepared by Erica Nelson

INTRODUCTION 

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This lesson will span a few weeks and focus on creating a record or documentation of time passing. 

This lesson is meant to critically look at scrapbooking as an art form. In the artworld it has become synonymous with "kitschy" and "crafty." Quite frankly, it is not taken seriously as a form of art by many in the art world and the world at large. Our discussions, research and art making will be aimed at bringing scrapbooking and its ideas into the “high art” world.

 

OVERVIEW

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As a class we will have a discussion concerning art and craft and scrapbooking. We will look at artists together who incorporate the idea of “passing time” and documentation in their artistic practice. For the next week students will conduct individual research, looking at other artists who document time and forms of documentation. During this research period they will also begin to experiment with documenting time. This may include keeping a detailed journal for a few weeks, posting on instagram daily, collecting materials from their lives or something else. The following week will be devoted to transforming the research and experiments into a fully formed work of art. 

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EDUCATION STANDARDS

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  1. VA:Cr1.2.Ia Shape an artistic investigation of an aspect of present day life using a contemporary practice of art or design.

  2. VA:Cn10.1.Ia Document the process of developing ideas from early stages to fully elaborated ideas.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

  1. Students will discuss the differences between arts and crafts; is the difference important; How can we blur the line; what aspects of scrapbooking could be considered art?

  2. Students will research and analyze methods of documentation (scrapbooking, journaling, instagram and etc.) transform them into a form of art. 

    1. VA:Cr1.2.Ia Shape an artistic investigation of an aspect of present day life using a contemporary practice of art or design.

  3. Students will create a physical documentation of time passing. 

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ARTISTS

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  1. Cynthia Daignult

  2. Félix González-Torres

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GUIDING QUESTIONS

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  • What records are left behind when time passes?

  • How is art like craft, how does it differ?

  • How does scrapbooking document time? How can art document time?

ASSESSMENT

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Research Journal: Students will keep a journal or sketchbook of their ideas from our discussions and their own personal research.

  • VA:Cn10.1.Ia Document the process of developing ideas from early stages to fully elaborated ideas.

Artist Statement: Students will write an artist statement for their final artwork and explain how the art documents time. 

Documenting Time Artfully
Traditinal Skills

TRADITIONAL SKILLS: COLOR & ATMOSPHERE

Lesson Plan for High School, Art Foundations

Prepared by Erica Nelson

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INTRODUCTION

 

This lesson is for a high school beginning foundation class. It will span a few weeks and focus on exploring color, developing skills in color mixing, matching and expressing mood or atmosphere through color.

This lesson will be based in impressionist thought and theory and we will go over the movements basic history and key figures. We will explore how color is affected by light and how color expresses a certain atmosphere. Additionally we will examine basic color theories and become familiar with mixing paint and manipulating color. 

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OVERVIEW

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As a class we will begin by looking at impressionist art (see artist list). We will discuss how their art work revolved around the ideas of light and color. Our discussion will follow the guiding questions outlined in this lesson plan. The following day we will have a workshop on basic color theories and explore coloring mixing. After our workshop I will explain our first assignment to students. I will have them create their own still life with at least 25 distinctive colors. The students will then paint a “color match map” of their still life. This means their still life does not have to be representative; it can just be basic shapes with accurate colors of the objects in their still life. We will spend a few days on this assignment and at the end students will need to turn in both their color match map and a well lit picture of the still life they based their map off of. I will then introduce the final assignment of this lesson which will be to re-create their still life, this time manipulating color to convey a specific mood or atmosphere. 

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EDUCATION STANDARDS

  1. VA:Re7.2.6a Analyze ways that visual components and cultural associations suggested by images influence ideas, emotions, and actions.

  2. VA:Cr3.1.7a Reflect on and explain important information about personal artwork in an artist statement or another format.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

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  1. Students will discuss impressionism, light and color theory and be able to explain basic terms associated with them. 

  2. Students will create a color wheel with primary, secondary, tertiary colors and their respective shades and tints.

  3. Students will create a still life with at least 25 distinct colors (includings shades and tints) and paint a “color match map” of their still life.

  4. Students will manipulate color to produce a painting that communicates a specific mood or atmosphere. (This painting will be based on their original still life)

    1. VA:Re7.2.6a Analyze ways that visual components (color) and cultural associations suggested by images influence ideas, emotions, and actions.

  5. Students will assemble a diptych of their color match map and their atmospheric still life. 

ARTISTS

  1. Claude Monet

  2. Berthe Morisat

  3. Edgar Degas

  4. Mary Cassat 

  5. Camille Pissar

 

GUIDING QUESTIONS

  • How does light affect color?

  • How does color create a mood or atmosphere in a painting?

  • How might we control and manipulate this mood in our own artwork?

ASSESSMENT

Color Vocabulary Bellringer: Students will complete a short vocabulary quiz (Learning Outcome 1)

 

COLOR VOCABULARY BELLRINGER:

 

  1. Explain what Impressionism is?

  2. Define the following terms

    1. Hue

    2. Shade

    3. Tint

  3. What are complimentary colors?

  4. Name the tertiary colors and how you get them (according to basic color theory). 

 

Artist Statement: Students will write an artist statement for their final artwork diptych that addresses how they manipulated color to create a certain atmosphere or mood. (Learning Outcome 4)

  • VA:Cr3.1.7a Reflect on and explain important information about personal artwork in an artist statement or another format.

 

ARTIST STATEMENT RUBRIC

Did Not Meet Expectation 

0-4 pts

Meets Expectation 

5-10 pts

 

Exceeds Expectation 

10pts 

 

Color Manipulation

10 pts

Student does not mention how color is manipulated in their work 

Student includes how color is manipulated and

Students eloquently explains color manipulation in their work 

Mood/Atmosphere

10 pts

Student does not mention how color serves to create XYZ mood in their work 

Student includes how color is manipulated to create XYZ mood in their work

Student artfully elaborates on how color in their work serves to accomplish XYZ mood of their painting

Grammar 

5pts

Student often using incorrect grammar in their artist statement

Student often uses correct grammar with very few mistakes in their artist statement 

Student has no grammatical mistakes in their artist statement 

Punctuation

5pts

Student often using incorrect punctuation in their artist statement 

Student often uses correct punctuation with very few mistakes in their artist statement 

Student has no punctuation mistakes in their artist statement 

COLLABORATIVE SYSTEMS

Lesson Plan for 5th and 6th grade

Prepared by Erica Diane Monson

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INTRODUCTION 

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This lesson has been adapted from a high school course to a 5th and 6th grade course. It will span a week and explore art systems and break down how setting up rules can create artwork. This lesson will also have a collaborative feature that will allow students to interact with their peers’ art and  provide feedback. 

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OVERVIEW

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As a class we will start by having a task party as outlined by Oliver Herring. We will then discuss how the “tasks” we wrote served as rules that guided our art making. Using this experience as an example, I’ll explain what art systems are and how they use rules, just like the task party did, to make art. At this point I will have students brainstorm their own systems with rules to make art. After deciding on a set of rules I will give students time to create an artwork based off of their rules. Will have a gallery walk once the art project is done and students will get a chance to explain the system they chose. I will then make copies of the system rules and give each student 2 new systems their peers created and have them execute them. At the end of the lesson I will ask the students to leave feedback for the systems of their peers they executed. How clear were the directions? How did it translate visually? Is there anything you would change?

 

EDUCATION STANDARDS

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  1. VA:Cr2.3.IIa Redesign an object, system, place, or design in response to contemporary issues.

  2. VA:Pr5.1.Ia Analyze and evaluate the reasons and ways an exhibition is presented.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

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  1. Students will be able to explain what systems are in art.

  2. Students will write rules for a system that produces art. 

    1. VA:Cr2.1.4a Explore and invent art-making techniques and approaches.

  3. Students will execute the rules of 2 other classmates' systems. 

    1. VA:Cr1.1.6a Combine concepts collaboratively to generate innovative ideas for creating art

  4. Students will write feedback for their peers on the rules they establish and how they visually translated

    1. VA:Cr3.1.2a Discuss and reflect with peers about choices made in creating artwork

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ARTISTS

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  1. Oliver Herring

  2. Parc Collective (Please Take These Photos For Me) 

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GUIDING QUESTIONS

  • How can rules create artwork?

  • Can rules open up new possibilities or are they only confining? 

 

ASSESSMENT

Collaborative Systems Proposal:  I will have students write their rules for their systems out and turn it into me. 

Collaborative Systems
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