Abbeville Publishing Group
How Artists See: Parents' and Teachers' Guide
How Artists See: Parents' and Teachers' Guide
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Other Details: Published 1999
II. Artistic Concepts
You can use How Artists See Families to explore several artistic concepts, elements, and techniques, such as LINE, MOVEMENT, PATTERN, BLOCK PRINTING, STORY QUILTS, and MULTIMEDIA SCULPTURE.
A. Using Line and Pattern: Self-Portrait Block Prints
In How Artists See Families, there are many examples of how line and pattern can combine to create the illusion of movement, and in doing so add visual interest to a work of art. Examples include: The Bath (pp. 4 and 5), Mother Carrying Her Baby Son on Her Back (pp. 6 and 7), and The Painter's Family (pp. 28 and 29).
ACTIVITY: Examine the three images listed above. Have children point out examples of line and pattern and discuss how these artistic elements create a feeling of movement. Next, let children browse through old magazines and cut out 3 to 5 examples of patterns. Set these examples aside. Give children a blank sheet of drawing paper, a pencil, and a small mirror. Instruct them to sketch a self-portrait using only lines (children should use a combination of straight, curved, thin, and thick lines). After they've completed the sketch, instruct them to incorporate patterns into the pictures, such as clothing, interior, and background. Children can use the magazine patterns or create entirely original patterns.
To create a self-portrait block print, children should draw the same picture of themselves onto a thin Styrofoam sheet (clean meat trays work well). Remind children to press their pencil into the foam fairly hard to make a deep impression, or the print will not transfer properly onto paper. To transfer the image, roll an even layer of printer's ink or tempera paint onto the foam plate. Carefully place the painted side down onto a sheet of clean paper (make sure the plate is centered). Apply even pressure with your hand or a rolling pin, and then slowly pull back the plate to reveal the printed image. (The image will be a reverse of the drawing). Mount the sketch and the print side-by-side. To conclude, let children share their work, and ask them to identify examples of line, pattern, and movement.
B. Mixed-Media Collages: Making a Story "Quilt" and a Multimedia Sculpture
When an artist incorporates a variety of different materials into a work of art, it is referred to as mixed media. Tar Beach (pp. 20 and 21) and The Family (pp. 8 and 9) are two examples of artwork that includes more than one medium.
ACTIVITY: Children will create a story "quilt" inspired by Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach. To begin, ask children to draw and color a picture based on the personal narrative they wrote in the earlier activity featured on page 3. Challenge children to incorporate passages from their writing into their visual piece. To complete the activity, children can border the work with square or rectangular pieces of paper in a variety of colors and patterns to achieve the look of a pieced quilt.
ACTIVITY: The artist Marisol used many different materials to create her sculpture The Family. Children can create a collage or three-dimensional sculpture using a variety of simple household materials. To begin, go on a scavenger hunt (nearly every home has a junk drawer!), collecting odds and ends to recycle into art materials, such as Popsicle sticks, buttons, paper clips, wrapping paper, and fabric scraps. Don't forget the basics: pencil, paper, paint, and brushes. After children have gathered together their mixed-media assortment, set them free to create a portrait of a family member, inspired by Marisol's provocative rendition of a family.
How Artists See Work
I. Interdisciplinary Connections
You can use How Artists See Work to introduce and explore a variety of subjects, including WORK-PLAY PARTIES, LIGHT AND SHADOW, and GEOMETRY.
A. Work-Play Parties: Helping Hands
Grandma Moses's painting The Quilting Bee (pp. 34 and 35) illustrates an American tradition of community that continues to this day: the work-play party. For people living in rural settings, the work-play party was, and is, a practical way to complete difficult tasks in a short time: raising a barn, harvesting crops, or making a quilt are just a few examples of jobs commonly undertaken at work-play parties. Community members pool their energy and resources, work together to get the job done, and then celebrate its completion.
ACTIVITY: Ask children to brainstorm about projects that need to be done in your neighborhood or school. The project should be ambitious enough to be completed by a small group of children and a few adults. Some good examples of contemporary community work projects are: painting a school fence, picking up litter in a city park, planting a small garden, or organizing a community food drive. Help children organize and implement the event, and don't forget to celebrate when the work is done!
B. Light and Shadow: Shadow Journals
Albrecht Dürer's etching Saint Jerome in His Study (pp. 24 and 25) provides children with a wonderful example of how artists create the illusion of light and shadow. Take a few minutes to allow children to study the picture. Ask them to identify areas of bright light and strong shadow. Point out that details of the picture are most visible in the lighted areas, whereas the shadows obscure detail but provide depth.
ACTIVITY: Take children on a mobile science experiment to reinforce how light and shadow change throughout the course of the day. Pick a sunny day and observe familiar areas around your home or school. Children should visit at least three locations: one time each in the morning, at midday, and in the late afternoon. At each location and at each time, instruct children to observe the changes in the light and shadow falling on the spot. Like true scientists, children should make written descriptions of their findings and quick sketches that record what they see. To culminate the activity, children should make a large-scale pencil drawing of one of the observations from their journals.
C. Tesselations: A Repeat Performance
Most people see quilts as pretty and functional objects. But people who really understand how quilts are made know that many of the most popular quilt patterns are studies in mathematical concepts. A tesselation is one such math concept that is commonly found in many quilt patterns, such as the quilt pictured in The Quilting Bee (pp. 34 and 35). A tesselation is made from certain polygons that when grouped together in a pattern do not repeat, gap, or overlap. A good example of a quilt pattern that tesselates is Grandmother's Flower Garden, which is made entirely of hexagons.
ACTIVITY: Have children explore the concept of tesselations. Instruct children to observe tiling patterns in their surroundings: floors and ceilings, quilts, and mosaics often have interesting tiling patterns. Cut a variety of polygon templates, such as triangles, rectangles, squares, and hexagons, out of thin cardboard. Give each child a packet of shapes and instruct them to experiment with different tiling patterns to create a tesselation, first with only one of the shapes, then with more than one shape. To culminate, children will re-create one pattern on colored paper, using one color per shape (they can trace the shapes with their cardboard templates). Have children cut out the shapes and glue the pattern to a background.
II. Artistic Concepts
You can use How Artists See Work to explore several artistic concepts, elements, and techniques, such as DETAIL, TEXTURE, and ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITURE.
A. An Eye for Detail: Birthday Calendars
For centuries, the months and seasons of the year have inspired artists. The Limbourg Brothers created a calendar of stunning elegance and beauty that to this day remains a masterpiece of Western art. Look back at July, Wheat Harvest with Château of Poitiers (pp. 10 and 11). Inform children that this work is just one of a series of illuminated manuscripts called the Très Riches Heures (very rich hours) in which the artists represented the months of the year. Point out that the Limbourg Brothers packed the work with details that are indicative of the month. Before moving on with the activity, give children a few minutes to find some of the details that represent the month of July.
ACTIVITY: Children will design and create a birthday-month calendar for the upcoming year. First, find a blank calendar that shows each month of the year to come. Photocopy the pages and distribute them to children, with each child receiving the month in which his or her birthday falls. Give each child a large sheet of white paper (11 x 14" works well). Instruct children to position the paper vertically, and on the lower half reproduce the days of the month as they appear on the photocopy. (The lower half should look like a typical numbered calendar grid.) On the upper half, children will use crayons, markers, watercolors, and paints to create a picture that represents their birthday month. Encourage them to include many details that represent the month, such as holidays, plants, and historical events.
B. Exploring Texture: Making Crayon Rubbings
The Gleaners (pp. 4 and 5), The Flower Carrier (pp. 6 and 7), and Harvesters (pp. 8 and 9) are all examples of artworks that incorporate the illusion of texture to provide realism and visual interest.
ACTIVITY: Show children examples of different textures and let them touch each surface to experience the feeling. Next, let children look back at the three pictures listed above and ask them to identify all the textures that they see. To reinforce children's understanding of texture, make rubbings of a variety of textures in and around your home and/or school. To make a rubbing, place a sheet of white paper over a flat, textural surface. Hold the paper steady with one hand while rubbing the side of a crayon over the paper with the other. The texture of the surface should appear on the paper.
C. Environmental Portraiture
Artists often make portraits of people in a setting, or environment, that reflects the subject's personality, career, or unique qualities. In the portrait of scientist Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (pp. 26 and 27) the artist portrayed her in her study working on multiple tasks at once to convey her intense intellect and commitment to scientific research. Filled with books, molecular models, and papers, this environmental portrait gives the viewer insight into this remarkable woman's life.
ACTIVITY: Explain what is meant by an environmental portrait and give children time to study the portrait by Maggi Hambling. Instruct children to think of a person whom they'd like to portray in an environmental portrait. Before setting out to create the portrait, children should think about the following things: qualities of the person that they'd like to convey, a physical setting that would be appropriate to the person, objects and other details that represent or symbolize the person's personality. Next, have children sketch their ideas. Check to see that their designs reflect an understanding of the concept. After children have settled on a design, let them create the final work in a larger format and in color. Allow children time to share their work with peers and to explain their compositions and choices.
How Artists See Play
I. Interdisciplinary Connections
You can use How Artists See Play to introduce and explore a variety of subjects, such as LITERARY CHARACTERS, COLLECTING, and the OLYMPIC GAMES.
A. Costume Design: Literature Comes to Life
The great twentieth-century master Pablo Picasso loved to paint pictures of people dressed as characters from literature and the theater. In Paulo as Pierrot (pp. 30 and 31) the artist's son poses in the traditional clown suit of the famous "stock" character of the French theater. Children can "become" their favorite literary characters by designing and creating (and wearing) costumes.
ACTIVITY: Spend some time looking through How Artists See Play and ask children to identify pictures where people are in costume or are wearing clothing from a different time period. In addition to Paulo as Pierrot, children may notice costumes and historical clothing in Nofretari Playing Draughts (pp. 12 and 13), Blindman's Bluff (pp. 14 and 15), Cheyenne Winter Games (pp. 16 and 17), and The Reluctant Dragon (pp. 28 and 29). Give children time to choose a character from a favorite book and to reread sections of the story to reacquaint themselves with the character. Next, instruct children to make a sketch of the character, as he/she/it is described in the story. To complete this activity, help children make the costume to the best of their ability. If you are doing this activity with a class, let students wear their costumes to school, and challenge them to identify one another's characters.
B. Starting a Collection: Rocks, Baseball Cards, and Then Some
In Annette's Dolls (pp. 26 and 27), the artist Jonathan Green captured the joy and fun of having a collection. Collections can be anything: stamps, rocks, leaves, bottle caps, stickersyou name it! Collecting is not only fun and interesting, but it teaches classification skills and promotes in-depth study of a body of knowledge (just think about the amount of history one learns through stamp collecting).
ACTIVITY: Begin by helping kids zero in on their intrinsic interests. If children can identify something that really sparks their natural curiosity, then collecting will be an adventure, not a chore. Once children have decided what they would like to collect, have them find at least one item with which to start the collection. Whatever that item is, encourage children to learn as much about it as possible, through books, encyclopedias, and the Internet. Help children design a place to store the collection, such as a stamp booklet, a rock box, or a baseball-card folder. Allow children time to share their collections with friends and/or classmates.
C. Backyard (or Schoolyard) Olympics: Let the Games Begin!
The very first Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, more than two thousand years ago, and that tradition of excellence in human sport continues to this day. Review the following pictures from How Artists See Play: Diskobolus (pp. 8 and 9), Munich Olympic Games (pp. 10 and 11), and Cheyenne Winter Games (pp. 16 and 17). In addition, spend some time researching the history of the Olympics, from its beginnings in Greece to the present.
ACTIVITY: Help students or a group of neighborhood children plan an international field day, similar to what you see in Dick West's painting Cheyenne Winter Games. In the picture, a tribe of Native Americans engages in a variety of games and sports on a clear winter day. Children can spend some time researching sports and games from different countries or try to re-create the games depicted in the picture. If you're doing this activity at home, work with a group of neighbors and hold the field day in a large backyard area or park. If you are doing it at school, work together with the physical education teacher and get the whole student body in on the fun.
II. Artistic Concepts
You can use How Artists See Play to explore several artistic concepts, elements, and techniques, such as FANTASY DRAWING, COLOR AND COLOR BLENDING, and GRAPHIC DESIGN.
A. Imagination in Art: Creating Fantasy Animals
In The Reluctant Dragon (pp. 28 and 29), illustrator Maxfield Parrish created this friendly and whimsical creature by combining elements of many different animals, including a horse, a dog, a lizard, a snake, and an eagle. Before beginning the activity, let children examine the picture for a few moments to identify all the animals that Parrish used as inspiration for his dragon.
ACTIVITY: To begin, provide children with many different animal pictures to give them some ideas for creating a fantasy creature. Be sure to include mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, insects, and amphibians. (For some great examples of animals in art, see How Artists See Animals.) Instruct children to combine at least three animals into one creature. For example, it might have the head of a lion, the body of a fish, and the coloring of a zebra. Give children time to draw their creature in pencil and color it with crayons, markers, or watercolors. To conclude, have a crazy creature gallery, and challenge students to guess which animals are represented in each drawing.
B. Color Blending: "Windows" of Color
The paintings of Robert Delaunay are often compared to stained-glass windows for their use of color and the illusion of translucent light they create. Look at The Cardiff Team (pp. 6 and 7). Point out how Delaunay layered patches of color: red over yellow, black over red, black over green and yellow. Give children sheets of tissue paper in many different colors and instruct them to experiment with layering colors over a piece of white paper. Encourage them to tear different shapes and make interesting designs. When children have settled on a design, show them how to brush a small amount of glue onto an area of the paper, gluing one piece of tissue at a time and layering colors. (Some areas of the paper can be single colors.) To create a dynamic foreground, let children peruse stacks of old magazines to find an action scene of sport or play that they find appealing. Instruct them to carefully cut out the figures in the picture and paste them onto the tissue-covered paper.
C. Product Design: All A Board!
What child doesn't love to play board games? In the days before mass production, people would design their own board games using simple materials. Children can create their own board game while experimenting with graphic and product design.
ACTIVITY: In Nofretari Playing Draughts (pp. 12 and 13) the queen plays a game that is the predecessor of chess. Show children examples of board games, such as Monopoly, Candy Land, and Chinese Checkers. Examine the designs for shape, line, color, and patterns. Encourage children to observe and describe what they see. Next, brainstorm about possible themes that would work well in a board game (for example, Monopoly's theme is real estate), and let children choose a theme, name, game pieces, and rules. Then have children decide on the game's shape and dimensions, and supply them with paper to work out their designs. Once they settle on a design, they can draw it on a piece of cardboard cut to size and shape (use pencil for this stage). After the design is drawn, children can embellish the board with color and decorations. Instruct children to print the rules on the back of the board, and allow them plenty of time to teach each otherand playtheir board games.
How Artists See Cities
I. Interdisciplinary Connections
You can use How Artists See Cities to introduce and explore a variety of subjects and concepts, such as CARTOGRAPHY (the study of maps), GEOMETRY, and REFLECTION.
A. Cartography: On the Street Where You Live
In How Artists See Cities there are four street scenes that offer distinctly different views of city streets. Look back at the "Streets" section of the book (pp. 4-11) and read through the text, giving children time to answer the questions. Point out that each artist provides a great deal of detail to realistically convey what the city was like at the time the picture was painted. Another way to represent city streets is with maps. In this activity, children will map their own street or city block.
ACTIVITY: Share with children a variety of city, town, or county street maps. Point out that in addition to streets, the maps include things that are important to the city, such as bridges, bodies of water, shopping centers, airports, and parks. Introduce or review the concept of scale, and point out the map legend and the information it contains. Once children are familiar with the city maps, instruct them to create a map of their own street or city block. They should first sketch the map on paper, and then do a final version on heavy paper or cardboard. Maps should be done according to a chosen scale and should include the important features of the street. After the maps are completed, children can decorate them or add three-dimensional objects to represent houses, buildings, trees, and other landmarks.
B. Geometric Space Figures: Shape Up!
In Vladimir Tatlin's architectural model Monument to the Third International (pp. 16 and 17), he included three-dimensional space figures inside a spiral wooden framework. They are: a square pyramid, a half-sphere, a cylinder, and a cube. Children can experiment with geometry by designing and constructing fantasy buildings using space figures.
ACTIVITY: Set children on a scavenger hunt to find examples of space figures. For example, a school milk carton with the top folded down is a cube. The cardboard center of a toilet-paper roll is a cylinder, and a package of stick butter is a rectangular prism. After children have collected a variety of space figures, instruct them to sketch a design that incorporates the forms. After they've settled on a design, they can build their fantasy structures using glue or masking tape. Decorate the structure with tempera paint or pieces of colorful paper. Be sure to give children time to present their work. If this activity is done in a classroom, ask students to identify the space figures in each structure.
C. Reflections: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
The work of Eugène Atget and Richard Estes focuses on reflections and the illusions they can create. Children can have fun with mirrors while learning about the often perplexing nature of reflection.
ACTIVITY: This simple activity illustrates how a reflection in a mirror, when reflected back on itself, repeats to infinity. Have children stand in between two mirrors (full-length mirrors provide the most interesting effect). Instruct them to face one mirror and, looking at it, find their reflection in the other mirror. Ask them to observe what they see. Children should see that their reflection repeats, front and back, without end. Challenge students to explain how this phenomenon occurs (the mirrors are reflecting the image back and forth, and the eye sees reflections of reflections).
II. Artistic Concepts
You can use How Artists See Cities to explore several artistic concepts, elements, and techniques, such as PRIMARY AND ARBITRARY COLOR, SELECTIVE VIEWPOINTS, and SCULPTURAL ENVIRONMENTS.
A. Using Primary and Arbitrary Colors: Color Your World
Artists use color for specific purposes, such as to convey a realistic image of a scene or to evoke particular feelings in the viewer. The artist Piet Mondrian limits his palette in Broadway Boogie Woogie (p. 19) to red, yellow, and blue: the primary colors. In Charing Cross Bridge (p. 33), Andre Derain employs arbitrary colors by choosing pigments different from those seen in nature. In the following activity, children will make a cityscape using either primary or arbitrary colors.
ACTIVITY: Look back at Broadway Boogie Woogie and Charing Cross Bridge and explain what is meant by primary color and arbitrary color. You may need to show children additional examples of works using arbitrary color for them to understand the concept. Artists who often used arbitrary color are: Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse. Next, ask children to think of a landmark in their city or town that interests them. Examples might be a statue, a bridge, a building, or a sports arena. Instruct children to make a pencil sketch of the landmark and then color the picture using either primary or arbitrary colors. Give them time to present their work to peers, explaining why they made their particular color choices.
B. Selective Viewing: Getting Focused
It's not uncommon to take for granted those things that we see on a daily basis. What is right outside our window may be profoundly beautiful, but most of us don't take the time to stop and really see what is there. In Paris Through the Window (pp. 14 and 15), Marc Chagall shows us a view of Paris framed by the window of his apartment. This selective view, while offering the viewer a limited vista, also makes the eye focus. The window frames a picture of what is already there, forcing us to look upon the scene with fresh eyes. In the next activity, children will make viewfinders and observe and sketch what they see.
ACTIVITY: Give children rectangular pieces of thin cardboard, no smaller than 8 1/2 x 11 inches. Instruct them to draw a square or rectangle on the cardboard, leaving at least a three- to four-inch margin as a border. Have children cut along the outline and remove the center. Take them outside to a place that is very familiar to them, such as a school playground, park, or backyard. Instruct children to close one eye, hold the viewfinder at arm's length, and look through it, observing things of interest that perhaps they had not noticed in the past. (They should record their observations on paper.) After children have spent some time using the viewfinders, instruct them to make a pencil sketch of one viewpoint. Later, they can use crayons, markers, or watercolors to color the sketch. Give them time to share their work, encouraging them to identify what each scene depicts.
C. Sculptural Environments: Sculpt-O-Ramas
The artist Red Grooms is famous for his sculptural environments, which are often life-size and incorporate many different materials: some traditional art materials as well as actual objects and products. In The Bookstore (pp. 26 and 27), Grooms's storefront invites the viewer inside to browse through the stacks of books, both painted and real. In the following activity, children will construct a sculpt-o-rama of a well-known site in their city or community.
ACTIVITY: To begin, brainstorm with children about some famous or popular site in their community. To build the sculpt-o-rama, you'll need a shoe box or medium-size corrugated cardboard box. If using a shoe box, simply remove the top and place the box on one of its long sides. The inside of the box will become the interior of the scene. If using a corrugated cardboard box, cut off the top flaps and proceed as with the shoe box. If the corrugated box seems too deep, cut a few inches off each side of the box to create a shallower space. For a group project it's fun to use a large appliance box. Next, provide children with a variety of materials: paints, unusual papers, fabrics, and real and created objects. Encourage children to use their imaginations to create the environment; it can be realistic, if they wish, or it can be funny and exaggerated like the Grooms piece. Whichever approach they choose, remind them to pay attention to detail to make the environments authentic and informative.
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