23 results found in category: History
African Painted Walls
Grade level: 4
Students 'travel' to the region of Burkina Faso in Western Africa to learn about the well-known painted houses. After studying the artists and their work, students create a narrative wall painting using silhouettes and paint. They also incorporate patterns and traditional or personal symbols into their work.
Aleut Basket Paintings
Grade level: 4
Students learn about Aleut basket weaving techniques. They learn to weave a basic pattern and use tempera paint to create a repeated motif on their weaving.
Asian Bamboo Painting
Grade level: 4
Students discuss the meaning of tradition as applied to Chinese/Japanese painting and calligraphy. They practice brushstrokes using traditional tools, create paintings of bamboo, mount them scroll-style with patterned borders and finish them by stamping with a red signature chop.
Bicycles: Art on the Move
Grade level: 5
Students learn about the history of the bicycle. They work through the artist process by drawing a bicycle from memory, by observation, using tools and then from memory again. They arrange their drawings into a collage for display.
Caribou on the Tundra
Grade level: 3
Students learn about the habits and habitat of caribou and their relationship to Athabascan people. They draw lichen growing on the tundra using layers of land to show perspective. Tissue paper and watercolor paint embellish the caribou on the tundra collage.
Centennial Bridge
Grade level: 4
Students learn about the artist Ron Senungetuk who is an Alaskan Native Artist. He designed a landmark bridge in Fairbanks. Students design and create a 2-D abstract bridge from construction paper.
Chimpanzees and Dr. Jane Goodall
Grade level: 2
Students study Dr. Jane Goodall and her work with chimpanzees. They learn about the environment they live in and learn to draw a chimpanzee in its natural habitat.
Faith Ringgold: Our Own Story Quilts
Grade level: 3
This lesson is designed to teach in two sessions. Students study the work of artist, teacher, author and illustrator Faith Ringgold. They create a story quilt with a well-developed drawing based on a personal memory. Finished work includes a written memory sentence and a colorful pieced border.
Frog in Monet's Pond
Grade level: 3
Students listen to 2 books: one about Linnea visiting Monet and the other about a frog who goes to Monet’s garden while he is painting the lilies on the pond. The lily pad paintings of Monet are discussed before students draw lily pads with oil pastels. A watercolor painting lesson is taught using the wet on wet technique to paint the pond. Finally, students are taught to draw frogs. They are cut out and added to the pond.
Henry Moore Sculpture
Grade level: Kindergarten
Students will study the artist Henry Moore who made sculptures of people. They create a simple figure out of paper and clay. These figures include “holes” or negative space in the style of Henry Moore's sculptures.
Hokusai Insect Prints
Grade level: 4
Students will learn about the Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai, best known for his print “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa”. They will create Japanese children’s style prints, using insects as imagery.
Horse Studies
Grade level: 6
Students learn about Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci, and his desire to cast a 24 foot tall horse from metal. They are also introduced to the work of contemporary sculptor Deborah Butterfield, who makes life-size horses out of various materials. Students practice drawing horses, add rubbed textures, and use the drawings to assemble collages.
Hundertwasser: Architect
Grade level: 6
Students learn about Austrian artist and architect Friedrich Hundertwasser and look at the buildings he designed. Students design a part of a building - door, window or dome - in his style and add bright colors. The whimsical shapes and patterns should tell a bit about themselves.
Michelangelo's Hands
Grade level: 5
Students study the life of the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo, focusing on two of his best-known works, the marble sculpture Pieta and a small part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. They create a modeled or shaded drawing of their hand in a sign language position, cut it out and mount it pop-up style to look like a piece of sculpture.
Mondrian Trees
Grade level: 1
Students learn about Piet Mondrian who painted trees all his life using different styles. They then draw and paint a tree in the style of Piet Mondrian.
Murals of Our Towns and Villages
Grade level: 3
Students learn about muralist Diego Rivera and how he used perspective to show near and far. A mural of their own town or village is drawn after planning the important resources, buildings, animals and landmarks that need to be included in the mural.
Observe, Question and Write
Grade level: 6
Students examine a piece of art by asking who, what, when, where, and why questions. After reporting information through questions, they write a short story or paragraph.
Olanna's Paper Sculptures
Grade level: 4
Students learn about the Alaskan Native artist Melvin Olanna. His stylized sculptures reflect his Inupiaq culture. Students create simple animal shapes from paper, using a paper scoring technique to make them look 3D. Paper sculptures are mounted on a background based on an Alaskan landscape.
Picasso Portraits
Grade level: 3
Students look at 6 Picasso portraits to see the difference between realistic and abstract styles, and the characteristics of the Cubist style. They learn how to draw facial features and their correct placement on a face. A portrait collage is made from their practice pieces, along with the embellishment of clothing.
Rachel Carson Silent Spring
Grade level: 4
Students learn about the life of writer, biologist and conservationist, Rachel Carson. Students learn to use complementary colors to show the effects of pollution on their plant. They create a before and after line drawing of an Alaskan plant using watercolor paints for color.
Snowflake Prints
Grade level: 4
Students explore connections between math, science and art through studying the beauty and structure of snowflakes. They examine the snowflake photographs of scientist Wilson Bentley and Kenneth Libbrecht, creating original snowflake prints and cut-paper snowflake designs which demonstrate radial symmetry.
Spirit Masks
Grade level: 4
Students examine and discuss contemporary and traditional Yupik masks. Several typical mask elements are recognized and incorporated in a mask related to student’s life and interests.
Tolerance Banners
Grade level: 4
After viewing and discussing the images of the United Nations Six Flags of Tolerance, students create a positive-negative design based on a Japanese paper cutting technique called Notan.