Here I include two lesson that I wrote. The first, Cultural Context, involves students in research to prepare for a unit on artist Romare Bearden. The second, Textured Landscapes, was written for my Art for the Exceptional Learner class. It develops understanding of atmospheric perspective and texture.

Cultural Context: Research on the Harlem Renaissance

Objective: Students will conduct research individually or in groups using books , magazines, other printed materials, and the Internet to learn about the Harlem Renaissance.  Each group or individual will share what they learned with the class in a short presentation.

Student Materials: paper, pencils or pens, books, magazines, computers with Internet access.

Motivation:The teacher will show Empress of The Blues (1974) by Romare Bearden and ask questions to get the students talking about what they see in the picture and what it means based on what they learned about the Harlem Renaissance.

What do you see here?

What is the story?

How do the colors interact?

Who is in this picture?

What is this picture made of?

Who made this image?

Lesson Sequence:

These questions are also listed in the dialogue section of this note for easy print out. Certainly not all of the questions can be covered in one class period, this is a list to help guide things in a productive direction depending on what the students are interested in talking about.

Communication of ideas:

What do you think the artist was trying to communicate with this artwork?

(National Standard # 5)

Why did he choose the kinds of color that he chose?

(These questions link to VA Art SOL 8.1 and 8.16)

Social context:

Was Jazz music important at the time that Romare Bearden was working? Why?

Why do you think Romare Bearden liked Jazz music?

Why do you think the music inspired the collages?

What do you think about when you listen to music?

(These questions link to VA Art SOL 8.17)

Purpose and meaning:

Why do you think Romare Bearden made work about Jazz music? What was the purpose? What does it mean?

(VA Art SOL 8.20) (National Standard # 5)

Conclusion: How does what you learned about the Harlem Renaissance today affect  your interpretatons of these works? How important is cultural context for understanding the message and meaning of a piece of art? (VA Art SOL 8.17)

Anticipation/transition/reflection:

Students will be asked to reflect in future lessons on how what they learned in this lesson affects their interpretations and their choices for future work.

For example, how does their interpretation of meaning in the two artworks for Lesson 2 change based on what they know about the Harlem Renaissance?

In Lesson 3 students will have to chose color and texture combinations that communicate a particular message. Journal assignemnts might include a brief writing exercise to demonstrate how knowledge gained from the research in Lesson 1 informed their choices.

Lesson 4 will ask students to create a portrait of their own musical culture. Students will be asked to reflect on similarities and differences between visual clues in their works and Bearden's works.

Evaluation: Students will be graded on participation during the research activity, the short presentations and the discussion. Contributing at least one comment to each segment of the day will result in a passing evaluation.

Textured Landscapes

Topic: Landscapes incorporate many different textures, which can be achieved by making rubbings of various materials such as cardboard, burlap, sandpaper, etc.

Concepts: Texture, Landscape painting, Foreground, Middle Ground, Background

Objectives:

1. The students will compare and contrast 17th and 18th century landscape paintings.
2. The students will learn the terms atmospheric perspective, foreground, middle ground, and background.
3. The students will acquire skills to create rubbings of different textures to incorporate into a landscape drawing.

Grade Level: 4th and 5th grade, mixed abilities special needs

VA SOLs:
4.4 The student will identify and use the characteristics of color, including hue, tint, shade, and intensity.
4.16 The student will analyze works of art based on visual properties.
5.17 The student will research artists from a variety of cultures and the works of art they have produced.

National Content Standards:
4.1
Students describe how different materials, techniques, and processes cause different responses.
Students use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
Students use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.

5.1
Students intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of their experiences and ideas.

Target: This lesson is for an integrated classroom of 4th and 5th graders with specific augmentations for ADHD, physically disabled—with limited grasp, visually impaired, and children with autism.

Time Period: 45 minutes (additional 45 minutes for letter writing)
Interdisciplinary connections: Science, Language Arts/English (for the letter writing)
Rationale:
-Goals:
1. Students will be able to identify and create a foreground, middle ground and background in a landscape.
2. Students will be able to describe and use color (value), size and detail to show distance in a work of art.
3. For the adaptation for the gifted student, the student will be able to write a letter describing the drawing that includes a greeting, closing and address.
Vocabulary:
Nicolas Poussin-17th century French painter, Landscape with a Calm, (1650-1651)
Claude Joseph-Vernet-18th century French landscape painter, A Storm on a Mediterranean Coast (1767).
Philips Koninck-17th century Dutch painter, A Panoramic Landscape, (1665)
Atmosphere-the air that surrounds the earth.
Atmospheric perspective- in art, the portrayal of depth in nature as enhanced by haze in the atmosphere; how the appearance of objects is altered over distance by the effects of the air between the viewer and the object; also called aerial perspective (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atmospheric%20perspective)
Composition-in art, the organized grouping of the different parts of an artwork that are unified as a whole.
Sketch-an undetailed, light drawing
Texture-the way something feels to the touch
Warm colors-red, yellow, orange
Cool colors-blue, green, violet

Materials:
Images of landscape paintings:
Nicolas Poussin,Landscape with a Calm, (1650-1651)
Claude Joseph-Vernet,A Storm on a Mediterranean Coast(1767).
Philips Koninck,A Panoramic Landscape, (1665)
9 x 12 inch white drawing paper
Pencils
Crayons with the paper peeled off
Different textured materials such as burlap, sandpaper, corrugated cardboard pieces, netting, brick, rocks, etc.

Introduction:

1. The teacher will explain the objective of the class and will discuss each vocabulary term written on the board.

Body of the lesson:

1. The teacher will show the Poussin image Landscape with a Calm for 30 seconds and ask the students to look carefully at it.
2. After the 30 seconds are over, the image will be removed and the teacher will ask the students to describe with they noticed in the painting. The student responses will be listed on the board.
3. The image will be shown again and the students will be asked to list what else they notice in the painting.
4. The teacher will ask:

“What do you think is happening in this painting?”
“What is this a picture of?”
“What feelings or mood does the picture convey?”
“What is the first thing your eye is drawn to when you see this picture?”
“What is more important, the landscape or the figures?” “Why?”

These answers will be added to the list on the board.

5. The teacher will show two other landscape paintings: Vernet’s, A Storm on a Mediterranean Coast and Koninck’s A Panoramic Landscape. The class will discuss what the pictures have in common (outdoors, physical features, few or no people, few or no buildings, etc).
6. The teacher will ask the students to describe the physical features of the landscapes: hills, mountains, plains, lakes, clouds, trees, rocks, etc.
7. The teacher will discuss atmospheric perspective by asking:

“How did the artists make some things look close up and others look far away?”
(The teacher will ask students to give reasons for their opinions.)
The teacher will explain that objects in the front are in the foreground, objects half-way back are in the middle-ground, and objects at the back of the composition are in the background.

8. The teacher will point out that the up close objects are larger and have more details and brighter, warmer, more vivid colors. And that things further away are smaller, have fewer details and cooler, more muted colors. The teacher will emphasize that these techniques create atmospheric perspective.
9. The students will split into paired groups and each group will get a laminated poster image of a landscape painting. Each group will discuss the use of texture in their painting and will keep a list of their findings:

“What would it feel like if you touched this rock/tree/pond/dirt/sand?”
(smooth, rough, splintery, scratchy, silky, sharp, pointy, ragged, sandy, crunchy, etc.).
            Students will discuss the ways that the arts made certain objects look like they have a texture. The teacher will ask questions like: “What type of marks or brush strokes did the artist use to make the grass or trees look soft, prickly, etc.? What colors or shapes did the artist use to depict certain textures in the landscape? Where do you see examples of this?

10. Students will imagine that they have gone away on a trip. They will discuss where they would go and hat they would see. The teacher will steer the discussion towards landscapes and the natural physical features of the area by having students describe what the land would look like at their destination.
11. Students will write their names on the back of their paper. Then they will lightly sketch the landscape they just imagined in pencil, paying attention to foreground, middle ground, and background. The teacher will remind the students to use their whole paper. The teacher will remind the students about using differences in the sizes of objects, the intensity of color, and the amount of details shown to depict distance.
12. The teacher will demonstrate how to create textures in drawings using rubbings.
13. Students will practice making rubbings of several different textures. The teacher will remind the students to use the side of the crayons.
14. Students will apply texture to their landscape sketches using different textures for the different objects in their picture.

Closure:
The teacher will ask questions to review the concepts covered in the lesson such as foreground, middle ground, and background.
The teacher will ask the students to describe some of the vocabulary covered in class such as texture and sketch.
The teacher will ask the students which artists’ work they looked at today.

Adaptations for special needs:
Visually Impaired: All materials will be placed into a copier paper box top. A taped edge will be placed on the child’s paper so that s/he can sense the boarder of the paper.

Autism: Each crayon will be placed in a bull clip so that they are easier to manipulate.

Physical disability: Crayons in bull clips will alleviate grasp problems. Larger pieces of rubbing materials will be placed at these tables.

ADHD: The student with ADHD will be asked to perform specific tasks to help pass out papers and supplies to other student. Questions will be asked to the student directly to keep her/him engaged and involved in the discussion portion of the lesson. The student will be paired for group work with classmates that are good influences on behavior.

Gifted: These students will be asked to be special helpers of any one who is having difficulty getting their rubbings to work properly. They may also be asked to complete the letter writing portion of the assignment, where they follow a given example of how to compose a letter that includes a greeting, closing, address and proper punctuation. Their letter will be a written to a friend or family member who did not accompany them on their adventure to this imaginary landscape. The letter will describe what they have seen and done at their location. It will describe the landscape they have created and will use descriptive language. The students will write a draft of the letter on lined paper. Then they will copy it onto a photocopied template of the enlarged back of a postcard. The letter and the landscape drawing will be mounted together to create a larger-than-life postcard for exhibition.