Picture from Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Van Gogh Written and Illustrated by Mike Venezia Children's Press Chicago 1988	Picture from Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Picasso Written and Illustrated by Mike Venezia Children's Press Chicago 1988	Picture from Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: O'Keeffe Written and Illustrated by Mike Venezia Children's Press Chicago 1988

Introduction

You are a student.  You've been invited by the Yale Art Gallery to  visit and see original masterpieces of art .     Problem is you only  know a little bit about art .
 

Task

Your task is to understand,  identify, and report  on some masterpieces of art . and the artist..   Each student in the class will be a participating artist. and actually make art similar to some  of the  famous artist  you will be seeing at the Yale Art Gallery.    Then each group  will   cooperatively  research  the famous artist you as an individuals practiced. As an art expert you will write up an account of your learning. in your art journal.        You will display your art  work to the class and also share what you know about the famous artist .  This process will prepare you for your visit to the Yale Art Gallery.
 

Process

Each student  will use the  art elements of design , concepts, and skills used in making art. In your art journal you will  gather and record facts (like an art historian) from books, resources and the internet about the artists. You will also research the artist's style like an art critic. This  information will be written up , shared, and reported to the class.
 

Time Line

The time line for the process is one or two sessions are required for making art, one session for researching and writing facts and one session for analyzing and writing on art style. Formal class presentation needs one hour session.   This means a minimum of 5 one hour sessions  are required.  This will give you an understanding of art and enable you to make judgments about your own work .
 
 

Studio Art
(making art) with reference to a well-known artist from history
 

You will participate to learn the following: perspective,  portraiture, collage, still life, and enlargement.  Each lesson requires one to two sessions to complete.

Teacher then demonstrates the process of connecting corners to vanishing point and them the horizontal lines to complete the desired shapes.
This is a formal one point perspective drawing lesson that enables you to draw in perspective make the object look like it is getting smaller or vanishing into the horizon.

Be creative put yourself in your bedroom draw a corner in your room.  Start with the largest  piece of furniture (e.g. the bed) Keep the objects simple and do not clutter drawing with too many objects.

Drawing a portrait, Artist, Leonardo DaVinci
The art teacher gives you 12x18 white paper and crayons and pencil
1.  Draw an oval in the center of the paper , make sure the oval size is not too small and not too large .  Draw an oval around your hand .
2.  Add a neck .  the neck line starts up by the ears.
3.  Lightly draw guide lines for position of facial features:  horizontal line through the center of the oval, a vertical line from the top of the oval to the bottom.
4.  Eyes are placed on the horizontal line.  Draw two small egg shapes for the eyes.
5.  Draw a nose from the eyes half way to the chin.  Draw only one side and the bottom of the nose.
6.  The mouth is placed halfway between the bottom of the nose and the chin.  The mouth is as wide as the pupil in the eyes.  Try to draw the mouth to show both lips.
7.  Draw the hair as a shape around the head.  The hair style line in the forehead is important to create the look that the hair is part of the head.
8.  Color in eyes, mouth and other details.  Add a background with very light coloring.

Enlarged flower,  Artist Georgia O'Keeffe
Art teacher gives you 12x12 white paper , water colors , pencil , picture of flowers, tracing paper.
l.  Select a picture of a flower.   Lay a sheet of tracing paper on it.  Draw the lines, shapes and details that make up this object by tracing it onto the paper .
2.  The tracing process is for practice.   Now, on the white paper draw an enlarged version of this flower.  Discuss how the flowers will look enlarged.  Try to draw the flower are large as possible.  The flower will be the positive space.  There will be little, if any background or negative space.   Art teacher will help you draw large suggest that a portion of the flower should touch each of the four edges of the drawing paper.
3.  Paint the enlarged flower drawings with watercolors.  Use the watercolors in diluted form, first using pale colors than darker colors.  Leave areas of white showing by not painting some areas of the paper.  Avoid outline shapes with dark, thick lines of paint.  Try using color to crate edges instead of outlining the shapes.. A yellow-orange portion of a petal overlapping a light yellow portion of another petal will crate that edge without the use of an outline.
4.  Let dry.

Still life, Artist Pablo Picasso
Art teacher with give you 12x18 white paper , tempera paint , brushes, paint trays, still life objects, pencil
1.  Set up a still life and draw it on the white paper keep drawing large... fill up the entire page. Create a center of interest.
2.  Objects which are geometric , like the table , a box etc.  Draw at least two sides and if you could see two sides simultaneously that in reality you only see one side.  What you are doing is flattening all objects so you loose space and modeling, shadows, and overlapping.
3.  Paint the still like drawing using the analogous colors.  Analogous colors are colors that  are adjacent (side-by-side) on the color wheel.  For example, one scheme of colors could be Yellow, Green, Yellow-Green and tints and shades made by mixing white or black to any of these three colors in different  quantities (i.e. light green, lighter green, very light green, etc.).
Mix the two main colors together in different quantities.  Also, mix white and black to these different colors to create tints and shades.
4.  Paint patterns onto dry areas if desired.  Paint background as well as the still life objects.
5. Let dry.

Shape collage,  Artist Henri Matisse
Art teacher will provide you with 9x12 and 12 x 18 construction paper of contrasting colors, glue , scissors, pencil
1.  Your  focus is to make shapes different shapes that do not have names-organic shapes.   To achieve an organic shape fold a 9 x 12 paper in half like a book.
2.  Draw a curved line that starts on the bottom edge of the paper and winds around and curves upward to the top half of the paper and back to the bottom edge.
3.  Cut on this line while the paper is till folded into the double thickness. Save all pieces.
4.  Arrange the two pieces that are cut out onto the larger paper which has been folded into fourth.  Place one in each corner that is opposite diagonally.
5.   Open the 9x12 folded paper and cut on the fold.
6.  Arrange these two pieces in the remaining two diagonal corners.
7.  Glue desired arrangements in place.

Landscape  Artist Andrew Wyeth
Art teacher will provide Tempera paint--each student will need one color of their choice plus while assort, construction paper, brushes, 12 x 18 white paper , scissors, flue, markers, pencil, paint tray, newspaper.
l.  Think of a landscape, Draw several horizontal lines across the paper.  These may be curvy hills, zig-zag mountains or any other inventive lines.
2.  Place paper on newspaper,
3.  Choose one color plus white for your paint tray.  Mix one small brush load of that color to the white paint.  Paint this very light color on the top section.
4.  Mix a little more of the color to the white color and continue to paint each section down from the top of the paper.  Each section should be a slightly darker color as it is lower on the paper.  Let dry.  Value perspectibe shows colors up close as bright and vivid  colors farther away and lighter and not as bright.
5.  From the assorted construction paper.  Draw an object that would fit into the landscape.
6.  Draw this same object in a medium size and in a small size.  Cut out these objects and outline any details with a marker.  Diminishing size shows the same sized objects in different sizes according to how close or far they are from the viewer.
7.  Glue these objects onto the dry painting.  The largest object is placed closest to the bottom of the paper, the medium size placed higher up from the b bottom of the paper, and the smallest object placed the highest up[ on the paper.

Art critic -
You will be responsible to go to resources such as books, computer search, or CD ROMs Wilton Series to answer  the following questions
 1.)  Locate five pictures of work done by the artist you practiced on the internet or in an encyclopedia or art book available in the art room, media center, or computer lab, or your classroom. Does the artist have a favorite subject?
2.) List title, year produced, and medium used (paint, charcoal, etc,)..
3.) Write a description of the work .  What is the subject ?  What color is most dominant?  Is line emphasized? Which shape is most dominant?  What else do you see?
4.)  List two things you like.
5.)  List two things you do not like.
6.)  If possible include print outs of your findings.
After steps 1 to 6 are completed compile all of your information and write a report using a word processing program.  (if  available). Share the report with the class You will find information on  Google (search engine).
 
 

Art Historian
Your job is to collect factual information on the life of the artist.  Answer the following questions, then put your findings into a report which you can share with the class.  You may use some type of word processing software to write up your report because you are an art historian.  The art room and media center have some reference books, where as you can use the search engines on the computers in the computer lab, your classroom, and the media center.

1.)  What year was __________born?  (date and year  and place of birth)
2.)  What country did ____________ live in longest?   What is his/her nationality____________?
3.)  What  type of education did __________________receive?
4.)  What type of job/s did _____________hold?  How long (if available)?
5.)  What type of art was ______________ most famous for? __________________
6.)  Write about any event that may have effected the artist life.  _________________________
       _________________________________________________________________________
7.)  When did ________________die? (date and year)
8.)  Where did_________________die?
 
 

Now write a composition on your findings as an art historian and separately as as art critic with an introduction, body of supporting information, and a conclusion.  You will be evaluated according to the Writing Rubric . 

The art historian will choose a  recorder who will be at a chart  lettering in  a check list. of important points on the artist which is being presented.

Check List
artist name
art style
art technique
period in history
nationality
favorite subjects
 
 

The art critic will display an art reproduction of the artist's masterpiece.  Key words and concept signs will be attached to the reproduction.  The art critic will read his/her report also.
Encourage a discussion on the work of art.  Ask yourself questions like: What did the artist want me to see?, How is the work planned?  What parts of the work give me a special feeling?  How does the work "speak to me without using words?
 

Creative studio projects
Your studio project will be displayed.  You  give and oral report on your  experience with the art studio technique and/or style and how  you were able to use it in your painting/project compared to the artist being reported on.

Credits and References
Books
Masterpiece of the Month,  Jennifer Thomas, Teacher created Materials, Inc., Huntington Beach, CA 92647, 1990.

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists, Mike Venezia,  Children's Press Chicago, Illinois,  1994.

Leonardo's ABC: Sharing Leonardo da Vinci With Children, Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano,  Museum of Science,  Boston: MA 1997.

Leonardo da Vinci,  Ibi Lepscky,  Illustrated by Paolo Cardoni, Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1992.

Leonardo da Vinci for Kids: His Life and Ideas: 21 Activities,  Janis Herbert,  Chicago Review Press, Inc. 1998.
 

Websites

http://library.thinkquest.org/13681/data/link2.htm

Mphillips@interact.ccsd.net

WebMuseum, Paris,
 
 

CDRoms
 

Wilton Series:, Davis Publications, Inc.  Adventures in Art:  Elements of Art , Artists at Work, Color,  Art Adventure