Art and Culture

Summary

Arts activities express relationships to family and community.

Materials

Art Match

• Shape Element Cards
• Overhead or poster of a piece of artwork that you are familiar with (an overhead can easily be made from a piece of artwork printed from the Internet)

African Masks

• Pictures of African Masks
• African Mask Template
• Material/string
• Geometric Shape
• Crayons, markers, etc.
• Drum (optional)
• Venn Diagram

Pop Culture Art

• Andy Warhol Bio
• Millions of People Poem
• Venn Diagram
• Andy Warhol prints
• Student pictures
• Four Square Art Page
• Styrofoam
• Toothpicks
• Tempera paint

Additional Resources

Books

The Art Book For Children; ISBN 978-0-7148-4530-2

A Child's Book of Art, by Lucy Micklethwait; ISBN 978-1-56458-203-4

Andy Warhol: The Life of an Artist, by Carin T. Ford; ISBN 0-7660-1880-6

Artists in their Time: Andy Warhol, by Linda Bolton; ISBN 0-531-16618-X

Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove; ISBN 978-0140546040

Organizations

Springville Museum of Art, 26 E. 400 S. Springville, Utah, 84663, 801-489-2727

Background for Teachers

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. (Edgar Degas)

Artists are influenced by they world around them. Their culture, families, environment, and experiences are often evident in their completed work. Art is an excellent way for children to see the world from a different perspective. Consider the cultures in your classroom when selecting art prints and art forms to study. The emphasis of the following lessons is for students to reflect their culture through art. As young children are exposed to a variety of art forms, not only will their appreciation for fine art grow but their willingness to experiment with different techniques and styles will develop as well. There are many different forms of media that can be used for artistic creations. Printing, watercolor, pencil drawings, collage, and abstract are just a few of the forms. Shape, color and texture are also all used in art. Art can be as complicated or simple as you make it. Let children explore and they will probably teach you a thing or two!

Intended Learning Outcomes

5. Demonstrate responsible emotional and cognitive behaviors.

Instructional Procedures

Invitation to Learn

Art Match

Give each group a set of the Art Element Cards. Talk about the words that are on each card. With students, using a piece of artwork that all can see, show one of your Art Element Cards and find an example in the artwork of this specific shape element. Use an overhead or poster of a piece of artwork that you are familiar with to demonstrate. (An overhead can easily be made from a piece of artwork printed from the Internet). Explain to the students that just as we see shapes in the world around us, there are shapes used in artwork and that they are going to be looking for them in all different types of art. Now that you have provided a model for students, ask groups to place all of their Art Elements Cards face down. Have the groups turn over one of their Art Elements Cards at a time and find an example in a piece of artwork. They could use artwork that you've displayed (posters, overheads). Postcards or pictures from calendars could also be used in smaller groups at their desks. This activity should take no longer than five to ten minutes. It should just give students enough time to look and see that all art includes the shape elements.

Instructional Procedures

African Masks

1. Show students pictures of African masks. You may find pictures online and make them into overheads. The books listed in Additional Resources have pictures that include good representations of African artwork (websites are also listed).
2. Discuss how artists use colors, shapes, and forms to symbolize and communicate within their artwork.
3. Have students decide on 3-5 colors they like and discuss what these colors may communicate to the viewer (happiness, strength, sadness and so forth). During this time you can also refer students back to the shape element cards. Brainstorm with students what colors and shapes they would like to have on their own African mask that they will create. Encourage them to think about what their chosen colors and shapes will communicate about themselves. You could make a list on chart paper of shapes and colors that describe their current emotions and or interests.
4. Students can utilize art materials and the African Mask Template to create their own African mask art. Any media form can be used. You may choose to have geometric shapes cut out (from die-cuts) that the students could use to glue onto the template.
5. After modeling using your own mask, have students think of a sentence that they could use to describe their African mask. You could also use one or two students' masks as examples, and have the class generate sentences for those masks. Pose questions to help them generate their sentence such as: What colors and shapes did you pick? What would you wear this mask for? How do you feel when you are wearing this mask?
6. Have students wear (or hold their mask in front of their face) and read their sentence. To make this more dramatic, you could play "African Music" or beat a drum while they read their sentences.

Pop Culture Art

1. Explain to students that even in America we have artwork that is unique to our culture. Explain that one type of artwork that we see is called Pop Culture Art.
2. As a shared reading, read aloud the biographical paragraph about Andy Warhol (you may also choose to show a picture of Andy Warhol). Explain that just like Andy Warhol, who is an American Artist, they are going to be artists also. Andy Warhol used famous people and common everyday things to create art. "In our classroom we are all famous and we are going to use our very own faces to create art!"
3. Read the poem Millions of People and have a discussion about how "everyone in our classroom looks different but there are things that are the same about us too" (the poem can be read together as a class and put into a poetry binder, made into a poster, or used for shared reading).
4. Using pictures of two students in your classroom compare and contrast, with a Venn diagram. You could use the Venn diagram pocket chart for this activity. Have students look with you at the two pictures and see how the children in the two pictures are the same and how they are different (note: make sure to pick students that could handle having their picture used as the example).
5. Using two of Andy Warhol's prints, compare and contrast the two prints (how are they the same, how are they different?). This will force the students to look very carefully at the artwork and they will be more ready to make their own small changes as they recreate and make their own personal "pop-art". You will want students to think back to their art elements cards and the five shape elements you discussed during the introduction. Remind them that when you are looking at their artwork you will want to see color changes and shape element changes. Have the shape element cards available for reference.
6. Discuss how when Andy Warhol, who you read about when you first started the lesson, changed the color on his prints, he changed what people felt and thought when they saw his work. Ask what colors they think would show someone being happy, sad, excited, confused, etc. (note: this brainstorming will also help them later when they are giving each of their prints a name).
7. Now students are ready to make their own "pop"-style artwork. There are two options to choose from as you have students create:

   a. Take a picture of each student (black and white). If the picture is digital, it is easy to print a page with 4-6 small black and white prints of the same picture. Using the Four Square Art Page, have each child paste a picture of him/ herself into each box. Have children use different types of art media to make each picture look different. Have them brainstorm "names" for each of their pictures.

   b. Have each child, using thin Styrofoam and a toothpick, etch into the Styrofoam what they look like. If you have mirrors you could have them look in the mirror to do this. Then, using tempera paints and a paintbrush they pick a color to put over their "print." Have them stamp the print into one of the four square boxes on the template provided. Then, they can pick a new color and either paint over, or wash off their print and start again for each box, until all four boxes are complete. After this is dry have them brainstorm a word to describe (preferably not a color word) each different picture.

8. Display artwork in an "art gallery" within your school, or in your classroom. Using artwork, and basing artwork on famous artists is a great idea for displays before parent-teacher conferences.

Extensions

Curriculum Extensions/Adaptations/ Integration

• Make "art word charts" that students can refer to. For example, for textures, words such as rough, smooth, silky, and bumpy may be added to the chart. For patterns words like checked, striped, borders and dotted are likely. The goal is to find unusual and descriptive words to expand concepts behind art elements and add words to charts. These word charts will accommodate for students as they write descriptions for their artwork and as they do written reflections in their journals.
• Postcards: Use art postcards to have students do sorts and finds. For example, groups can sort by subject matter (e.g., portraits, landscapes) styles, and art elements (e.g., color, texture). Connect sorts to units: sort by cultures, animals, and plants. Students can also do open sorts where they are given postcards and find different ways to group them. Students can also use a Venn pocket chart in groups, or a Venn Diagram in sorting.
• Make your own postcard: Give each child a postcard size piece of cardstock or other heavy paper and have them create their own piece of artwork. Even a simple 3x5 or 4x6 index card can be used. You may choose to gather these and then mail them home with a note to the parents about what students have been learning or a positive note about their child. These are also fun to use for birthdays.
• Study art from other countries and have students create their own pieces, related to the works studied, just as you have modeled in your African Masks and Pop Culture Art activities. Some ideas for other countries could include mosaics (European and Islamic cultures), totem poles or weaving (Native American).

Family Connections

• Send home a note to parents, telling them that you are learning about different art forms from different countries and see if they have any art that they would like to send to school. You could have a "show and tell" art day.
• Send home postcards that children have made with a note about how well their child is doing in school.
• Have students pick a country or culture that they want to learn more about and assign reports to be done at home with parents. In this way, students will learn and share more about different cultures/ countries, as well as different artwork!

Assessment Plan

• Display the student mask art creations within the classroom. Let students each have a set of Art Element Cards. Each child can look critically at another child's African mask creation and fill out the African Mask Rubric. Students could also fill out a rubric for their own mask if desired.
• As part of a journal prompt, have students complete the sentence: "Art can be______________." to see if they understand that art can take many forms.
• Check to see if students included the elements of art that were discussed -- (shapes, colors) in making their artwork unique to them. They can use the African Mask Rubric to self-assess. You may choose to use the rubric to assess and give feedback, as well.
• Have the students complete a journal entry about how their artwork is an expression of themselves. Asses to see if they are using any of the shape element words or talking about how or why colors were used (Note: If you've set them up to be thinking about these elements while they complete their projects, you'll get a much richer reflection in their journals).

Bibliography

Research Basis

Rabkin, N., Redmond, R. (2006). The arts make a difference. Education Leadership. 63(5) 60-64.

This article gives evidence, that arts integration, when done effectively turns curriculum into work that is not just reproducing knowledge but rather is showing children how to use it in authentic and intellectual ways. It discusses what exactly arts integration is, and the power of using art in k-8 classrooms.

Gallavan, N.P., & Kottler, E. (2007). Eight types of graphic organizers for empowering social studies students and teachers. The Social Studies. 98(3) 117-23.

Graphic organizers provide a way for teachers and students to have the tools, concepts and language to organize, understand and apply information. Often, teachers feel that social studies overwhelms students. Graphic organizers help students sort, show relationships, make meaning, and manage information quickly and easily before, during and after reading and discussion. In the article, the authors present eight types of graphic organizers with descriptions, vocabulary and examples.