"My best teachers were not the ones who knew all the answers, but those who were deeply excited by questions they could not answer." Brian Greene
Unit Rationale:
This unit is to delve into the idea of significance and learn to use different mediums. Students will be learning about the prevalence of mental wellness, mental illness and will gain knowledge to become sensitive to the diversity of mental illness and develop an understanding for it. Students will explore this concept through the many mediums that they will work with throughout this unit. Students will be provided with identification and management tools to aid in their own exploration of mental awareness.
This unit is to delve into the idea of significance and learn to use different mediums. Students will be learning about the prevalence of mental wellness, mental illness and will gain knowledge to become sensitive to the diversity of mental illness and develop an understanding for it. Students will explore this concept through the many mediums that they will work with throughout this unit. Students will be provided with identification and management tools to aid in their own exploration of mental awareness.
Lesson Sequence
Teacher name: Kirsten Ledbetter
Lesson title: An Alla Prima Painting: The Culmination of Little Things and their Significance
Time frame: 5-6 50-minute class periods
Sequence Theme/Big Idea: Motivation and Happiness
Grade level: 11- 12th, preferably AP
Lesson Narrative:
Students will be creating the final instillation, a 6”x8” self-constructed support alla prima oil painting, referencing the A-Painting-A-Day movement, of an item they chose, for the series that they have been creating in this unit.
Lesson Rationale:
This lesson is to polish and make concise each of our lessons that have been conducted leading into this final project in which they have been learning and leading discussion in this unit. The creation of this final piece, an alla prima painting, will exemplify the succinct thoughts that have developed over the course of this stimulating unit in the conducted discussions and in private thought. This lesson will teach students to observe and appreciate things that occur in daily life and not to allow bad moments overshadow the good. People generally live from big moment to big moment and acknowledgement of the moments that make up the “in-between” moments are usually taken for granted or forgotten. The list goes on and on for the in-between for life is different for people living their life. I want to focus on the in-between moments that we might miss if they were gone; a routine, an object, a hobby, a small pleasure that you might take for granted
Key Concepts:
· Life is full of things that are overlooked; it is our job as artists to step back and value these moments to exercise our ability to induce pleasure.
· People are all searching for meaning.
· Understanding significance and what to appreciate in day-to-day life.
· People are aware of who they are and what they feel; this affects health, function, and manner of expression.
Objectives:
· Students will create an alla prima oil painting on a self-constructed canvas support that will be the culmination of this unit.
· Students will be able to verbalize their reasoning for the item they chose.
· Students will have exposure to the in-depth rational and conceptual thinking and researching that is involved in the production process.
· Students will develop an awareness to the prevalence of mental illness and gain the tools to identify and aid mental illness.
Standards:
HS Advanced
· 1PE Interpret social and cultural contexts to develop personal meaning in visual imagery.
· 2PE Interpret and evaluate the way a theme or meaning in an artwork expresses the social, political or cultural context.
· 4PE Demonstrate the ability to form and defend judgments regarding the relationships between artists and culture.
· 2PR Use criteria to revise works-in-progress and describe changes made and what was learned in the process.
· 6PR Visually express complex concepts and meaning in their artworks.
· 5RE Defend personal philosophies of art based on a connection to aesthetic theories and visual culture.
Materials:
· Sketchbook- pencils 2B-4B
· 2 6-inch stretcher bars
· 2 8-inch stretcher bars
· Staple gun
· Scissors
· Canvas
· Gesso
· Oil paints
· Galkyd
· Liquin
· Linseed Oil
· Oil paint quality brushes
· Mineral spirits/ Gamsol
· Old rags
· Palette
· Palette knife
· Palette razor scraper
· An Item of their choosing
Lesson Vocabulary:
· Painting-a-Day Movement- The movement to create a piece of art daily that exercises creativity and skill.
· Mental Illness- Vague terminology that encompasses a wide variety of disorders that affect thoughts, emotions and behavior.
· Alla Prima- Italian translation: ‘meaning at first attempt”; Wet-on-Wet technique; used mostly for oil painting
· Oil Paint-ground pigment mixed with a vehicle, such as linseed oil, to create a viscous paste
· Pigment-the color(ing) of something
· Linseed Oil- a yellow oil extracted from linseed that is used in paints and varnish; vehicle for ground pigment in oil paints
· Galkyd- an additive medium that can be added to oil paint to lessen the drying time, increase fluidity and increase gloss; can also be used as a final sealant/ layer on a finished piece
· Liquin- an additive medium that can be added to oil paint to lessen the drying time, increase fluidity and increase gloss; can also be used as a final sealant/ layer on a finished piece
· Canvas- strong, coarse-woven cloth made from hemp, flax, cotton; to make sails, tents and surface for painting.
· Stretcher bars- wooden supports that provide frame and stability for an artwork
· Gesso- priming medium to ready canvas for application of paint
· Palette Knife- a thing steel blade that comes in many sizes and shapes that can be utilized for application and mixing of paints
Historical/Multicultural Exemplars:
· Lucian Freud
· Duane Keiser
o http://duanekeiser.blogspot.com/2014/02/vodka-with-lemon-twist-video.html (a video of Duane working on one of his A-Painting-A-Day pieces)
· Lisa Daria
· Carol Marine
· Stephanie McGuinness
· Sketchbooks were maintained by many artists:
o Da Vinci
o Delacroix
o William Turner
o Van Gogh
o Cezanne
o Franz Marc
o Frida Kahlo
o Ernst Ludwig Kirschner
o Christo
· Duane Keiser
· http://www.duanekeiser.com/#!apaintingaday/ck0q
Question strategies for images:
· What compels artists to create?
· What induces the need to create each day?
· What are the benefits to creating a painting each day?
· What is the motivation behind an artist’s creation and more specifically: choice of subject matter?
· Why do you think this artist chose to show the scenes in the paintings that are shown as examples?
· What could a quiet moment with a chair and a stark shadow represent? A broken egg? Has the sandwich been abandoned right after it was made? Does the scissor and yellow thread represent the Fates and emphasis the importance of life?
Visual Culture Component:
Students will engage in conversation about people with mental illness. The class will watch TED talks in the classroom that they vote on watching. After the TED talk students will discuss the effects of the videos: the thoughts they have, questions, ideas, etc.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/9/all_kinds_of_minds
This is a list of TED talks that are about mental illness. The list is All Kinds of Minds.
· A Tale of Mental Illness-From the Inside by Elyn Saks
· The World needs All Kinds of Minds by Temple Grandin
· The Voices in My Head by Eleanor Longdon
· What’s so Funny about Mental Illness? By Ruby Wax
· On Being Just Crazy Enough by Joshua Walters
· Music is Medicine, Music is Sanity by Robert Gupta
Procedure:
Students will construct their own supports for this alla prima oil painting with the stretcher bars they purchase: 2 6-inch stretcher bars and 2 8-inch stretcher bars. Assemble stretcher bars, make sure the corners are at right-angles, stretch canvas (provided) over stretcher bars. Teacher will provide a demonstration on how to gallery-wrap the corners of the canvas resulting in neat corners and edges without excess material in the back. Students will prime/gesso their now canvas-wrapped support. Students will have their item and begin painting in the alla prima style. This will continue for two to three class periods while the oil paint remains workable and capable of conducing wet-on-wet alla prima style painting. The edges of the piece need to be painted either a solid color that is the same on all sides or a clean solid white. Dry pieces can be finished with a layer of galkid/liquin for a gloss finish or the piece can remain matte.
Hook:
Opening the first class with a sensitive subject like mental illness will capture students’ respect and attention.
Starting a class off with an interactive activity, like a canvas construction/stretching/priming demonstration will spark curiosity and engage students.
Sketchbook/Artist’s Journal Motivation:
Sketchbooks will be used in the beginning stages of the unit as a “brain dump” exercise simply to get ideas going and get started. Sketchbooks will be kept throughout the assignments/unit for writing and sketching purposes but all of this will be done outside of class as homework.
Dialogue:
Student discussion and dialogue is a main component of this lesson. Each day there will be questions asked and dialogue held in order to engage learners and allow them self-exploration with their own thoughts and ideas. Students will engage in discussion in which they will be learning about and from each other and keep and open-mind to be receptive to new ideas. Students will be conducting research about the topic of mental illness and then discussing it in small groups and how their research is affecting the resulting pieces that are created.
Adaptations/Special populations:
The multiple mediums we will be using will allow for flexibility by the many forms of expression and creation enabled by this variety of media.
Closure:
· Class critique involving the product of each lesson that comprised this unit.
· During the critique students will talk about what they have learned from their fellow students. They was talk about what they knew going into this unit and elaborate on how that has been changed by the lessons and what they know now.
Assessment:
· Final Cumulative Critique/presentation
· In-process Grades- projects will be graded at the end of each lesson and have their own grade as well as contributing points to the final grade the encompasses all of the projects in the unit.
· Daily participation and productivity in activities and discussion will be graded with points that will be given and factored into the final project grade.
Classroom set-up:
There will be a demonstration on how to assemble a proper support using pre-fabricated stretcher bars, canvas and gesso. Staple guns, (possibly canvas pliers) and gesso will all be dispersed throughout the room; canvas will be where I am doing the actual demonstration. The students will watch me assemble a canvas and then do it themselves while I walk around to aid students and answer questions.
Students will work independently in their spaces, with their palette and at an easel to hold their painting. (See attached document with diagram of classroom set-up.)
Example images of activity/project:
I have created a demonstration video of gallery wrapping the corner of a constructed support. This will be played during class.
Link to demonstration video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpDu_1VrIhs&feature=youtu.be
(It is also shown below.)
I will also bring in an almost finished example of a support that has three out of four corners wrapped and students who need a more hands on approach instead of verbal instruction can come up and practice folding the edge on the provided example.
Resources:
The resources that will be used will be a variety of videos from the TED talks website. There will also be a worksheet that shows the tools and supplies needed for constructing and priming a canvas.
Extra Materials: There will be a worksheet that will be handed out prior to construction of the canvas in order for students to become familiar with the terms for the supplies needed when constructing and priming a canvas. (The handout will be attached as a .pdf document)
Lesson title: An Alla Prima Painting: The Culmination of Little Things and their Significance
Time frame: 5-6 50-minute class periods
Sequence Theme/Big Idea: Motivation and Happiness
Grade level: 11- 12th, preferably AP
Lesson Narrative:
Students will be creating the final instillation, a 6”x8” self-constructed support alla prima oil painting, referencing the A-Painting-A-Day movement, of an item they chose, for the series that they have been creating in this unit.
Lesson Rationale:
This lesson is to polish and make concise each of our lessons that have been conducted leading into this final project in which they have been learning and leading discussion in this unit. The creation of this final piece, an alla prima painting, will exemplify the succinct thoughts that have developed over the course of this stimulating unit in the conducted discussions and in private thought. This lesson will teach students to observe and appreciate things that occur in daily life and not to allow bad moments overshadow the good. People generally live from big moment to big moment and acknowledgement of the moments that make up the “in-between” moments are usually taken for granted or forgotten. The list goes on and on for the in-between for life is different for people living their life. I want to focus on the in-between moments that we might miss if they were gone; a routine, an object, a hobby, a small pleasure that you might take for granted
Key Concepts:
· Life is full of things that are overlooked; it is our job as artists to step back and value these moments to exercise our ability to induce pleasure.
· People are all searching for meaning.
· Understanding significance and what to appreciate in day-to-day life.
· People are aware of who they are and what they feel; this affects health, function, and manner of expression.
Objectives:
· Students will create an alla prima oil painting on a self-constructed canvas support that will be the culmination of this unit.
· Students will be able to verbalize their reasoning for the item they chose.
· Students will have exposure to the in-depth rational and conceptual thinking and researching that is involved in the production process.
· Students will develop an awareness to the prevalence of mental illness and gain the tools to identify and aid mental illness.
Standards:
HS Advanced
· 1PE Interpret social and cultural contexts to develop personal meaning in visual imagery.
· 2PE Interpret and evaluate the way a theme or meaning in an artwork expresses the social, political or cultural context.
· 4PE Demonstrate the ability to form and defend judgments regarding the relationships between artists and culture.
· 2PR Use criteria to revise works-in-progress and describe changes made and what was learned in the process.
· 6PR Visually express complex concepts and meaning in their artworks.
· 5RE Defend personal philosophies of art based on a connection to aesthetic theories and visual culture.
Materials:
· Sketchbook- pencils 2B-4B
· 2 6-inch stretcher bars
· 2 8-inch stretcher bars
· Staple gun
· Scissors
· Canvas
· Gesso
· Oil paints
· Galkyd
· Liquin
· Linseed Oil
· Oil paint quality brushes
· Mineral spirits/ Gamsol
· Old rags
· Palette
· Palette knife
· Palette razor scraper
· An Item of their choosing
Lesson Vocabulary:
· Painting-a-Day Movement- The movement to create a piece of art daily that exercises creativity and skill.
· Mental Illness- Vague terminology that encompasses a wide variety of disorders that affect thoughts, emotions and behavior.
· Alla Prima- Italian translation: ‘meaning at first attempt”; Wet-on-Wet technique; used mostly for oil painting
· Oil Paint-ground pigment mixed with a vehicle, such as linseed oil, to create a viscous paste
· Pigment-the color(ing) of something
· Linseed Oil- a yellow oil extracted from linseed that is used in paints and varnish; vehicle for ground pigment in oil paints
· Galkyd- an additive medium that can be added to oil paint to lessen the drying time, increase fluidity and increase gloss; can also be used as a final sealant/ layer on a finished piece
· Liquin- an additive medium that can be added to oil paint to lessen the drying time, increase fluidity and increase gloss; can also be used as a final sealant/ layer on a finished piece
· Canvas- strong, coarse-woven cloth made from hemp, flax, cotton; to make sails, tents and surface for painting.
· Stretcher bars- wooden supports that provide frame and stability for an artwork
· Gesso- priming medium to ready canvas for application of paint
· Palette Knife- a thing steel blade that comes in many sizes and shapes that can be utilized for application and mixing of paints
Historical/Multicultural Exemplars:
· Lucian Freud
· Duane Keiser
o http://duanekeiser.blogspot.com/2014/02/vodka-with-lemon-twist-video.html (a video of Duane working on one of his A-Painting-A-Day pieces)
· Lisa Daria
· Carol Marine
· Stephanie McGuinness
· Sketchbooks were maintained by many artists:
o Da Vinci
o Delacroix
o William Turner
o Van Gogh
o Cezanne
o Franz Marc
o Frida Kahlo
o Ernst Ludwig Kirschner
o Christo
· Duane Keiser
· http://www.duanekeiser.com/#!apaintingaday/ck0q
Question strategies for images:
· What compels artists to create?
· What induces the need to create each day?
· What are the benefits to creating a painting each day?
· What is the motivation behind an artist’s creation and more specifically: choice of subject matter?
· Why do you think this artist chose to show the scenes in the paintings that are shown as examples?
· What could a quiet moment with a chair and a stark shadow represent? A broken egg? Has the sandwich been abandoned right after it was made? Does the scissor and yellow thread represent the Fates and emphasis the importance of life?
Visual Culture Component:
Students will engage in conversation about people with mental illness. The class will watch TED talks in the classroom that they vote on watching. After the TED talk students will discuss the effects of the videos: the thoughts they have, questions, ideas, etc.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/9/all_kinds_of_minds
This is a list of TED talks that are about mental illness. The list is All Kinds of Minds.
· A Tale of Mental Illness-From the Inside by Elyn Saks
· The World needs All Kinds of Minds by Temple Grandin
· The Voices in My Head by Eleanor Longdon
· What’s so Funny about Mental Illness? By Ruby Wax
· On Being Just Crazy Enough by Joshua Walters
· Music is Medicine, Music is Sanity by Robert Gupta
Procedure:
Students will construct their own supports for this alla prima oil painting with the stretcher bars they purchase: 2 6-inch stretcher bars and 2 8-inch stretcher bars. Assemble stretcher bars, make sure the corners are at right-angles, stretch canvas (provided) over stretcher bars. Teacher will provide a demonstration on how to gallery-wrap the corners of the canvas resulting in neat corners and edges without excess material in the back. Students will prime/gesso their now canvas-wrapped support. Students will have their item and begin painting in the alla prima style. This will continue for two to three class periods while the oil paint remains workable and capable of conducing wet-on-wet alla prima style painting. The edges of the piece need to be painted either a solid color that is the same on all sides or a clean solid white. Dry pieces can be finished with a layer of galkid/liquin for a gloss finish or the piece can remain matte.
Hook:
Opening the first class with a sensitive subject like mental illness will capture students’ respect and attention.
Starting a class off with an interactive activity, like a canvas construction/stretching/priming demonstration will spark curiosity and engage students.
Sketchbook/Artist’s Journal Motivation:
Sketchbooks will be used in the beginning stages of the unit as a “brain dump” exercise simply to get ideas going and get started. Sketchbooks will be kept throughout the assignments/unit for writing and sketching purposes but all of this will be done outside of class as homework.
Dialogue:
Student discussion and dialogue is a main component of this lesson. Each day there will be questions asked and dialogue held in order to engage learners and allow them self-exploration with their own thoughts and ideas. Students will engage in discussion in which they will be learning about and from each other and keep and open-mind to be receptive to new ideas. Students will be conducting research about the topic of mental illness and then discussing it in small groups and how their research is affecting the resulting pieces that are created.
Adaptations/Special populations:
The multiple mediums we will be using will allow for flexibility by the many forms of expression and creation enabled by this variety of media.
Closure:
· Class critique involving the product of each lesson that comprised this unit.
· During the critique students will talk about what they have learned from their fellow students. They was talk about what they knew going into this unit and elaborate on how that has been changed by the lessons and what they know now.
Assessment:
· Final Cumulative Critique/presentation
· In-process Grades- projects will be graded at the end of each lesson and have their own grade as well as contributing points to the final grade the encompasses all of the projects in the unit.
· Daily participation and productivity in activities and discussion will be graded with points that will be given and factored into the final project grade.
Classroom set-up:
There will be a demonstration on how to assemble a proper support using pre-fabricated stretcher bars, canvas and gesso. Staple guns, (possibly canvas pliers) and gesso will all be dispersed throughout the room; canvas will be where I am doing the actual demonstration. The students will watch me assemble a canvas and then do it themselves while I walk around to aid students and answer questions.
Students will work independently in their spaces, with their palette and at an easel to hold their painting. (See attached document with diagram of classroom set-up.)
Example images of activity/project:
I have created a demonstration video of gallery wrapping the corner of a constructed support. This will be played during class.
Link to demonstration video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpDu_1VrIhs&feature=youtu.be
(It is also shown below.)
I will also bring in an almost finished example of a support that has three out of four corners wrapped and students who need a more hands on approach instead of verbal instruction can come up and practice folding the edge on the provided example.
Resources:
The resources that will be used will be a variety of videos from the TED talks website. There will also be a worksheet that shows the tools and supplies needed for constructing and priming a canvas.
Extra Materials: There will be a worksheet that will be handed out prior to construction of the canvas in order for students to become familiar with the terms for the supplies needed when constructing and priming a canvas. (The handout will be attached as a .pdf document)
Past lesson planning exercises...
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