Cascade Canyon

Visual Art

ARTrageous CURRICULUM 2009-2010 “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” -Pablo Picasso The art curriculum travels an adventurous path to learning about and through art.  By mixing information with imagination, the curriculum hopes to provide art experiences that help each student express their creative and unique personal ideas, develop potential solutions to a problem, be flexible in their ideas, enhance their reasoning and intuitive thinking, develop initiative and cultivate attitudes of success!   We travel this road to discovery in any given class by exploring the language of art (see bold text below).  We travel lightly, leaving behind doubts, making lots of mistakes and learning to be our own boss when deciding which visual choice/direction to take! The basic visual symbols in the language of art are known as the elements and principles.  The elements of art are line, shape, color, value, texture, form and space.  The principles of art (the manner in which elements are arranged in an artwork) are balance, emphasis, repetition, similarity, contrast, overlap, unity, movement, rhythm, distortion, gradation and pattern! Using this “language” as our road map, lessons/adventures usually proceed with a motivation - a problem to be solved, a design dilemma and/or a guided exploration.  This motivation includes an instructional objective to experience new materials/methods of production or a new approach to the same materials, or a new way of “looking” at the message/lesson objective (so that DeVinci cannot accuse us of “looking without seeing”)!  We analyze, apply, arrange, compare, construct, contrast, relate, define, demonstrate, depict, describe, develop, discover, discuss, draw, emphasize, experiment, explain, express, identify, illustrate, interpret, judge, list, manipulate, produce, recognize, select, show, solve, use, utilize, verbalize, work and talk about the content!  Woven into each lesson is a thread of art history and analysis!  We include artrageous “games” in this area such as role playing art buyers and auctioneers, “What’s My Viewpoint,” “Create a Gallery,” “Will the Real ____ Please Stand up?,” etc. For a "rough" curriculum outline for each grade level, click "read more" below. The following chart provides “rough” examples of what a particular grade’s curriculum might explore artrageously!  It grows developmentally introducing new skills (in italics) that build upon each other.  For example, in all grade levels one can design masks.  The Kindergartner might smudge/mold an aluminum foil “mask” from the shape of their face, while a 1st/2nd grader might manipulate paper into a symmetrical paper sculpture mask.  The 3rd /4th grader could create a plaster bag mold creature mask, while the 5th/6th grader might sculpt an aluminum can mask.  Lastly, clay portrait heads “with an attitude” provide a developmentally appropriate medium for the 7th/8th grader!  I identify this chart as a “rough” example because the curriculum is by no means limited by a “developmental skill.”  We move upwards, sideways, backwards and in a zigzag through the age-level curriculums! Kindergarten (Or making, exploring and smudging things!)   •  Painting with brushes and fingers •  Printing with found objects: Styrofoam,    potatoes and fingers •  Sewing •  Puppet design •  Paper play: ripping, tearing, collage •  Weaving •  Using scissors to cut all kinds of lines!    •  Sculpture from found objects and clay •  Manipulating clay (form a ball, make a    coil, flatten, squeeze, and pinch) •  Learning to take care of supplies! •  Drawing with everything and anything    that will draw •  Exploring color •  Making things from puppets to    xylophones to everything in between   1st/2nd  (Everything the K’s experience plus adding/adapting ARTrageous adventures that address): Fascination with how things work Great observational skills Understanding “size” relationships Artwork from different cultures Line to make things three-dimensional Understanding personal selection (“I like red”) •  Positive negative studies •  Paper Manipulation: Origami, paper tube    sculpture, collage •  Printmaking, collagraphs •  Cityscape tiles •  Color – personal color wheel, color and    costume   •  Self portraits of all kinds •  Resists with oil pastel, glue, on fabric    (Batik) and more! •  Textiles:  wrapping, twisting, sewing,    pulling, tying fabric! •  Sculptor – carving •  Scratching thru layers!   3rd/4th   (Everything the K’s and ½’s experience plus adding/adapting ARTrageous adventures that address): Understanding principle of overlap Understanding of foreground, middle ground, background and that form follows function Appreciation of fantasy Openness to new experiences including humor Interest in learning to draw Increased understanding of how artists express themselves and their cultural identity   •  Color scheme, warm/cool, contrasting •  Still life •  Landscape sculpture •  Contour drawing – learning to see •  Proportion •  Map-making (relief sculptures) •  Gargoyle Fantasy Faces •  Architecture: columns, beams, domes,       towers & turrets:      “Your favorite Room”, “Tourist Map” •  Bark Painting •  Metal tooling •  Art Books, scrolling, binding, scoring,    pop-up, accordion   5th/6th  (Everything the K’s, ½’s and ¾’s experience plus adding/adapting ARTrageous adventures that address): One/two point perspective – showing depth Functions of architecture (worship, burial) Human form, self-portraits Posters (balance, space and emphasis) Realism/abstraction; light/shadow/texture One-two point perspective Understanding and identifying symbols in art   •  Batik, printing, tie-dye, stitchery •  Ink washes •  Found object sculpture •  Paper Mache •  Ceramic sculpture •  3-D paper sculpture •  Wire sculpture •  Self Portraits:  Photoshop manipulation,    torn paper collage portraits    contour drawing/water color portraits,    fractured portraits, etc. •  Printing:  ALL kinds!   7th/8th  (Everything the K’s, ½’s, ¾’s and 5/6’s experience plus adding/adapting ARTrageous adventures that address): Awareness of how color, line, shape and composition affect a project Interest in complex ideas Using materials and techniques to depict moods, ideas feelings Perspective; understanding diminishing size and color to show depth Wanting to know ”why” things are taught Thinking abstractly, grasping double meaning, morality and symbolism in artwork Talking about historical artwork, what artists might have been thinking, effect of their society on art.  Asking “why” artists do what they do! Understanding cultural iconography (history/culture/art/geography/religion!) •    Personalized projects: Self Portraits, “What is True about You Today That Will Still be True in 10 Years?” •    “Real” artrageous explorations:  posters, art as protest •    Designing jewelry, fabric •    Casting, carving, mold-making •    Printing:  All types!   Monoprints, collagraph prints, block printing, etc. •    Edible Color Wheel!  Speaking of edible:  3-D Gingerbread Houses! •    Public sculpture, lawn painting, murals etc. •    Whirligigs (Outsider and/or Folk Art) •    Digital Explorations •    Art Journaling •    Value Studies •    Perspective   “A valid art curriculum has substance and is intellectually stimulating. It presents significant content and continuously develops students’ problem-solving skills.  It requires constant decision-making, demands high standards of achievement, and instills in students a deep respect for art as a discipline.  It accommodates all learning styles and is self-individualizing.  It promotes intellectual honesty and curiosity, and it encourages diversity.  It discourages judgments based upon ignorance and prejudice.  It honors excellence.”   -Art Matters, Eileen S. Prince-

 

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