- EARTH ART -
Lesson Description
Students will learn about forms of animal architecture such as ant hills, beaver dams, and bowerbird nests. They will also be exposed to the art of Andy Goldsworthy, ephemeral water calligraphy, and Indian Rangoli as forms of nature-inspired art. In today’s learning experience, students will interact with rocks, sticks, water on pavement, flower petals, leaves, and a sandbox to create outdoor ephemeral works of art. Students will develop craft as they discover the properties of these materials.
Enduring Understandings
Learning Targets
Key Concepts
Balance, improvisation, exploration, nature
Skills
Predict, apply, observe, envision, generate ideas
Art Focus
Exploring two- and three-dimensional design through ephemeral Earth Art
Literacy Focus
In-process critiques: talking about art as it is being made
View the lesson plan here (Word) or here (PDF).
Students will learn about forms of animal architecture such as ant hills, beaver dams, and bowerbird nests. They will also be exposed to the art of Andy Goldsworthy, ephemeral water calligraphy, and Indian Rangoli as forms of nature-inspired art. In today’s learning experience, students will interact with rocks, sticks, water on pavement, flower petals, leaves, and a sandbox to create outdoor ephemeral works of art. Students will develop craft as they discover the properties of these materials.
Enduring Understandings
- Exploration results in discovery of what materials can do
- Pattern is discovered through observation
- Cycles in nature cause changes to environments and inspire artists
Learning Targets
- Students will be able to use their knowledge of animal architecture to replicate or inspire a temporary work of "Earth Art."
- Students will discover that art can live outside the art room and gallery, and that humans' nature art is often inspired by animal architecture.
- Students will experience adopting a new role to tell a different story.
Key Concepts
Balance, improvisation, exploration, nature
Skills
Predict, apply, observe, envision, generate ideas
Art Focus
Exploring two- and three-dimensional design through ephemeral Earth Art
Literacy Focus
In-process critiques: talking about art as it is being made
View the lesson plan here (Word) or here (PDF).
- THE ART MAKING -
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One student explains his leaf patterning through an "A-BBB-A-BBB " number sequence. His logical inclination helped him arrange the leaves in this order, which then created a visual pattern. |
Two students work together to "draw" with sticks. They discovered that drawing doesn't always mean pencil on paper and used sticks as line to create a tower image. |
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One student watches water soak into the brick wall and drip down. She explains that in a few minutes, the water will start to disappear. |
This student created emphasis in his art when he placed one red apple in the middle of many sticks. He explained that the apple was an important part of the beaver's dam, so that's why it went in the middle. |
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Four students work simultaneously and collaboratively to build a "gecko nest." The students learned cooperation when they had to negotiate ideas and share building responsibility. |
This student created an ant house with flowers and leaves for the ants to smell. She used prediction to guess that if she left it out for a while, ants would come and live there since she built them ramps to get up it. She connected her prior knowledge of seasons to predict that if she left the ant house out and the wind came, the wind would blow away everything but the sticks because they are heavier.
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One student connected his camping experience with the subject of his art making when he designed his earth art to resemble kindling for a campfire. He drew upon his life experiences but also envisioned what the campfire would look like before he built it. |