A new twist on art history.

I would like for my fifth and sixth grade students to be knowledgeable about a large number of works of art by famous artists. However, like most art teachers, I only see my students once a week for forty-five minutes. Even though I integrate a famous work of art with each production activity, the number seems minimal because in order to obtain quality, the average activity usually takes more than one class period. This situation has concerned me for a while so I decided to take a different approach.

Gathering Ideas

I placed about twelve prints of paintings of various styles by well-known artists around the room. We discussed the meaning of each and the background of the artists. Students critiqued the paintings and discussed how the artists had achieved the principles of art. Then I asked the fifth and sixth grade students to choose one or more ideas from one or more of the paintings to combine with their own ideas. By going through the selection process, students looked carefully at the subject matter noting details.

An inspiring example was Faith Ringgold's Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles. Students observed how Ringgold included Vincent van Gogh, his idea of sunflowers and his house at Arles in her artwork along with her ideas of a quilt, quilted border and famous African Americans. Since Faith Ringgold included Madame Walker, Isabella Baumfree, Ida Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Ella Baker, this painting provided a wonderful opportunity for integrating African American history.

Jumping to Conclusions

We began with students giving their interpretations of the paintings. The popular saying, "Don't judge a book by the cover," or in this case a painting, was appropriate as we discovered that appearances can be misleading. Students immediately thought that the gentlemen and lady in Grant Wood's American Gothic were a farmer and his wife standing in front of their house. They were surprised to learn that the man was a dentist, the lady was Grant Wood's sister, and neither lived in the house. Grant Wood used a sketch of a house that he had made while traveling through the country. Wood was successful in portraying hard-working people.

Students were very interested in American Gothic because they had seen it on television in several comical situations. A student brought the magazine, Clinton Comedy Catalog, to school that had a drawing of President Clinton and his wife posing on the front as the gentleman and the lady.

In Lee Smith's China or the Devil, students thought that the boys were Martians since their faces were green. They were amazed to hear that the boys were not Martians but instead they had a common goal of finding China or the devil by digging a deep hole, which is very noticeable in the painting, with a bright light above it. This generation is not familiar with this game. Lee Smith creatively illustrated one of his childhood memories in China Or the Devil.

Developing a Composition

I gave students a piece of 16 x 22" (41 x 56 cm) finger paint paper and tempera paint, and we talked about what we needed to do to develop a good composition. I stressed that students draw something large so that it would overlap both the top and bottom area of the page. Some students have a little trouble with unity so I explained that sky and ground needed to share something to unite them so that they looked like they belonged together in the work of art.

I asked students to mix shades and tints in their paintings. I explained how to obtain a shade by mixing the color with black and a tint by mixing the color with white. Students sometimes used tints and shades to break up large spaces such as sky, ground, and ocean. They learned that tints and shades could be used to make two parts visible such as illustrating the knee to the ankle overlapping the upper part of a bent leg of a person who was running.

Enjoying a Challenge

Students were very creative in combining the artists' ideas with their own ideas as they experimented with a variety of painting techniques. Overlapping images to promote unity was evident. Van Gogh's sky in The Starry Night and his sunflowers and house were very popular as well as Grant Wood's people and Lee Smith's bright light.

While students gave their interpretations, an atmosphere of suspense was created in determining the artist's meaning of the painting. Instead of being bored, which is an attitude very often associated with art history, students enjoyed the challenge of trying to establish the meaning.

The students' paintings and the reproductions of paintings by well-known artists were hung in the school hallway for our annual Open House. I wrote questions pertaining to the principles of art, historical background, and meaning of the famous paintings and placed them with the reproductions. The fifth and sixth grade students acted as tour guides and led their parents through the hallways. Students and parents read the questions and wrote the answers on a piece of paper that they dropped into a box just outside the artroom. When everyone was finished, we drew a name from the box to determine who would win a prize for answering all the questions correctly.

An Ongoing Appreciation

Students learned about a variety of artists and the meaning of their art. They enjoyed teaching their parents about the works of art during Open House, and it was great for their self-esteem. I believe that these students will always feel an appreciation and a sense of ownership when they view these paintings in different situations in the future. I think that they will also investigate carefully to establish meaning. The critique, art history lesson, and production activity were very successful.

Berniece Patterson is an elementary art specialist in Denton, Texas.