Banners, Gargoyles and illuminations.

In our middle school, faculty teams plan discipline-based, interdisciplinary, multicultural units for each grade level. For example, the seventh grade team designed a unit on the Middle Ages/ Early Renaissance from England to concurrent Africa and Asia. This integrated unit of study provided opportunities for hands-on experiences in the artroom.

Early in the unit, we took a field trip to the acclaimed Bryn Athyn Gothic/Romanesque Cathedral, with a guided tour through the magnificent Glencairn Museum. Our students observed the best in Gothic and Romanesque architecture, stained glass, gargoyles, illuminations, paintings, sculptures and other artifacts of the period. The information presented in this setting gave the students a sense of the visual characteristics, meanings and values of the times. This, in turn, enhanced the quality of their research and studio projects.

Creating a Ceramic Gargoyle 

As an adjunct to researching the social structure, architecture and cultures of the period and writing a short paper on the history of gargoyles, one of our first hands-on studio projects was a lesson on ceramic gargoyles. Students focused on the social and political issues influencing artists of the Middle Ages as they developed their own ideas for gargoyles in stoneware clay.

The gargoyles created by the students were displayed around the school for peer assessment. Not only were they exciting because of their style, texture and coloration, but a number of them took on the likeness of faculty.

Rendering a Renaissance Banner

Next, we cooperatively designed and produced a "Renaissance Banner" sharing research on heraldry and decisions of design and production. Students researched heraldry so they could include symbolic elements in their banners and analyzed the style, composition, color, subject matter and traditional elements of heraldry banners. Each banner was to include a motto, school colors and the school mascots. The painted and appliqued fabric banners were entered and carried in a competition at the Renaissance Fair in Pennsylvania.

We are all "computer literate" at our middle school, so we combined painting, drawing and computer skills for writing, composing and illuminating our manuscripts. The students researched themes of the tenth century and chose "The End of the World" as a common theme. The students were able to pick the format, size, font and even the language (Greek, English or Hebrew) for a fifty-word paragraph describing the end of the world. The first letter was to be illuminated with dragons, angels, saints, demons, etc., drawn on the capital letter. Students had the option of working in Claris-Works, Microsoft Works or Kid Pix.

Performance-based Projects

Everyone was pleased with her or his creative results. Our computer department loved this lesson as a practice for word processing, the social studies department was pleased with the advance of research skills, and the English department decided to use the manuscripts for the assessment portfolio.

The unit was completed with a written self-evaluation. All of our students had a positive learning experience. Each lesson made a great performance-based assessment project.

Sharon Victor is an art teacher at the Tamanend Middle School in Warrington, Pennsylvania.