Cave art becomes performance art.

This unit of study helped students connect their artistic experiences with their understanding of prehistoric times. The unit, culminating in a performance, involved three sixth-grade classes. The components of the thematic unit reinforced an understanding of the elements and principles of design and gave the students experiences in various media.

Video presentations on the elements and principles of design introduced students to the vocabulary of art. That vocabulary was then applied in discussions about the origins and traditions of prehistoric cave art.

Students read articles and books and viewed videotapes about the discovery of prehistoric cave art by children in Lascaux, France. We talked about what it must have been like to live in prehistoric times without the advantages of today's technology. What did children eat? What games did they play?

We continued our study by making contour drawings of animals on brown paper that was crumpled and textured to look like stone. We learned about finding drawing materials in nature. Students made a field trip to the shore of Lake Michigan where they collected shells, feathers, charcoal from campfires, as well as stones and clay to be used in their art.

The clay was used to make pottery, which students painted in monochromatic colors with decorations that depicted their tribe. The stones they collected were used to make fire pits, and the charcoal was used in the drawing of animals on the walls of their cave.

In a hallway outside the artroom, students covered the walls and ceiling with brown and black paper, which they crumpled to create the illusion of rocks. Foam board and tissue paper were used to represent torches and fires in their fire pits. The gathering place was in the main hallway, with a fire pit surrounded by logs for seating. Down a small stairway, an area was created for special ceremonies by the medicine man or shaman.

Students were divided into groups based on their interests--make-up, set design, music, video and still photography, costume design, script writing, and acting. 1 worked with each group and, with the help of a parent, guided students in the planning of the performance in consideration of time constraints, budget, and available technology.

The unit took eight weeks from start to the final performance. The performance involved taking parents, teachers, school board members, administrators, and students on guided tours of the cave environment. Student actors dressed as members of a prehistoric tribe with costumes made out of fake fur. The actors could not speak because they did not know English and had to direct visitors using hand signals. Student photographers, using both standard and digital cameras, documented the performance. Pictures were then put on the school web page and in the local newspapers and the school newsletter.

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students analyze, describe, and demonstrate how factors of time and place (such as climate, resources, ideas, and technology) influence visual characteristics that give meaning and value to a work of art.

WEB LINK

www.humanities-interactive.org /ancient/iceage

Lou Ann Vidmar is a K-12 art instructor in the Covert Public Schools in Covert, Michigan.