LESSON PLAN:      Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  "Art History Timeline"
Grades:  K-5

MATERIALS:
9"x 12" white drawing paper
12"x 18" colored construction paper
pencils
black markers
crayons
scissors
glue
visuals

A note on visuals:  The visuals for this project are of utmost importance.  I divided art history into seven different time periods because my classes have seven tables or groups.  The periods I used were STONE AGE, EGYPTIAN, GRECO-ROMAN, MIDDLE AGES, RENAISSANCE, IMPRESSIONISM, and MODERN art.  These were very general and encompassed periods pre- and post-.  I had a folder at each table labeled with those names.  In each folder, I compiled as wide a variety of art reproductions from that period as I could.  I used postcards, calendars, magazines, books, and other sources.  I laminated them for protection.  Some examples for each period might be:
STONE AGE - Lascaux Cave paintings, handprints, stone axes, arrows, clubs, herding and prehistoric animals, and other cave paintings.
EGYPTIAN - hieroglyphs, King Tut, pyramids, Sphinx, mummy cases, and other reproducible images.
GRECO-ROMAN - vases, sculptures, columns, mosaics, shields, gorgons, and architecture.
MIDDLE AGES - coats of arms, swords, castles, knights, stained glass, and illuminated letters.
RENAISSANCE - Mona Lisa, Sistine Chapel ceiling, Pieta, Last Supper, and other examples of painting and sculpture.
IMPRESSIONISM - Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Seurat, landscapes, flowers, hats, and other popular themes.
MODERN ART - cubism, cartoons, abstract art, non-objective art, Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Pollock, Rousseau, O'Keefe, and other examples.

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
create a timeline for art history.
be exposed to a variety of artwork for a specific period of art
   history.
draw a picture relating to that period.
work with a group to form a collage/poster for that period.
learn the name of that period.

DISCUSSION/MOTIVATION:
(On each table should be the visuals and all the supplies except the paper.)  We are going to do some time traveling in art this year.  We will begin with the first known artists of some eighteen thousand years ago.  We will travel forward in history each time we have art until we reach the Modern Art of today.  We are going to make a timeline for art history.  We can use the time line throughout the year to map out our travels, so we can tell where we've been and what comes next.  Each table will make a different section of the timeline.
(Walk around the room and stop at each table.)  This table will be our STONE AGE artists.  (Hold up a few of the visuals as you visit each table.)  Next time in art, we will all be Stone Age artists.  These people were hunters and painted pictures on cave walls of the animals they hunted.  The next table will EGYPTIAN artists.  Egypt was where the people built the Great Pyramids, wrote in a special picture language called hieroglyphs, and made mummies of their dead before they buried them.  This table will be the GRECO-ROMAN artists.  "Greco" means Greek.  So this is the time of the Greeks and the Romans.  The people of the Greco-Roman period made great temples with beautiful columns, decorated floors, and statues to honor their gods .  They made vases with pictures on them to mark both important and everyday events.  They decorated floors and walls with pictures made with millions of tiny little tiles called mosaics.  Our middle table will be artists of the MIDDLE AGES.  This was a time of queens and kings, princes and princesses, and knights in shining armor.  People lived in or near the protection of great castles.  Artists made beautiful stained glass windows to tell picture stories to all who viewed them.  Books were rare.  The few books that were made were all hand-lettered with wonderful decorations and pictures.  Our next table is our RENAISSANCE artists.  They have names like Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael.  These artists were so famous that the Ninja Turtles were named after them.  The artists were very interested in making things look real.  They studied science and math to help them learn how to make things look more real in their paintings and sculptures.  The artists of IMPRESSIONISM are at this table.  They studied how light and color could make their paintings more beautiful and interesting.  They liked to paint outdoors where the light was always changing.  Their paintings included people, flowers, and landscapes as favorite subjects.  The last time period is MODERN ART.  This is art of the last hundred years up to the art of today.  These are our Modern artists.  These artists like to try all kinds of new and crazy ideas.  Sometimes their pictures look very real, and sometimes they look strange and different with shapes and colors that are interesting to look at.

ACTIVITY:
On each table there is a folder with the name of your time period written on it.  Inside are examples of art from that time period.  You are to choose one or more of these pictures and draw all or part of the picture the best you can.  You can change the picture, add things to it, or combine two or more pictures together.  Draw your picture on the white paper with a marker and then color it with crayons.  Cut out your picture leaving a white space around the edges.  If your picture is rectangular, change it into a more interesting shape.  Each person at the table will create a different picture.  When everyone at your table is finished, arrange the pictures on the large sheet of construction paper.  Make the arrangement interesting and pleasing.  It's okay if the pictures hang off the edges of the construction paper.  Leave some room to write the name of your time period on the construction paper.  You can write it or I will write it for you.  Use the name on the folder to check the spelling.  Glue the pictures to the construction paper.  Write your names small near your picture.  Add the name of the artist and/or the title of the artwork if you have that information.

VOCABULARY: timeline, Stone Age, Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Impressionism, Modern Art

 
LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  Stone Age Art
Grades:  K-5

MATERIALS:
brown kraft paper (approx. 18"x 24")
black tempera paint
brushes
chalk (earth tones)
fixative
visuals

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn about stone age cave art.
create a textured "rock" surface by crumpling paper.
draw animal with paint.
add color with chalk.
use chalk on end and on side to create different effects.

DISCUSSION:
We are going to travel way back in time...18,000 years back in time.  There was no electricity, TV or telephones.  There were no cities or roads or cars.  There were only forests and mountains and fields.  People did not live in houses.  They lived under a cliff or in the mouth of a cave.  Their only light and heat came from the sun during the day and the moon or a torch or fire at night.  They had no grocery store or farms to get food.  They had to go into the woods and search for berries and leaves and bark to eat.  They also hunted animals for meat.  They usually chose large mammals that lived and moved in herds or groups.  These animals were the easiest to hunt and provided the largest amount of meat.  Before the hunt, a special artist and an assistant would go deeper into the cave and make a special painting.  The painting would show the animal that they wanted to hunt.  The artist would paint a nice fat animal. He would paint using a special paint made from clay or ground up rocks.  He would mix the clay powder with animal fat and make paint.  He would use the stiff hair from a horse's or cow's tail and attach it to the end of a stick and make a brush.  He would take a piece of charcoal and sketch the animal on the wall or ceiling of the cave, then paint it with the colors of the earth clay paint.  The next day at dawn, the hunting party would set out to hunt the animal that the artist painted.  If the hunt was a success, they would have lots of meat for food, skins and fur for clothing, and bones for tools.
What colors do you think the cave artist used? (brown, gray, black, yellow, orange-these are called earth colors)
What did the surface of the cave wall or ceiling feel like? (hard, rough, bumpy, wet, cool)
We are going to be cave artists today.  First, we will make our "rock" paper.

ACTIVITY:
Demonstrate: Tear off all the edges of the paper.  Then crumple it up.  Don't throw it away!  After crumpling it, gently uncrumple it and smooth it out on your table.  Be sure to throw away the scraps.  After you prepare you paper, you can look in the folder and pick out an animal to draw.  Don't draw until I tell you.
Hand out paper.  After the students prepare their paper...
Demonstrate:  Use a brush and black paint to draw your animal.  Draw it large.  Try to fill up your "rock" paper.  Start with a large oval for the body - a "jelly bean" shape.  Add neck, head, legs, and a tail.  Add ears and horns or antlers.
Color the animal with chalk.  Use the end of the chalk.
Color the space around the animal by lightly using the side of the chalk.  Use as many colors as you like.  Add designs, stripes, background, etc. as desired.
Hand out brushes.
Show how to remove paint lids and put under cup like a coaster.
Move around class.  Do "surgery" if necessary.  I don't start a picture.  The student must start and try first.  I can "fix" it if they run into a problem.  As the students finish the painting, put brushes into cups.  You take up brushes and put into water can.  Close paint cups for them.  Straighten up tables as you move around.
Students should write their names with a pencil in the lower right hand corner of their drawing on the front.  Put away chalk, paint and laminated visuals.

VOCABULARY:  Stone Age, earth colors

LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  Egyptian Hieroglyphic Cartouche
Grades:  K-5

MATERIALS:
6"x 12" construction paper (2 per student)
6"x 12" manila paper
pencil
scissors
glue
black marker
crayons
templates for cartouche frame and center
reproductions of Egyptian hieroglyphics, hieroglyphic alphabet, and Egyptian borders
Metropolitan Museum of Art "Fun with Hieroglyphs" stamp kit

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn that ancient Egyptians used picture writing called hieroglyphics to keep records and  tell stories.
learn that a cartouche was used to identify very special and important people.
make a cartouche.
translate name using hieroglyphs.
draw name hieroglyphs inside cartouche with black marker.
create a border design with black marker.
add color with crayons.

DISCUSSION:
About 5000 years ago, in the northeast corner of Africa, the people living along the Nile River began to set their language down in writing.  Like most cultures that are just beginning to invent a writing system, the Egyptians used pictures to write their language.  Eventually the symbols came to represent sounds.  The pictures became known as hieroglyphs, or "sacred inscriptions", because they were often written on the walls of temples.
The Egyptians continued to use hieroglyphic writing for more than 3500 years, until about 400 AD  Eventually there was no one left who knew how to read, or write, or speak the ancient language and it died out.  Only the hieroglyphs were left to tell us that the language ever existed.
For more than 1000 years, travelers to Egypt were fascinated by the mysterious symbols they saw carved on the walls of temples and tombs.  Since no one could tell them what the hieroglyphs meant, they made up fantastic translations.  They thought that hieroglyphs recorded magic spells and religious practices.
The secret to deciphering hieroglyphs - the Rosetta Stone - was unearthed in Egypt in 1799.  Twenty-three years later, a young Frenchman, Jean-Francois Champollion became the first person in modern times to read ancient Egyptian.
Some hieroglyphics were found to be contained in a special shape called a cartouche.  A cartouche is a double loop of rope tied at one end.  In ancient Egypt, only the pharaoh’s name or the name of a very special person was written inside a cartouche.  Today we are going to translate our names into Egyptian hieroglyphics.  We are going to put our names into a cartouche because we are very special people.  (K, 1st, and 2nd grade will already have their names translated by you and stamped out on a slip of paper.  3rd, 4th, and 5th grade can use the translation sheet to do their own.)

ACTIVITY:
First we will make our cartouche.  Go to my table and get two different colors of paper (one for the cartouche shape and one for the background) and one manila piece.  Trace the oval pattern onto the manila paper and cut out.  Trace the cartouche shape onto one of colored pieces and cut out.  Put a skinny glue line around the edges of the cartouche shape and glue to the uncut background piece.  Next put a skinny glue line around the manila oval shape and glue on top of the cartouche shape.  Be sure not to glue in the middle of either shape, because we are going to be drawing and coloring there, and we don't want our paper to be wet or mushy with glue underneath.
Grades 3, 4, and 5:  Get out the translation sheet.  We will use this sheet to translate our names into hieroglyphics.  Our name will be spelled phonetically or the way it sounds.  Look at the sheet.  Notice that there are five columns.  The first column has the English letter in it.  The next column contains the hieroglyph for that letter.  Notice that some letters have more than one hieroglyph.  That's because the letter has more than one sound.  In the third column is an example of a word with that sound.  So, when you find the letter in your name and there are two hieroglyphs next to it, go to the next column and see which sound word matches the sound in your letter.  Use that symbol, as the explanation column will tell you.  If there are double letters in your name together, use just one symbol, because both letters together make just one sound.  Translate your name on a scrap of paper and bring it to me to check it to see if it is correct.
Draw the hieroglyphs on the manila oval inside the cartouche with a pencil.  Draw them as big as you can.  Fill up the space.  It does not have to look exactly like the picture.  Just draw it the best you can.  Trace over the pencil lines with marker.  Draw the lines for the rope and knot of the cartouche.  Draw a border design around the edges of your background .  Add color with crayons.  Glue the strip of paper with your name on it to the back of your paper.

VOCABULARY:  hieroglyph, cartouche

LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  "Roman Mosaics"
Grades:  K-5

MATERIALS:
6"x 6" colored construction paper
1/2"x 12" colored construction paper
pencils
scissors
glue

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn location of Rome and brief history.
see example of a mosaic.
learn how an actual mosaic is created.
create a paper mosaic.

DISCUSSION:  Last time in art class what kind of art did we make? (Greek vases.)  This time in art we are going to time travel forward from Ancient Greek times about 500 years to AD 100 or almost 2000 years ago.  (Point to map.)  Here is Greece, in southern Europe.  Here is the Mediterranean Sea.  This "arm" of the Mediterranean is called the Adriatic Sea.  Go across the Adriatic Sea from Greece and you will find Italy.  Rome is the capital city of Italy.  Rome started out as a small city.  It was the center of many activities.  It had many soldiers and strong leaders.  The leaders in Rome were greedy and wanted a lot of money.  To get more money, they sent soldiers to other countries to tell people that they had to pay money to Rome.  If they didn't pay, they would fight them until they did.  If people didn't have money, the soldiers would often tell people to give them other things instead.  Some of the things that people would give the soldiers would be art work.  The artists in Rome would sometimes get ideas from or copy this artwork.  One way they would copy paintings was to make MOSAICS on their walls or floors.   A mosaic is an artwork made with tiny tiles of clay, stone, or glass.  The pieces are put together to form a picture.  (Show picture of Alexander the Great.)  Here is a mosaic of one of Rome's greatest conqueror.  He was a leader of the soldiers.  This mosaic is made up of MILLIONS of tiny squares of tile.  See if you can see these tile squares.  These tiles are like the ones you have on bathroom floors and walls, except that they are smaller.  There is a very big mosaic in Huntsville on the First Baptist Church on Governor's Drive.  It is a huge picture of Jesus.
(Walk around to each table and let students look at this mosaic.  As you move around room, tell them the following:)  A mosaic is made by drawing a picture on a wall or floor.  Then a small area at a time is covered with wet cement or plaster.  The tiles are then pressed into the wet cement.  The artist always leaves a tiny space between each tile, so they won't rub or press against each other and crack or break.  After the cement dries, another kind of cement called grout is spread over the tiles and fills in the tiny spaces.  The extra grout is then wiped away leaving a smooth even surface.

ACTIVITY:
We are going to make our own small mosaic today using paper instead of tile.  We will use a line or a SIMPLE shape and fill in with tiny squares of paper.  One of the most important things to remember is to leave a tiny space between each square.  You should be able to see the background color around each square.  The squares should NOT touch each other.  The squares should NEVER overlap or be on top of each other.
Come around my table, and I will show you how to start your mosaic.  Begin with a large square.  Use your pencil to draw a slightly curved line, like a large "S" which goes off the sides of the paper.  (3rd grade and up can use the circle pattern or make the own LARGE, SIMPLE shape.)  Then take a strip that is a different color from the large square, and cut about half of it into little SQUARES, not strips or large rectangles.  Don't cut the whole thing to start with.  You can cut more if you need it.  Take a tiny square or "tile" and put a tiny dot of glue in the middle of it.  Glue it to the large square.  The edge of the tile should go right up against the pencil line that you drew.  Put a dot of glue on the next tile.  Glue it next to the first, leaving a tiny space between tiles.  The edge should still go right up against the pencil line.  Continue doing this until you have completed the whole pencil line.  You may then get another strip and do another row of tiles next to the first row.  Remember to leave a SMALL SPACE between tiles. Do not leave too large a space.  NO TOUCHING, NO OVERLAPPING.  Keep making rows until most of the space is filled.  Any questions?  Take your seat, and I will call you by tables to get one large square and one strip.  The strip should always be a different color from the large square.
As students work, walk around the room and check for simple designs, help as needed.  When they begin gluing, make sure the placement and spacing are correct.

Last 5 minutes: Ask students to write name on BACK of large square.  Choose Artists of the Day and Clean Up.
Clean-up:  Glue bottles should be closed and standing upright in the baskets.  Scissors, pencils, and erasers should be in the oblong baskets.  The student may take back to the classroom an extra strip or two to complete his/her work, if necessary.  Unused strips or tiles should be returned to my table.

VOCABULARY: Rome, mosaic

LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  "Vincent Van Gogh: Starry Night, Sunflowers, and Irises"
Grades: K-5

MATERIALS:
books, reproductions, and visuals
black markers
oil pastels
9"x 12" colored construction paper (yellow, blue, lavender)

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn about Vincent Van Gogh as a person and artist.
recognize Van Gogh's artistic style.
use short, overlapping color strokes to emulate Van Gogh's subject and style.

DISCUSSION:
Discuss and show examples of Vincent Van Gogh's work.  Born 1853 in Holland (or Netherlands); a minister's son; very talented in art from an early age; not very happy; tried selling art, teaching, and ministry; not until age 30 decide to become full-time artist; lived in Paris where he met and studied with many talented, now famous artists; supported by his brother, Theo, to whom he wrote many, many letters about his life and work; lived in Arles, southern France; in argument with Paul Gauguin, cut off part of his own ear; hospitalized and treated for mental illness;  had history of seizures which tormented him; in 1890 shot himself and died; produced over 3000 pieces of art in a ten year period; gave away several, sold only one; artwork by Van Gogh now sells for several million dollars.
Van Gogh used very thick paint.  Using paint this way is called "impasto".  He was criticized for this and the speed at which he worked.  His use of color, however was outstanding and was marveled at by other people.  He would use related and contrasting colors next to each other in short brushstrokes.  Tell students to pretend their pointer finger is Van Gogh's paintbrush.  Use the paintbrush to make a stroke on your arm.  Make a long stroke.  Make a short stroke.  Make lots of short strokes close together.  Make strokes in one direction, now curve them, now change direction.  This is how we are going to use our oil pastels to "paint" like Vincent Van Gogh.

ACTIVITY:
Choose a Van Gogh painting.  The whole class does the same one.  I use colored construction paper that relates to the painting.  Blue for "Starry Night", yellow for "Sunflowers", and lavender for "Irises".  With marker, draw the basic subject and composition of the painting - follow the leader style.
"Starry Night": On the left hand side of the page draw the large cypress tree.  Draw village near the bottom of the page with basic house shapes repeated and overlapped, one of the buildings should be a church with a steeple. Add windows, doors, chimneys, roads, etc.  Next add a ground line behind the village and cypress tree, then a tree line, then a line of mountains.  In the sky, draw a crescent moon and tiny circles for stars.  Use oil pastels to color the "painting".  Remember to use short strokes close together like Van Gogh.  Especially important in this painting is the sky.  Paint the glowing circles around the moon and the stars.  Add swirling shapes in the sky.
"Sunflowers":  Begin at the bottom of the page with the vase.  Then add a tabletop line. Draw large and small circles for the seed heads of the sunflowers.  Make some like ovals so they are turning sideways.  Put "belly buttons" in the middle of each one.  Add sharp, pointed, curving petals to some of them.  Draw in stems and leaves.  Use oil pastels to color the "painting".  Remember to use short strokes close together like Van Gogh.  Be creative with color and stroke in the background.
"Irises":  Begin near the bottom of the page, draw long, slender, pointed leaves like swords.  Add stems using two lines close together, some short, some tall, some overlapping.  For the iris buds and flowers, draw the little "petal leaves" that hold the flower or bud to the stem, then, for the buds, draw football shapes overlapping and next to each other.  For the flowers, draw a large shape like a deflated balloon up from the petal leaves, then, for petals to each side, draw a curved line downward out from the middle, then loop back to where you began the petal.  Use oil pastels to color the "painting".  Remember to use short strokes close together like Van Gogh.  Add solid circles of colors to represent other flowers.  Add longer strokes near the bottom for grass. Be creative with color and stroke in the background.

VOCABULARY: Vincent Van Gogh, impasto, brushstroke

LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  Drawing: "Modigliani Woman"
Grades: K-5

MATERIALS:
12"x 18" white drawing paper
markers
crayons
visuals

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn about the artist Amadeo Modigliani.
draw a person in the "primitive art style".
use pattern and fantasy.
use a variety of crayon techniques.

DISCUSSION:
Have markers in baskets, crayons in trays, and visuals on tables.  Talk about Modigliani (10 to 15 min.) - Amadeo Modigliani was born in Italy in 1884.  He died in 1920, when he was only 36 years old, from tuberculosis.  He was very interested in African art.  He liked the way African artists made their masks - with long, oval faces and long necks, large eyes, long noses, and small mouths.  He used these features when he painted portraits of people.  (Show examples of his work if available.)  Even though his people don't look real, they do look like people - people with distinct personalities.
Show the visual of the "Woman with Birds".  This drawing is not by Modigliani, but it could have been because the style, called the "primitive style", is very similar to his.  What are some of the similarities? (oval face, long neck, long nose, large eyes, small mouth).

ACTIVITY:
Choose one color of marker.  The entire drawing will be done in one color.  Then it will be colored with many colors with crayons.  Hand out the paper as they choose the marker.  Write your name in the lower right hand corner.  Turn your paper upside down so that your name is upside down.  Place the hand that you don't draw with in the center of the page with your fingers together.  Draw a "rainbow" up the side, over, and down the other side.  Turn your paper right side up.  This will be our lady's face.  Start just above the face line in the center, draw a line down, down, down, leaving enough room for a mouth.  End the line like an "L".  This is her nose.  Put two small rainbows, one on either side of her nose.  Draw a line underneath so they look like bananas.  Draw a curved line under each banana like a cereal bowl.  Put the colored part of her eye like a "U", under the banana to the bottom of the bowl and back up to the banana.  For her mouth draw a line under her nose.  Make two bumps for the upper lip.  Make a cereal bowl underneath for the lower lip.
For her hands, draw two large "U"'s in the spaces on either side of her face.  Make the thumbs with two big bumps on the sides of the "U"'s closest to her face.  Make the pinkies with two smaller bumps on the other side of the "U"'s.  Draw three "hot dog" shaped ovals, touching each other and touching the thumb and pinkie for the other fingers.  Add two lines for each arm that go from below the hands to the bottom of the page.  For the neck, draw a line starting from the middle right under her chin, curving down and off the bottom of the page.  For the other side of her neck, start on the side of her cheek and draw a line over to her arm, hop over the arm and continue on off the page.  Add birds (or some other objects).  Make them fanciful.  Draw hair from the tops of the face line.  Fill in to neck.  Add flowers (or other related objects) to the top of the page and to either side of the head.  Color with crayon.  Use light and firm pressure.  Use shading, layering, color bumping, etc.  Background should not be colored.

VOCABULARY: Modigliani, primitive art style
 

LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  Expressionism: "Georges Rouault Portraits"
Grades: K-5

MATERIALS:
12"x 18" white drawing paper
pencil
black tempera paint
brushes
oil pastels
newspaper to cover tables

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn about Georges Rouault and expressionism.
create a portrait and background with black line.
use layered oil pastel.

DISCUSSION:
Georges Rouault (pronounced "zorz roo-oh") was born in Paris, France in 1871.  He went to a private Christian school, but had to drop out at the age of 14 to help support his family.  He served an apprenticeship in a stained glass workshop.  He was able to attend art school at night.  The depth and purity of color, the heavy black outline, and religious subjects of the stained glass greatly influenced his artwork.  He began painting as an artist by age 20.  He always wore a white coat and cap when he painted.  He was best known as a religious artist.  Rouault liked circus subjects, too.  He liked to paint people best.  He died in 1958.  Georges Rouault was an Expressionist painter.  Many other artists were known as Expressionists, too.  They were more concerned with the expression of feelings and emotions through their paintings than making them look realistic.  They used strong colors and often heavy lines.

ACTIVITY:
Write your name on the paper with a pencil.  Turn the paper over, so your name is on back.  Turn paper vertically.  Place the hand you don't draw with in the center of the page with fingers closed.  Draw a "rainbow" line up one side, over the top, and down the other side.  Turn paper upside down.  This line will be used for face.  Paint over the line.  On each side of the face, near the bottom, draw a line curving down and off the side of the page for the shoulders.  Draw a line down the center of the face, ending like an "L", for the nose.  On each side of the nose, for the eyes, draw a small "rainbow" line.  Underneath, make a dot by pressing the brush down.  Draw a "cereal bowl" curved line underneath.  Draw a straight line under the nose for the mouth.  Add a short line underneath for the lower lip, or add two bumps on top for the upper lip and a cereal bowl line underneath for the lower lip.  Add clothing, a hat, hair and/or ears, and a related background.  Suggested subjects: kings and queens, ball players, "Dick Tracy" types, cowboys, etc.
Use oil pastels to add color.  Layer the oil pastels to achieve a more "painterly" effect. Loosely apply a lighter color to an area.  Then go over it with a darker color, blending and smoothing the two colors together.

VOCABULARY: Georges Rouault, Expressionism 

LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title: Matisse Mobiles
Grades:  K-5

MATERIALS:
9"x 12" construction paper (1 piece per student, gr. 2-5)
6"x 9" construction paper (1 piece per student, K-5)
4 1/2"x 6" construction paper (2 pieces per student,K-1; 1 piece per student, gr. 2-5)
1"x 12" strips construction paper (1 strip per student, K-1; 2 strips per student, gr. 2-5)
pencil
scissors
glue
string (1yd. per student)
wire hanger (gr. 2-5) or posterboard hanger(K-1)
Matisse visuals of his cut-out works

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn about Henri Matisse as a modern artist.
learn why he developed his cut-out style of art.
draw shapes with their scissors.
cut out double/identical shapes.
learn that a mobile is art that moves.
assemble a balanced mobile.

As students enter the room, have them stay in line and choose their paper from the cart or table.  Then have them sit down and wait quietly for the discussion.

DISCUSSION:
 We are going to move into Modern Art today.  Our artist today is Henri  Matisse.  He was a French artist who was born in 1869 and died in 1954.  He was about  85 years old when he died.  When he was about 70 years old, Matisse got sick and had to have surgery.  He never healed well from the surgery and had to stay in bed or in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  He couldn't paint any more because it hurt to move his arm in a painting motion.  He invented a new way to do his art.  He decided to draw with his scissors.  (Show visual examples and discuss.)
When you cut, you make a line.  You can cut straight or curved lines, just like you can draw with a pencil.  We are going to draw with our scissors today to make shapes for a mobile.  A mobile is art that  moves.  A mobile home is a home that moves; a mobile phone is a phone that moves; mobile art is art that moves.  A mobile is three-dimensional art, or sculpture, that moves.
K-1:  We will create shapes for our mobile by drawing with our scissors.  We will make a "blob" or "gak" shape, a spiral shape from a circle, and two triangle shapes.  (Point to finished example.)
2nd-5th grades:  We will create shapes for two units.  (Point to finished example.)  The two units will be balanced.  Each unit has the same shapes, a "blob" or "gak" shape, a circle, and a triangle, but we will make them look different, so they will be interesting to look at.

ACTIVITY:
(Different instructions for K-1 will be in parentheses.)  Take out your scissors and the small rectangle.  Cut diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner.  You can cut straight or crooked.  These are your triangles.
Take medium piece (other small piece).  Fold in half (NA).  Cut out round circle shape.  Be sure to start and stop cutting at the same place.  Throw away scraps.  Take one round shape and make a spiral.  Start on the edge, cut to the inside, copy-catting the outside edge.  Keep turning and cutting until you get to the center.  Don't cut too skinny or your spiral will be floppy and might break.   Cut some slits into the other circle and fold to change the shape (NA).
Take large piece.  Fold in half (NA).  Cut into blob shape.  Cut, curving in toward center, then curve toward outside.  Do this in a rolling pattern all the way around the shape.  Be sure to start and stop cutting at the same place.  Throw away scraps.
Look at mobiles hanging up.  Notice where strings are attached, there are small squares of paper.  Use the strips to cut squares.  First, fold the two strips in half together (NA).  Cut the strips into squares.  Leave the last part folded (NA).  You'll need those to attach the shapes to the hanger (NA).  After cutting squares, come to my table and I'll give you the string.
Put two ends of the string together and cut in half.  (Put the new ends together and cut in half again for a total of 4 strings.)  Lay both strings on table.  Cut in two places.  This will make a total of 6 strings.
Take the blob and put a glue dot at the top in the center.  (Then put another glue dot at the bottom center.)  Then put one on the bottom right and another on the bottom left.  (You have four glue dots and four strings.)  Do this to each blob (NA).  You have a total of 6 glue dots and 6 six strings (NA).  Put the end of each string on a glue dot.  Put the top string going up and the bottom two (three) strings going down.  Top each with a square and press firmly until you can feel the string underneath.
Put glue dots at the top of the triangles and circle (NA) and in the middle of the spiral.  Put the end of the strings hanging down from the blob onto the glue dots on the shapes.  (Put the triangles on either side and the spiral in the center.)  Put a triangle and spiral on one blob and a triangle and circle on the other blob.  Top each with a square and press firmly until you can feel the string underneath.
(Hand out posterboard hangers.  Put a glue dot at the bottom of the hanger.  Put the end of the top string on the glue dot and put a square on top.  Press.  With a pencil, write your name on the hanger.)
Come up to my table.  I will show you how to attach your shapes to the hanger.
Place the folded strip under the bottom of the hanger.  Put glue where the hanger goes across the fold of the strip and near the bottom of the strip.  Put the end of the top string on the glue dot.  Fold over the top of the strip and press.  Repeat.  With a pencil, write your name on one of the folded strips (NA).  Hand out hangers.
As you finish, hang the mobile on the back of your chair and clean up.
Choose one artist of the day.  The artist of the day gets to keep the mobile you made.
Note:  Tell the students that they can personalize their mobile when they get home by drawing, painting, or coloring ,  adding glitter or aluminum foil squares, and/or gluing magazine pictures on the shapes.

VOCABULARY:  Henri Matisse, mobile

LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  "Matisse Paper Cut-Outs"
Grades: K-5

MATERIALS:
12"x 18" assorted construction paper (except green)
9"x 12" green construction paper
6"x 9" assorted construction paper
scissors
glue
scrap box (optional)
visuals, reproductions, and examples

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn about the artist Henri Matisse.
recognize Henri Matisse's cut-out style.
cut freehand shapes with scissors.
use positive and negative shapes.
arrange shapes in a pleasing composition.
glue shapes onto paper using proper gluing technique.

DISCUSSION:
Discuss Henri Matisse.  Born in France in 1869.  Liked to paint dishes and make hats as a child.  Studied and became a lawyer.  Married and had children.  At about age 20, turned to art as a profession.  By age 40, internationally recognized artist, known for bold use of color and pattern.  Associated with group of artists known as "fauves" or "wild beasts".  At age 70, diagnosed with intestinal cancer.  Had surgery, but never fully recovered.  Confined to wheelchair and bed.  Unable to stand for even an hour.  Painting was nearly impossible.  Mixed colors with gouache.  Assistants painted large sheets of paper with color.  Matisse "drew" shapes with his scissors, arranged them, and glued them in place.  Show examples of work.  Shapes do not necessarily look exactly like what they represent but have qualities which make us think about what they represent.  Point out use of positive and negative shapes.  He used the shape he cut out as well as the scraps in many cases.  Matisse died in 1954 at nearly 85 years of age.

ACTIVITY:
Pass out green paper.  We want to cut out a leaf shape like the ones used often by Matisse.  Show students how they can draw with their scissors.  Usually we cut following a line.  Today we have to imagine the line in our mind as we cut.  Keep the cutting hand still (except for the cutting motion) and move the paper with the other hand.  Cut out toward the edge, turn and cut to the middle of the page, turn and cut back out toward the edge, turn etc.  Look both at your leaf (the positive shape) and the scrap (the negative shape).  We can still see the leaf shape in the scrap because the space surrounding the leaf is left.  Pass out the large paper.  Arrange these shapes on the large paper.
Glue the pieces down with proper gluing technique.  Hold the bottle in one hand.  Hold the paper being glued with the other hand.  Touch the orange nozzle of the bottle to the paper.  Squeeze very softly until the glue just barely comes out.  Draw a skinny line with the glue near the edge of the shape.  Turn over and smooth down in place.

Pass out the small paper.  Use this paper to cut out any shapes that you want.  Try to use shapes like Matisse used.  Use scraps or swap colors for more colors.  Arrange the shapes on the page.  Glue in place.  Write student's name on the back of paper.  Critique work.

VOCABULARY: Henri Matisse, cut-out art, positive/negative 

LESSON PLAN:         Instructor: Ginny Dixon
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Title:  "Picasso: Portraits"
Grades: K-5

MATERIALS:
books, visuals, reproductions
12"x 18" paper
tempera paint set-up

OBJECTIVES: Students will...
learn about Pablo Picasso's life and art.
paint a portrait in Picasso's style.
layer and mix colors with tempera paint.

DISCUSSION:
Talk about Pablo Picasso and his art.  Born in Spain; showed artistic talent at a very early age; first words said to have been spoken were to ask for a pencil; father was an art teacher; by age 15 was accepted at art academy; produced more art in more different media than any other artist; together with Georges Braque began Cubism style of art; influenced by African tribal art.  Show art from different periods of Picasso's life: early, Blue and Rose, Classical, Cubism, "Guernica", and portraits.

ACTIVITY:
Choose work by Picasso.  Entire class will do same piece, follow-the-leader style.  Begin with any color paint and draw outline of face (no features), hair, clothing, hat, and background.  Fill in areas with any colors desired, beginning with the face.  Mix colors directly on paper.  After all areas are painted, add facial features and any other details desired.

VOCABULARY: Pablo Picasso, Cubism, modern art
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