Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• White butcher paper
• Markers
• Pencils
• Various materials such as aluminum foil, leaves, sticks, napkins, tissue paper, construction paper, plastic wrap, string, cotton balls, plastic bags, sand paper, etc.

• Teacher tip: Introduce texture in art with students–ask students to bring in scrap/recyclable materials that have a variety of textures; don’t tell students what they will be doing with the materials!

• Liquid glue

• Teacher tip: Pour a small amount of liquid glue on a disposable plate; cut up basic kitchen sponges for students to use to apply glue to art

• Scissors

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Show students the artwork Sphinx’s Atelier by Robert Rauschenberg. Conduct the Harvard Project Zero Artful Thinking Strategy: See, Think, Wonder with students. First, students will identify what they see in the image. Emphasize that they should make objective observations about the artwork (i.e. physical features, colors, textures, etc.). Next, ask students to identify what they think about the image. Emphasize that students should be creating inferences using visual evidence from the artwork. Finally, ask students what they wonder about the image. 
• Facilitate a class-wide discussion around students’ observations, inferences, and questions.
• Ask students what they think the artwork would feel like if they could touch it. After students have shared, explain that how something feels or looks like it feels in art is called Texture. Actual texture is when someone can actually feel the texture the artist wants the viewer to see, as in a sculpture. However, actual texture can also be used on artwork like Sphinx’s Atelier because the artist intended the artwork to have a texture that could be felt. Ask students why they think an artist might make this choice.

 

 

Work Session

• Show students images of physical features from the regions that they are studying in class. Ask students to identify the textures that they see in the images. Ask students what types of everyday materials could they use to communicate these textures (for example, students might say aluminum foil for the Andes Mountains in South America).
• Next, explain to students that they will be creating an artwork about a region they are studying. Students will need to have an understanding of the physical and political features present in that region before beginning.
• Organize students into collaborative groups. Assign each student in the group a different region of the continent, country, or state they are studying. Together, students should label a map of the continent, country or state with the physical features and any important political features such as cities that they are required to know from the standards.
• Then, students should make notes on their map of what types of textures they would see at each of the physical features. 
• Next, students should re-draw and label their continent, country, or state on white butcher paper. 
• Students should then look through the materials available to them and gather materials that they could use to create each of the physical features using glue and scissors.
• Each student in the group should choose a section of the region about which they will make their artwork. For example, if the students are learning about South America, one student would be responsible for physical and political features in the western region of the continent, such as the Andes Mountains. Another student would be responsible for the eastern region including the Amazon Rainforest. 
• Each student will create the physical and political features on the portion of the map artwork they chose to represent through in their region

Closing Reflection

• Students should write an “artist statement” that includes the following information:  
• Allow students to conduct a gallery walk comparing and contrasting the way students communicated the physical features in the same region and in different regions. 

Assessments

Formative

• Teacher will assess understanding of learning by determining:

  • Are students able to identify the important physical and political features in the regions they are studying?
  • Are students able to explain what actual texture is and connect it to physical features?

 

Summative

• CHECKLIST

  • Does students’ artwork: 
  • Include the important physical and political features in the standards?
  • Include a range of textures to communicate the various physical features?
  • Does students’ artist statement explain: 
  • What they showed in their assigned area of the region and why they used the materials that they chose to represent the physical features
  • How they used texture to communicate what the region’s physical features are like
  • Predictions about where most people live and why

Differentiation

Acceleration: Students should make a corresponding population density map artwork. Students can choose what they want to use to represent population density–color, shape, line, symbol, etc. Students should then compare the population density map artwork to the physical and political features map artwork and make inferences about why the population is dense in some areas and sparse in others. Remediation:  Provide students with a graphic organizer that states the physical feature and guided notes on the description. Add a column on the left for students to write words that describe the textures and colors that they would see. Allow students to work with partners to create their section of the artwork. Provide photos of the region for students to use as a guide as they create their artwork. Allow students to share their artist statement orally.

 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Sphinx’s Atelier by Robert Rauschenberg PBS Learning Media: Texture

 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by:  Katy Betts

Revised and copyright:  2023 @ ArtsNOW