Monthly Units 2022- 2023
Art Matters Community Studio
September: Magic & Myth in Art
From Unicorns and other popular myths, to staircases that change direction or lead nowhere at all, students will see examples and be inspired by artists who have depicted magical kinds of images.
Students will view reproductions and watch video about famous artists/ artworks.
Students will experiment with materials and create products that replicate these works or are inspired by them.
The Unicorn Tapestries (medieval, French)
M. C. Escher (Dutch graphic designer, early 20th C.)
Remedios Varo (Mexican surrealist)
Students will be provided with books about mythology, (a variety of books from Greek Myths to King Arthur to Harry Potter, as well as Myths from a variety of other countries and cultures,) and they will be encouraged to explore myths that are interesting and meaningful to them and find inspiring to their own art.
Students will play a game with dice that will help them to create their own Magical Beasts. Students will be provided with examples and instructions, so that they are able to experiment with tessellating.
Older students will be provided with oil paints and materials to experiment with oil painting.
Studio Learning will take place and each student will make choices about using materials and techniques to create products in all of this school year’s units.
October: Arts of India
Students will learn about Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. Through pictures, books and video students will observe examples of Indian art and culture and make choices creating:
-Rongoli designs (either on the sidewalk or on black foam board)
-Cloth Banners for Diwali -Mughal miniature paintings
-Mehndi designs (with henna on hands or with a special outliner on a glass jar for lantern making)
November: Traditional Folk Arts of Mexico
Students will continue exploring holidays and customs, by looking at Mexico traditional arts and Day of the Dead. Through pictures, prints, books and video, students will be exposed to some pre-Colombian art as well as the art of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
They will make choices and create products:
-Plaster mask making -Polymer clay animalitos (painted in the style of Alebrije form Oaxaca)
-Painting in the style of Mexican folk artists Mexican tin-art (embossed designs with color added with Pebeo glass paints)
December:
This short month will be a continuation and completion of projects already begun, plus gift making with respect to holiday and cultural traditions of all students.
Gift making will include choices:
-Tin ornaments, with embossing and Pebeo glass painting -Polymer clay ornaments
-Painting on porcelain cups with Pebeo porcelain paints
January: American Artist, Winslow Homer
Through art prints, books and video, students will be exposed to the art of Winslow Homer:
-Homer’s illustrations of the Civil War -Homer’s paintings of post-war African American life during reconstruction in America
-Homer’s paintings of people and fishing villages as well as ocean scenes showing the force of nature
-Homer’s paintings of the Caribbean and Cuba and people of color
-Homer’s painting, “Gulf Stream”
Through video and classroom demonstrations, students will experiment with watercolor techniques, (wet on wet and even dripping and splattering,) to get depictions of the ocean. Many loosely done, spontaneous watercolors can be saved to consider as backgrounds for drawing and painting on later, with a focus on specific details, like Winslow Homer often did.
This unit will both encourage playing with fun watercolor techniques as well as encourage drawing exactly what we see, from photos or even replicating details from the paintings of Winslow Homer.
February: My Hands Sing the Blues
The title of this unit is borrowed from a children’s book about American artists Romare Bearden. Students will also be exposed to artists
Faith Ringgold and Betye Saar.
This unit will provide students with images of the art of Bearden, Ringgold and Saar. The unit will also include exposure to three blues and jazz musicians and students will listen to pieces of music.
Students will be encouraged to create works of art that include collage, magazine photos, watercolor, decorative papers, mixed media.
Students will be encouraged to look at these works by famous artists and be inspired to create their own art, but they will also be encouraged to listen to find their own art ideas while listening to music.
Class discussions will take place about blues, lives of musicians and artists and images.
March: Women Artists
This unit will return to a couple of women artists, already discussed in previous units: Frida Kahlo and Faith Ringgold.
Other women artists will be introduced: Georgia O’Keeffe, Alma Thomas and Yayoi Kusama.
Through art prints, books and video, students will be briefly exposed to the art and lives of these artists and then make a choice about the type of product they would each like to make, based on any spark of inspiration that any of these artists might have given them.
Choices may include, but will not be limited to:
Mixed media paintings
Self portraits with oil pastels
April: The Amateur Naturalist
Art Matters seeks to get students outdoors, whenever possible. When weather allows, students will spend the month of April doing naturalist activities or art inspired by nature.
-Students will listen to passages written by Robin Wall Kimmerer about medicinal qualities of plants, sacred plants, small ceremonies to show gratitude and animancy in their own works of art
-Students will take nature walks in a wooded area
-Students will plant seeds
-Students will listen to Indigenous stories about
Turtle Island,
SkyWoman,
The Raven
-Students will watch video to learn more about Indigenous peoples and nature:
Ted Talks,Maple Sugar,Circle of Cedars, and more.
-Students will create works of art: -painting with gouache on pieces of Cedar, inspired by art of the Pacific Northwest
-Watercolor inspired by The Moons of the Anishinabe, Turtle Island or The Three Sisters
-making a doll from corn husks
-Using recycled materials to make art
May: Student Art Exhibit at Southern Kentucky Performing Art Center Gallery
Students will write artist’s statements and complete and prepare what they feel is their best work done at Art Matters
for the student art show.
Art Matters Community Studio
September: Magic & Myth in Art
From Unicorns and other popular myths, to staircases that change direction or lead nowhere at all, students will see examples and be inspired by artists who have depicted magical kinds of images.
Students will view reproductions and watch video about famous artists/ artworks.
Students will experiment with materials and create products that replicate these works or are inspired by them.
The Unicorn Tapestries (medieval, French)
M. C. Escher (Dutch graphic designer, early 20th C.)
Remedios Varo (Mexican surrealist)
Students will be provided with books about mythology, (a variety of books from Greek Myths to King Arthur to Harry Potter, as well as Myths from a variety of other countries and cultures,) and they will be encouraged to explore myths that are interesting and meaningful to them and find inspiring to their own art.
Students will play a game with dice that will help them to create their own Magical Beasts. Students will be provided with examples and instructions, so that they are able to experiment with tessellating.
Older students will be provided with oil paints and materials to experiment with oil painting.
Studio Learning will take place and each student will make choices about using materials and techniques to create products in all of this school year’s units.
October: Arts of India
Students will learn about Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. Through pictures, books and video students will observe examples of Indian art and culture and make choices creating:
-Rongoli designs (either on the sidewalk or on black foam board)
-Cloth Banners for Diwali -Mughal miniature paintings
-Mehndi designs (with henna on hands or with a special outliner on a glass jar for lantern making)
November: Traditional Folk Arts of Mexico
Students will continue exploring holidays and customs, by looking at Mexico traditional arts and Day of the Dead. Through pictures, prints, books and video, students will be exposed to some pre-Colombian art as well as the art of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
They will make choices and create products:
-Plaster mask making -Polymer clay animalitos (painted in the style of Alebrije form Oaxaca)
-Painting in the style of Mexican folk artists Mexican tin-art (embossed designs with color added with Pebeo glass paints)
December:
This short month will be a continuation and completion of projects already begun, plus gift making with respect to holiday and cultural traditions of all students.
Gift making will include choices:
-Tin ornaments, with embossing and Pebeo glass painting -Polymer clay ornaments
-Painting on porcelain cups with Pebeo porcelain paints
January: American Artist, Winslow Homer
Through art prints, books and video, students will be exposed to the art of Winslow Homer:
-Homer’s illustrations of the Civil War -Homer’s paintings of post-war African American life during reconstruction in America
-Homer’s paintings of people and fishing villages as well as ocean scenes showing the force of nature
-Homer’s paintings of the Caribbean and Cuba and people of color
-Homer’s painting, “Gulf Stream”
Through video and classroom demonstrations, students will experiment with watercolor techniques, (wet on wet and even dripping and splattering,) to get depictions of the ocean. Many loosely done, spontaneous watercolors can be saved to consider as backgrounds for drawing and painting on later, with a focus on specific details, like Winslow Homer often did.
This unit will both encourage playing with fun watercolor techniques as well as encourage drawing exactly what we see, from photos or even replicating details from the paintings of Winslow Homer.
February: My Hands Sing the Blues
The title of this unit is borrowed from a children’s book about American artists Romare Bearden. Students will also be exposed to artists
Faith Ringgold and Betye Saar.
This unit will provide students with images of the art of Bearden, Ringgold and Saar. The unit will also include exposure to three blues and jazz musicians and students will listen to pieces of music.
Students will be encouraged to create works of art that include collage, magazine photos, watercolor, decorative papers, mixed media.
Students will be encouraged to look at these works by famous artists and be inspired to create their own art, but they will also be encouraged to listen to find their own art ideas while listening to music.
Class discussions will take place about blues, lives of musicians and artists and images.
March: Women Artists
This unit will return to a couple of women artists, already discussed in previous units: Frida Kahlo and Faith Ringgold.
Other women artists will be introduced: Georgia O’Keeffe, Alma Thomas and Yayoi Kusama.
Through art prints, books and video, students will be briefly exposed to the art and lives of these artists and then make a choice about the type of product they would each like to make, based on any spark of inspiration that any of these artists might have given them.
Choices may include, but will not be limited to:
Mixed media paintings
Self portraits with oil pastels
April: The Amateur Naturalist
Art Matters seeks to get students outdoors, whenever possible. When weather allows, students will spend the month of April doing naturalist activities or art inspired by nature.
-Students will listen to passages written by Robin Wall Kimmerer about medicinal qualities of plants, sacred plants, small ceremonies to show gratitude and animancy in their own works of art
-Students will take nature walks in a wooded area
-Students will plant seeds
-Students will listen to Indigenous stories about
Turtle Island,
SkyWoman,
The Raven
-Students will watch video to learn more about Indigenous peoples and nature:
Ted Talks,Maple Sugar,Circle of Cedars, and more.
-Students will create works of art: -painting with gouache on pieces of Cedar, inspired by art of the Pacific Northwest
-Watercolor inspired by The Moons of the Anishinabe, Turtle Island or The Three Sisters
-making a doll from corn husks
-Using recycled materials to make art
May: Student Art Exhibit at Southern Kentucky Performing Art Center Gallery
Students will write artist’s statements and complete and prepare what they feel is their best work done at Art Matters
for the student art show.