Art History at the Zoo

SO I dunno what just happened but Blogger took a crap and deleted my whole post... which is oh so fun. Pardon any weird formatting things, please! I had to redo all of it >:(

In the past week I had some time to work on my teacher sample for the previous post! Very bare-bones minimalist drawings at the moment. 

Thinking of painting the final image to serve as a sample :)

heart anatomy sketch... framework

Pizza and dragon scales.. I'm weird.

This lesson is way ridiculous, but it speaks to me so loudly I have to put it down. But first, some background. As you may have realized I really love art. I love going to museums, speaking with artists to talk about their process, being in galleries... the whole thing. What I do Not love, and what many students share a frustration with is art history. It's a difficult balance, being the art teacher who is really... really not all that into the old dead masters - but there is a way through the dust and gathering z's from napping during lecture. I was forwarded this little gem a week ago and I want to share it now with you because it has strengthened my desire to finish my lesson which is in the same vein.


To begin with, I was sent this link on my Facebook page.. it's kind of the best thing ever. Bill Flowers is an artist who specializes in a rather unusual subject for his work. He calls himself "The Snake Artist" and for good reason; he does live paintings/drawings of snakes and then.. he did my favorite thing ever. 

He painted snakes into famous works from art history. I. Am. So. Happy.

The Birth of Snake Venus, after Botticelli

 If you didn't already know... I have a snake and he's kind of a huge part of my life and I hope one day he is also a huge part of my classroom. 

the sass is palpable

Flowers incorporated snakes into some of the most recognizable works of art - and some of the most clicheed and copied... like the all-too-well-known Mona Lisa. 

Mona the Snake Handler, after Da Vinci

As stated in my previous post.. humor and personality is everything to me. I got a good laugh out of these paintings, but I really saw a lot of potential for learning as well. These would be a fun way to introduce kids to the humdrum world of art history and I would love to see what they came up with. I have also seen an increase in altered paintings/images in general. One of my friends at school painted into an existing image that she found at a thrift store. I don't have a picture of it but she painted a bear with chainsaws for arms into a tranquil, bland waterfall/landscape image. Too too funny!

Snakey Night, after Van Gogh

The idea of giving the old classics a new life resounded with me in a big way. How many times have you seen Starry Night? It's all over coffee cups, posters, even umbrellas, people! I want to see some crazy things being added to the mix - I'm tired of the textbook classics, bring on the zoo animals! This lesson was also partially inspired by a project I did way - way way- back in elementary school wherein we studied American Gothic by Grant Wood and then had to alter it in some way. I made them go to Six Flags. The woman had a balloon and the rollercoaster was drawn into the background.. the man had a Six Flags hat and t shirt. I really thought that assignment was fun and I still laugh when I see American Gothic - but I know what the painting is and who the artist was! Humor is a learning tool - I love it.

Objectives:

•   Discuss parody as an art form

•   View the work of Brian Flowers as well as other pieces of parody art history

•   Sneakily (...snakily?) study major works of art history

•   Draw from observation

•   Create pieces of parody art with well-rendered, studied, animal drawings incorporated into the final composition

•   Utilize grid structure for transfer of images

Key Concepts:

•   Parody: an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.

•   Art history is part of human culture and development

•   We can make meaning through the use of humor

Essential Questions:

•   How does our culture interact with art history objects/works?

•   What is the effect parody has on our experience of an art work?

•   How can we use humor as a tool for learning?

Art History at the Zoo

Lesson Plan

Cultural Connections: How does our culture interact with art history objects/works? We will do a google search (all very technical) for parodied art history works. We did this activity in one of my art history courses just to see what came up... uhh Paris Hilton and Obama for American Gothic? Too funny.

Visual Culture: What is the effect parody has on our experience of an art work? Could be a formal or informal discussion - depends on what we find!

Artists and Resources:

Google searches - seriously, get ready for giggles.

Snakes Invade Great Moments in Art History

Bill Flowers Art Website

Reference books, observational drawing, zoo visit....(I love the zoo)

I would love to incorporate a zoo visit to this lesson! First of all.. most kids really enjoy looking at animals. Second of all... I love zoos. Or farms, or anywhere animals are found! Maybe in the school there are classroom pets or a biology class that houses classroom animals - I want to use my resources wisely. If anything else, having the kids look at encyclopedias, textbooks, library texts, or as a last resort the internet will provide just as much information for their drawing and planning. The main goal is to see animals in action, moving around, in different positions or poses, from different views - you want to explore the full range of movement and see the possibilities for placement and interaction. Students will be required to complete observational gesture drawings and sketches before their final composition is started.

Minerva and the Centaur after Botticelli

As an alternative to replacing all the humans or figures with animals, students could choose to replace one major element or part such as the cat in place of the centaur.. but if you ask me the centaur is already weird. Whatever. Here are some of the other results I found in my google search :)

Kids could have a lot of fun with replacing figures with animals - in the process they are learning about reproducing art history masterpieces, drawing animals, and composition. When I did the project as a 2nd grader we were able to trace a xerox of American Gothic and then we placed tracing paper over top to complete the image. I could provide young students with many different paintings and they could choose which one they wanted to manipulate or add to. With older students I could have them work on grid structures to reproduce the original compositions and then they could make changes.

With older students I would also likely have them focus on more complicated subjects than just animals. It would be a prime opportunity to discuss the use of trademarked or copyrighted images and characters. 

This assignment would also be a fun way to dip into the interests of my students. I would start with recognizable character parodies and masterpieces and then begin to introduce more obscure and likely older works for a jumping-off point. I love so many of the examples I found - I think the results would be pretty impressive!

Frida the hipster...

Adventure Time/ My Neighbor Totoro*

* The references would not have to be 'great masterpieces' all the time. Many students are heavily influenced by comic books, movies, animation, and anime.

The Creation of Adam - the Creator of Muppets

The Scream - Ala Homer Simpson

I think that one of these days- you know, in my spare time- I will have to come up with a sample for this lesson. It would be super fun and it would force me to delve back into my art history textbooks - they aren't all covered in dust just yet. I will leave you with this... a painting of the last supper populated by snakes by Bill Flowers. Let the laughter ensue.

Amen.

Ms. Kanak