Sense of Place

Our First Home
Rebecca D'Angeli
Construction paper, pastels

I decided on my home because it is our first home as a married couple. We've torn down and built up rooms to make it more for us. I added a tree because we have a few trees surrounding our home, and it is indeed the first home I've lived in that has trees and grass. I made the sky at night because I feel more at home, because it is a time to spend with my husband (dinner, watching our favorite shows, etc).

For the Sense of Place Silhouette project I decided for a lesson that would be personal and interesting would be to base it off of home surroundings. I feel students can take this idea to many different levels and have fun with it. They can also incorporate magazine images, photographs, as well as mixed media. It could obviously be adapted to any students character, whether they choose to be more reserved like I have, or to be intimate.

Silhouette Lesson Plan

Instructor: Rebecca D’Angeli
Title: Silhouettes of Home
Grade: 7th

Brief History/ Background: A silhouette is an outline of an image that has no features or details. Usually the silhouetted object is black to describe the shape of a person’s body or other pictorial representations. It dates back to the 18th century when portraits were made out of cut black paper. In this lesson, students will be creating their idea of home using silhouetted imagery.

Standards:
PA Standards:
-9.1.7. - A. Know and use elements and principles to create works of art.
-9.1.7. - B. Recognize, know, use, and demonstrate art elements and principles to produce artwork.
-9.1.7. - C. Identify and use comprehensive vocabulary within each of the art forms.
-9.1.7. – E. Demonstrate the ability to define objects, express emotions, illustrate an action or relate an experience through creation of works in the arts.
-9.2.7. - A. Explain the historical, cultural, and social context of an individual work in the arts.
-9.3.7. - A. Recognize critical processes used in the examination of works in the arts.

NETS:
1. A. – Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
1. C. - Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative process.

Goal: To create a silhouette of home.

Objectives: Student’s will:
1. Discuss the history of silhouettes.
2. Reflect on the idea of home and what it means to them.
3. Create an image of their idea of home using silhouettes.

Resource Materials/ Visual Aids:
- Images of silhouettes throughout history
- Exemplar of project

- Karl Johnson

- Silhouettes

- Art Therapy

Supplies/ Materials:
- Construction paper (have plenty black and various colors)
- Bristol board (11” x 14”)
- Scissors
- Oil pastels
- Glue

Teacher Preparation: Gather images of silhouettes throughout history and place somewhere in the room where all students can clearly see. Create exemplar so students will better understand the end product. Have plenty of supplies so each student will have a sufficient amount to create their image.

Teaching/ Introduction: Begin class by asking if anyone knows what a silhouette is? What were they used for in history? Then show images of silhouettes found throughout history and how/ what they were used for. Have the class discuss other ways of using silhouettes as an art form. Ask them to think about what Home means to them. Then explain they will be creating an image of their ideas of Home using silhouettes.

Directions:
1. Have students reflect, “What home means to them.”
2. List ideas that will be present in their image.
3. Have student’s choose one idea that will become the silhouette and main focus of composition.
4. Pass out materials.
5. Using the black paper, have students trace the main subject that will be the silhouette.
6. Put aside.
7. Draw the background on Bristol board using oil pastels.
8. Students have the option of cutting or ripping other colors or construction paper to add onto their background. (i.e. ripping pieces of blue paper to add onto the sky).
9. Paste silhouette onto image.
10. Set aside to dry.

Critique/ Evaluation/ Assessment: Ask students to explain their images of home. What did they find most important? Why did they choose to silhouette certain subjects?

Time Budget:
- 10 minutes introduction
- 25 minutes work time
- 5 minutes clean up
- 5 minutes critique

Vocabulary:
Silhouette- a view of an object or scene made up of an outline and a featureless interior with the object being all black.

Safety concerns:
- Proper handling of scissors

eLecture: Gustav Klimt and his “Golden Phase”

Gustav Klimt was a Symbolist painter and his “Golden Phase” was extremely successful. In Klimt’s “Golden Phase,” he used gold leaf to create an elegant ornamentation in his paintings. The most popularly associated with this period are the The Kiss and a series of portraits of fashionable Austrian matrons such as Fritza Riedler and Adele Bloch-Bauer. In these works he painted the figure without shadow and incorporated areas of flat, highly patterned areas of decoration to heighten the compositions.


What is Gold Leaf?

Since gold is an element, it can be compressed so thinly that sunlight can pass through. It can be done without destroying its structure. This property of gold is essential to the creation of gold leaf. In history, craftsmen would create gold leaf by pounding gold in between two leather straps for weeks or months until the gold became so thin that it was applied to paintings, sculptures, and religious or royal relics.

The present way of creating gold leaf involves metal rollers that compress gold to an extreme thin sheet. Then it can be cut into smaller sheets and placed in between layers of glassine paper. This is how it is sold in craft and art supply stores.







Gold Leaf Materials

How to use gold leaf like Klimt
In order to achieve the luminosity that Klimt was able to using gold leaf, you must first understand that there are many steps and a lot of patience involved. Preparing involves building up the surface by applying several layers of gesso. Next bole is applied to the surface that is to be gilded. The bole is a mixture of clay and water that becomes an adhesive for the gold leaf. Water must be on the surface of the bole while the gold leaf is applied, the artist must work quickly.

Discussion

What is gold leaf and what ways can it be used in a painting?

How did Klimt use gold lead in his paintings?

What effects does gold leaf create in art?

What other periods in art history was gold leaf used?

Activity; Gold Leaf Self-Portraits

Adele Bloch- Bauer I

Students will be creating a self-portrait using gold leaf in the background. However, since water gilding can become expensive, students will be applying gold leaf with an adhesive.

Materials:
Sheets of gold leaf
Gold leaf adhesive
Canvas
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes for acrylics
Natural bristle paintbrush for gold leaf


Directions
- Discuss Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss and the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer
- Have students paint a self-portrait using acrylic paints leaving the background blank.
How to apply gold leaf;
1. Remove dust from the canvas surface using a clean dry cloth
2. Lay the painting on a flat surface
3. Apply a thin layer of gold leaf adhesive to the area you want to apply the gold leaf
4. Wait 10 to 15 minutes for the adhesive to become tacky
5. Gently pick up gold leaf and apply to the painting using a stick by carefully separating the leafing from the paper. You really shouldn’t overlap gold leaf but minor overlapping is acceptable.
6. When gold leaf has been applied to the painting, use a small natural bristle brush to sweep over the areas. This is to remove any excess gold leafing that was applied. Remember to brush very lightly or the gold leaf can be removed or it can shift.
7. Allow the gold leaf to dry completely. Apply a glaze to seal the painting and hold the gold leaf in place.

The word "bee"

The word "bee," in history, has been used to describe a get-together where a specific action is being carried out. For instance, a spelling bee. I chose the title, Educating the Art bee, for this blog because I am an art maker and an aspiring art educator. I hope to post inspiring facts and experiences about art and art education.