This lesson will introduce students to the different ways artists portray family in their art. Students will study sculptures by Henry Moore and Louis Bourgeois that portray family relationships and issues. Students will create their own clay maquette sculpture that represents family to them.
Grade Level: 6th-7th grade
Class Periods Needed to Complete Lesson: 5 (60 minutes each)
Big Idea: Family
Key Ideas:
- Artists depict their own family stories though their artwork.
- Henry Moore created sculptures that represented family relationships.
- Louis Bourgeois sculptures often symbolized issues from her childhood.
Objectives:
- Students will learn about Henry Moore and how family has inspired him to create his sculptures.
- Students will learn about Louis Bourgeois and how her artwork symbolizes family issues and her childhood .
- Students will learn about how maquettes are createdand used.
- Students will create their own maquette that focuses on the subject of family.
- Students will write an artist statement for their clay maquette.
Kansas Art Standard #1: Understanding and applying media techniques and processes.
Benchmark # 2: Students intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques and processes to enhance communication of their experiences and ideas.
Indicator # 2: Students use appropriate media, techniques, and processes to express ideas, feelings and experiences.
Indicator # 3: Students demonstrate safe use, control, and maintenance of tools and media.
Kansas Art Standard # 3: Choosing and Evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.
Benchmark # 2: Students use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.
Indicator # 1: Students develop an idea, plan, and produce works of art that convey specific messages.
Critical Questions:
What does the word family mean to you?
Why would an artist create a clay maquette?
Do you think a symbol, like this spider, could represent family?
Why do artists represent ideas through symbols and abstraction?
Resources and Materials:
Spider (1997), Louis Bourgeois, Artist Reproduction
Woman with Packages, Louis Bourgeois, Artist Reproduction
Family Group (1949), Henry Moore, Artist Reproduction
Mother and Child (1967), Henry Moore, Artist Reproduction
Clay
Various glazes
Wooden bases
Clay tools
Mist bottles
Plastic bags
Paintbrushes
Pencils
Paper
Teacher Product
Vocabulary:
Coil- snake like ropes of clay, can be used as a hand building technique
Fire -to heat the clay in a kiln until it become dry and hardened
Glaze – a liquid that is applied to a bisqued piece of clay, when fired it becomes a hard glass surface
Kiln - an oven/furnace that reaches extreme temperatures (2300 F), used to fire clay
Maquette - A small sculpture made as a model for a full scale work
Score -to scratch/rough up clay surfaces that are to be joined together
Slab- a thick sheet of damp clay
Slip – clay that is watered down to a creamy consistency
Wedging – when clay is kneaded and cut to remove all air pockets
Description
Day One
At the start of class students will be asked what the word family means to them. Students will be given a chance to give many opinions, due to the fact that the term family can mean so many things to different people.
Students will then see a print of Henry Moore’s, Family Group. I will ask them what they think is sculpture is about. That will lead to a discussion on how Moore’s work was often inspired by family. I will discuss how many of his works depict families, especially the mother and child. Students will be shown a second image by Henry Moore, Mother and Child (1967). This image is an organic abstracted sculpture of a mother and child. I will ask the students what they think this sculpture is about. I will explain how many times artists choose to represent ideas in abstract and organic ways. I will discuss the meaning of piece with the class. While doing this I will discuss with the class how these shapes could symbolize issues within families.
Students will be asked to compile a written list of family issues. Each student will be given five minutes to write down as many things as they can that remind them of family. I will give them a few examples, such as eating dinners together with my family.
Students will be asked to select their two favorite ideas from the list they have created. They will be asked to draw to images from of these to ideas they have selected.
Day Two
The class will do a short review of the previous class session. Students will gather their sketches and family idea list from the last class period.
Students will be shown a print of Spider by Louis Bourgeois. They will be asked if they think a symbol, like this spider, could represent a family issue. I will explain to them how the spider symbol represents her mother and family issues. Bourgeois thought of her mother as a hero, and she believes that spiders are also heroic. Students will be asked why they think artists, such as Bourgeois and Moore, represent ideas through symbols and abstraction. I will discuss with them that many artists want the viewer to be able to bring their own ideas about family to their work. Artists also try to find more meaningful ways to represent ideas other than realistically. I will then show the students Bourgeois sculpture, Woman with Packages. The class will discuss how the sculpture represents a woman, possibly a mother. The attachments to the central figure represent children, or other duties and responsibilities that women have.
Students will then be introduced to the studio part of the lesson. Students will be told they will be creating a clay maquette. Students will be shown an image of Moore’s maquette studio. The class will be asked why they think artists create maquettes. I will then explain to them the purpose of maquettes.
Students will be given time to sketch more ideas they have that deal with family issues. Students will be asked to represent a family idea, or issue through their maquette. Students are to represent the idea in a unique way, such as through abstraction, or symbolism. Student can create a new idea or use one they wrote about in their family idea list.
Day Three
Students will be asked to remember what they have learned so far in this lesson on family. We will talk about how families are represented in various ways by artists. Students will then be given a copy of the rubric for the studio process so they can keep track of their own progress.
A small demo of clay techniques and procedures will be given. Students will learn how to wedge their clay and how to use the pinch and coil technique. If modeling a large piece, students will learn how to hollow out clay; they will also learn how to store the clay during the process.
Students will begin work on their project. Before they are able to start their work in clay they must first get teacher approval by sharing their final sketch of their maquette. The student and teacher will discuss what their sketch represents and if it needs anything else before the student begins clay work. After the teachers approval the students begin work on their project.
Day Four
Students will be shown a teacher example of the studio product. They will discuss its meaning, and why the artist choose to represent a family issue in a certain way. Students will spend the rest of the class period working on their clay maquettes. Students will clean up.
Day Five
The class will discuss what they have learned over the course of the lesson. Moore and Bourgeois family representations will be discussed. Students will spend the rest of class finishing their clay maquette. Students will be asked to write an artist statement to go along with their maquette. Guidelines for what to include in the statement will be gone over in class. The actual maquettes will fired and glazed at a later date.
Assessment Rubric
Bibliography
ArtLex: Art Dictionary. 2005. 26 Nov. 2005 <http://www.artlex.com>.
"Henry Moore." Henry Moore Foundation. 2005. 26 Nov. 2005
<http://www.henry-moore-fdn.co.uk/>.
"Louis Bourgeois." PBS Art 21. 2005. 02 Dec. 2005
<http:/www.pbs.org/art21/artists/bourgeois>.
O'Reilly, Sally. Artists in Their Time: Henry Moore. New York: Franklin Watts, 2003.
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