Becoming an Art Critic: Graphic Organizer An activity to help young students analyze artwork

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1 Becoming an Art Critic: Graphic Organizer An activity to help young students analyze artwork Overview Designed for elementary school students and educators, this activity helps to teach the critical skill of reading a work of art. After completing this activity, students will have honed a basic technique enabling them to better examine and interpret art. Suggestions for Implementation This lesson is ideal for, but not limited to, a class that is planning to visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum, either in person or via videoconference. Central to the exercise is the Becoming an Art Critic graphic organizer, which proposes a series of questions to ask about a work of art. The organizer prepares students to understand and view critically a particular work that they will see in the Museum or by videoconference. Even for students who cannot visit American Art, this activity remains a valuable tool for learning how to critically examine visual art. Although the graphic organizer prompts students with questions about the artwork, it also includes suggested follow-up questions that will help teachers guide the students to a deeper understanding of the work. Consult the attached list of American Art s tours. Each tour topic includes key images, which you can preview on the Internet. From this list, you and your students can select an image to study using the graphic organizer. Ask students to complete the organizer handout, and discuss their responses with the class. Use the suggested questions to facilitate discussion. Remember that each student s response can be correct, but encourage the student to support his or her views with clues from the selected work. To process responses to the graphic organizer, we have included possible follow-up learning activities. There are several writing prompts available as well as one oral storytelling activity. Ask students to complete an exercise to help them refine their ideas. This section provides a final product for assessment.

2 Becoming an Art Critic Choose an artwork that you find interesting. Answer the following questions. Who or what do you see in this artwork? William H. Johnson, Art Class Three Men, ca , Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation What colors are in the artwork? Where do you think this scene is taking place? Why do you like or dislike this artwork? When do you think this artwork was made? How do you think this artist made this artwork?

3 Becoming an Art Critic Suggested Questions to Prompt Student Thinking Choose an artwork that you find interesting. Answer the following questions. Who or what do you see in this artwork? William H. Johnson, Art Class Three Men, ca , Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation What is going on in this picture? What more can you find? What is the largest thing you see in this picture? What is the smallest thing you see in this picture? Who are these people in the artwork? Are they similar or different from you? What colors are in the artwork? What can you tell me about the colors in this artwork? What color do you see the most? What kind of mood or feelings do the colors give the artwork? Do you like the colors that are in the artwork? If you were the artist, would you have used different colors? Where do you think this scene is taking place? What season is it? What time of day? What kind of weather? Is the scene outside? Inside? Why do you think this artist made this artwork? How does this artwork make you feel? How do you think the artist feels about this person or thing in the painting? When do you think this artwork was made? Does this scene look like it could be taking place today? Why or why not? If there are people, are their clothes similar or different from what you are wearing? Why or why not? Is the scenery similar or different from where you are? What does the scenery and the clothing or objects tell us about when this artwork was made? How do you think this artist made this artwork? What types of materials did the artist use? Paint? Clay? Wood? How long do you think it took to make? How big do you think the artwork is?

4 Activities Directions: Use your graphic organizer to help you answer the following questions. A. Select an artwork. Imagine you can have a conversation with the artist. What questions (at least three) would you ask him or her? B. If you were responsible for creating a new title for this painting, what would it be? Provide reasoning for your choice. C. Imagine that you are inside the painting. Choose a person or object. Write a journal entry pretending that you are that person or object. What types of things do you see? What do you feel? What did you do today? What will you do tomorrow? Oral Storytelling A. Working in groups of two, have students create a short story using the selected artwork as inspiration. Allow students time to share their stories with the class.

5 Key images for American Art Museum Tours For each of the tours, two images have been selected to represent very different aspects of the same theme. Images can be accessed through the links provided. Tour Theme Image One Image Two Miss Liberty Celebration 1987 Malcah Zeldis oil on corrugated cardboard 54 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. (138.4 x 92.7 cm) _ America s Signs and Symbols Art and Literature Beating the Odds: African-American Women Artists Contemporary Craft Folk Art: Beyond the Everyday The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane 1858 John Quidor 26 7/8 x 33 7/8 in. (68.3 x 86.1 cm.) _ Old Arrow Maker modeled 1866, carved 1872 Edmonia Lewis marble 21 1/2 x 13 5/8 x 13 3/8 in. (54.5 x 34.5 x 34.0 cm.) _ Feast Bracelet 1974 Richard Mawdsley fabricated sterling silver, jade, and pearls 3 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (9.6 x 7.0 x 11.5 cm.) _ Miss Liberty Celebration 1987 Malcah Zeldis oil on corrugated cardboard 54 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. (138.4 x 92.7 cm) _ George Washington ca Henry Brintnell Bounetheau Copy after Gilbert Stuart watercolor on ivory 6 1/8 x 5 in. (15.6 x 12.7 cm) rectangle St. Nicholas ca Robert Walter Weir oil on wood 29 3/4 x 24 1/2 in. (75.5 x 62.1 cm.) Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset 1970 Alma Thomas acrylic on canvas 47 7/8 x 47 7/8 in. (121.6 x cm.) Game Fish 1988 Larry Fuente mixed media 51 1/2 x 112 1/2 x 10 3/4 in. (130.8 x x 27.3 cm) Wolf Riding Turtle After 1930 Unidentified carved, varnished, and painted walnut 15 3/8 x 9 5/8 x 14 in. (39.2 x 24.5 x 35.5 cm.) _

6 Free Within Ourselves: African American Artists A House Divided (Civil War) Latino Art and Culture Lure of the West (Westward Expansion) Café ca William H. Johnson oil on paperboard 36 1/2 x 28 3/8 in _ Lee Surrendering to Grant at Appomattox ca Alonzo Chappel oil on paperboard 12 3/8 x 17 1/4 in. (31.4 x 43.8 cm) _ Vaquero modeled 1980/cast 1990 Luis Jiménez acrylic urethane, fiberglass, steel armature 199 x 114 x 67 in _ Among the Sierra Nevada, California 1868 Albert Bierstadt 72 x 120 1/8 in _ Evening Attire 1922 James VanDerZee gelatin silver print on paper mounted on paperboard sheet: 10 x 8 in A Visit from the Old Mistress 1876 Winslow Homer 18 x 24 in El Chandelier 1988 Pepón Osorio mixed media 60 7/8 x 42 in. (154.6 x cm) diam Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (mural study, U.S. Capitol) 1861 Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze 33 1/4 x 43 3/8 in. (84.5 x cm.) Native Americans Wi-jún-jon, Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light) Going To and Returning From Washington George Catlin 29 x 24 in _ Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees 1821 Charles Bird King 36 1/8 x 28 in. (91.8 x 71.1 cm) , ,222_

7 Neighborhood and Nation New Voices, New Visions Picturing America Sunlight and Shadow 1941 Allan Rohan Crite oil on board 25 1/4 x 39 in _ Vaquero modeled 1980/cast 1990 Luis Jiménez acrylic urethane, fiberglass, steel armature 199 x 114 x 67 in _ Manhattan 1932 Georgia O'Keeffe 84 3/8 x 48 1/4 in. (214.3 x cm.) _ Bird's-eye View of the Mandan Village, 1800 Miles above St. Louis George Catlin 24 1/8 x 29 in _ Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii 1995 Nam June Paik 49-channel closed circuit video installation, neon, steel and electronic components approx. 15 x 40 x 4 ft Mrs. George Watson 1765 John Singleton Copley 49 7/8 x 40 in. (126.7 x cm) Reshaping American Life (The New Deal Era) Relief Blues ca O. Louis Guglielmi tempera on fiberboard 24 x 30 in _ Dust Bowl 1933 Alexandre Hogue 24 x 32 5/8 in. (61 x 82.8 cm) To See is to Think: Visual Literacy Mrs. James Smith and Grandson 1776 Charles Willson Peale 36 3/8 x 29 1/4 in _ The South Ledges, Appledore 1913 Childe Hassam 34 1/4 x 36 1/8 in. (87.0 x 91.6 cm.)

8 Urbanized America Young America ( ) Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler (Mrs. John Jay Chapman) 1893 John Singer Sargent 49 3/8 x 40 1/2 in _ Mrs. James Smith and Grandson 1776 Charles Willson Peale 36 3/8 x 29 1/4 in. (92.4 x 74.3 cm.) _ Cumulus Clouds, East River Robert Henri 25 3/4 x 32 in The Great Horseshoe Fall, Niagara 1820 Alvan Fisher 34 3/8 x 48 in