me arts ed

Elementary Art teacher, Anne Kofler, shares a lesson

Whistler's Mother

Anne Kofler often connects with other content areas. She believes in the importance of connecting content areas and often incorporates other content into the art lessons she does with her K-6 students at Union Elementary, Prescott Memorial (in Washington) and Friendship Village Schools.

The Scream

This 4th grade lesson was inspired by MASTER the Art of READING, a set of posters from the school library. Anne selected 4 major pieces of art, with figures as the central focus. Students had a choice of one of four portraits and created their own versions. They selected from: Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vince, Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough, The Scream by Edvard Munch, Whistler’s Mother by James Whistler.

First, students imagine the scenes without the figures filling 12″X18″ white drawing paper with tempera paint. On oak tag, students drew the figures (changing the position of arms so they would be free to hold books) and used marker for the color. Finally, students created mini-books, based on their favorite story, using cloth, cardboard and lightweight paper. When displayed, the low relief is very effective as the figures hold the tiny books. They look great on display.

Mona Lisa

What a great lesson this would be for a collaboration with a classroom teacher. Students could create the contents of the book related to any number of topics in Social Studies or Science. In their class time students could create the contents for the books. This lesson connects with the VPA standards as well as ELA. The artwork could be accompanied with an audio of students reading or with a musical selection. Students could also create a theatrical piece and the artwork could be an integral part of the performance. Students could work in small or large groups.

What other artworks do you think would be good to use with this lesson? And what other ways do you think would be ways to connect?