slideshow of kids nature art
Objective: To introduce the works of naturalist artist Andy Goldsworthy, and to create art using natural elements in and around the school, after which their art will be photographed
Lesson:
**MAKE SURE YOU’VE TOLD THE TEACHER THAT YOU’LL BE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM FOR THE ART EXPERIENCE. Maybe scope out with teacher a suitable outside area to scavenge/set up the art.
Ask the students if they have ever made a sand castle or drawn designs in the sand? Have they ever made a snowman or snow angel? Sometimes creating art is very much like playing and exploring. Many artists are inspired by the beauty in nature: the colors, lines, shapes, textures and compositions. Some artists use paint or clay as their medium to make art; others, like Andy Goldsworthy, use nature itself.
“I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and “found” tools – a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn.” -Andy Goldsworthy
This is also a great lesson to use to introduce a few elements of art: composition (the way the artist chooses to arrange his subject), balance, and color. Ask the kids, as you show the slides, what they notice about how Andy Goldsworthy uses color, composition, and balance. (Look for contrast in colors – compositions all seemed very balanced – lots of circles, or patterns that looked like they were inspired by nature).
Show power point slides of Andy Goldsworthy’s work. http://www.slideshare.net/GeorgeKellyArt/andy-goldsworthy-5236621
If roaming the school grounds for materials: Have the students pair up in groups of three or four. Take the students outside. Have them gather natural materials that are visually appealing. Look for different colors and different size leaves, rocks, sticks, dirt, etc.
If AD’s have collected their own materials, go to a central area where kids can spread out enough to have a space that is their own.
Have the students create an arrangement out of the natural things they have found. Take close up pictures of their completed work, with written name on white strip of paper near piece for identification.
Element/Principles of Art: Texture, Color, Shape, Balance
Vocabulary: Environmental Art: site specific work in the landscape using nature itself as a “found object”, as both subject and raw material. Composition: the way an artist chooses to arrange subject.
Materials:
Start early gathering a variety of materials to have on hand:
All colors of beans and dried green peas, Birdseed, Sand
Pea gravel or other larger amounts of small to medium rocks
Leaves – fall or evergreen
Colorful petals or flower heads (dandelions ok), Grass fronds (ornamental grass trimmings)
Seed heads from the fall, Twigs – any shape or size (cool mosses on them all the better)
clumps of moss, Beach glass, Shells, Small pinecones, Berries
• Bowls to carry their items
• White strips of paper for kid’s names – will put next to art piece before photo taken.
• Digital camera to take pictures of final finished pieces before clean-up
Print used:
Book on Andy Goldsworthy’s work, plus Scholastic Art April/May 2005 issue
Conclusion: This was the most fun I have had at a lesson. And I’ve had some fun over the years. The kids LOVED being outside, they connected with nature, found their own creative way to express their form of art and in the end understood that this style of art is temporary. They enjoyed what the created and were ok when it was swept up. Beautiful pictures were taken as memories of a fun afternoon.
Art Docent: Marcie Guthrie and Jim Bargfrede
Lesson Title: Andy Goldsworthy – Art in Nature
Room 7, 3rd Grade, Ms. Saltsman
Excellent lesson and gorgeous images!
absolutely beautiful, feels so natural and beautiful!