free to stream
artworks to discuss
video demos
connects to History
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The Secret Language of Objects
Students learn how objects can represent an idea, or serve as symbols. They use symbols to create an artwork that can tell a story.
LESSON 1
SW be introduced to Drawing ABC’s, which are elements for drawing anything. They’ll follow along in a video tutorial to combine these elements and create an image. Next, they’ll create a ‘Deck of Symbols’ to explore 13th-16th-century symbology in small groups, using a reference sheet and the Drawing ABCs.
LESSON 2
SW be introduced to symbology, decide on an emotion that they want to depict, and they will brainstorm and draw meaningful symbols to represent this emotion using the Drawing ABC’s.
LESSON 3
SW use their rough emotion/symbol concepts from lesson 2 to create a drawing. They’ll explore how Renaissance artists used symbols in their paintings, then apply this knowledge to depict a personal experience that evoked their chosen emotion, incorporating meaningful symbols.
LESSON 4
SW color their compositions using colored pencils.
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The full lesson plans include links to video content and discussion images, and is available for free by following the link below.
ViVi, “Over the Table”
“Well, in the picture there is half of my face peering over the table and I am wearing a crown which represents how proud I am of holding the kitten, which the drawing is about. On the table I am looking at a lollipop and some mint candy, and that represents how sweet the kitten was because they are sweet! There’s some hot chocolate which is warm, because the kitten made me feel cozy and warm. And I’m looking at a s’more because they are fun to make and the kitten was fun to hold.”
Emerson, “Fun Days”
“This is about the trip I took with my dad. I did the candy, and all the candy wrappers, to show that I had lots of fun and I got spoiled on my trip. I showed the cat by the couch, and I showed claw marks, because my dad gets scared when he sees her doing that, and I wanted to show that we did a few scary things when we were on our trip. I also showed that we went to the lake by the campsite, and that we saw a bunny, and I chose the plants to show that we were outside a lot.”
Zeqe, “Playdate”
“There is a clock on the table representing that one person was late for the playdate. There’s a photos of a slide which represents fun. Then there is a photo of a sprinkler that represents that we played in a sprinkler. There is a pool noodle because there was a pool noodle fight. And on the wall there is a photo of where we looked everywhere. “
Zadie, “The Land of Make Believe”
“This picture is about fantasy because I think it is really cool and I really like dragons so i drew some and i drew myself riding on a unicorn with wings and then there is rock-cave and there is a baby brown bear inside and the sky is pink because it is almost the sunset. So the dragons represent adventure and the unicorns represents flight because it has wings and all those things are fantasy. The brown bear cub represents shyness because he is hiding in the cave and then there is also a rainbow and that represents happiness.”